Funding Recognition without Adding Budget by Darcy Jacobsen

 

So, you want to build a strategic, social recognition program that can help you move the needle for your business… You bring the idea to your leadership. They think it sounds great. Go for it. But… just one tiny little problem. You can’t add a dime to your recognition budget.

State-of-the-art recognition without additional spend? Is that even possible short of robbing a bank? Well, before you lose hope or hire a get-away driver, consider this: Most companies have a considerable recognition spend hidden somewhere in their budget, and with a little creativity you may be able to find all the money you need to move your program to the next level.

Allow me to explain:

It’s a funny thing about recognition programs. If they are not centralized and consolidated into one measurable program, they tend to get squirrelly. They multiply, sometimes duplicate, and then get tucked away into forgotten nooks and crannies of the organization, along with their associated administrative budget—all the hours and dollars it takes to manage vendors, plan events, fulfill requests, track inventories, answer questions and troubleshoot problems. Chances are you’re already spending more on recognition than you even realize.

By removing some of the older programs that are not delivering results, and consolidating others into your strategic recognition program—saving money by eliminating redundancies—you can free up a considerable amount of budget you barely knew you had. By simply taking a real inventory of what you’re doing, and then shuffling some of that money around you might be able to afford the modest cost of effective recognition without going to the well for any additional budget.

So where might that recognition spend be hiding? Here are some places to start looking:

  • Concierge services
  • Employee social events (picnics, parties)
  • Perks
  • Spiffs
  • Employee gifts
  • Sales contests
  • Car allowances
  • R&R expenses disguised as T&E
  • Retirement celebrations
  • Personal milestone celebrations
  • Safety awards
  • Attendance awards
  • Health & wellness awards
  • Referral bonuses
  • Sign-on bonuses
  • Holiday bonuses
  • Bonus programs
  • Incentive plans

 

Wait, you might be thinking… we need some of those programs! I’m not suggesting that you cut the programs that are actually working for you. However, it is important to figure out which programs actually ARE working. Do you have metrics on all of those recognition programs? Are they driving engagement or have they become entitlements that might work against you? Are they providing important data about what values are flourishing in your organization or which employees are your biggest influencers? Strategic recognition can do those things. Should you be pouring money into recognition that cannot?

Think about the awards associated with your recognition. Perhaps you can do better there, also. Your employees would likely appreciate a flexible program—with personal, localized reward options—to yet another company t-shirt or logo pin. Perhaps a crowd-sourced recognition program, where peers recognize and reward one another all year long, makes a lot more sense and feels a lot more fair than a top-down, canned holiday bonus or frozen turkey.

And if you choose to keep a program, most of these can be rolled up into your universal strategic recognition solution and provide all of its benefits of flexibility and manageability. Moreover, consolidating programs creates a synergy among programs that can give you a lot more mileage from an existing investment, and make those recognition dollars yield more bottom line results. And on top of that, you’ll save on the cost of tracking, fulfilling and managing multiple programs and vendors.

So just by discovering and adjusting your hidden recognition spend, you might be able to afford that new social, strategic recognition you want. A simple budgetary nip and tuck can help you measure and manage your culture, without breaking open the corporate piggy bank.


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