Companies have to break the bad habits of recognizing employees only by occasionally giving them mugs, t-shirts or pens with the company logo stamped upon it. They must realize that for most employees, most of the time, how they are treated on a daily basis matters more to them and more effectively communicates that they are trusted, respected and important to the company.
Potential employees coming to FedEx Home Delivery, whether newly graduated university applicants, transferees from other companies or internal candidates, are looking for different things from their work life than they were just 10 years ago. Today's employees are looking for some balance in their lives. Many employees will give up a portion of their lives for the 50-hour work week, but there has to be some benefit associated with that amount of labor.
Home Delivery employees have some expectations of their company. They are looking for an integrated approach to life. Work is a piece of a bigger picture to them. For the amount of labor that they give, they expect that they will receive important benefits. Benefits like competitive pay, family leave, tuition reimbursement, employee assistance programs, flexible hours and financial planning programs. They also expect that FedEx will enable the "soft" cultural values such as the company's commitment to society, the environment and diversity.
FedEx can also expect that the employees will have their own set of ethical values. They know that their employees exhibit high standards of honesty, trust, professionalism and ethical behavior. Home Delivery employees are open communicators and share what they know freely with each other. They work together with respect and dignity upholding diversity, ethnicity and different work cultures. Home Delivery employees provide excellent customer service and attempt to promote the brand identity wherever they happen to be.
In devising an award system to complement such employees, one must realize that traditional forms of recognition such as achievement awards, cash substitutes (gift cards), nominal gifts or food and public perks (parking spots) have diminished in importance for most of today's employees. These types of awards have become ranked near the bottom in employee surveys across the country. It is sad, but true that most certificates of achievement end up in a drawer collecting dust and not proudly displayed on the cubicle wall.
In many companies across the United States, the average employee's faith in his/her company has dramatically declined. The employees view themselves as working for other people rather than working for their organization. It is those people they work for (and with) that can most make recognition meaningful and special.
At FedEx Home Delivery, I wish to design a rewards system that will meet the needs of our highly skilled workforce. We cannot pull the wool over their eyes by offering them t-shirts or squeezable trucks as an award incentive. We must recognize them by offering them our sincere thanks in whatever form that will take: be it personal, written, electronic or public. Those persons whom the employee holds in high esteem will give it, and it will be given in a timely, sincere and specific manner.
Another form of recognition will be support and involvement. Giving the employee the information they need to do their jobs, involving employees in decisions (especially those that affect them) and asking employees for their opinions and ideas. How many managers go this far in rewarding their employees? Most managers would rather give a large cash award, than invest 1 hour of themselves into their employees.
Yet another motivator is giving them autonomy and authority, such as allowing them to decide how best to do their work, allowing them to pursue ideas they might have for improving things in the workplace. We will give them the "reward" of flexible working hours, learning and development opportunities and most importantly, the availability and undivided attention of their managers.
I recognize that this type of award and recognition program is intangible and highly situational. But I feel that granting this type of response to good work when it occurs is the most desired form of recognition cited by today's employees. This form of recognition lets the employee know that the manager is a real person and not just their boss. This lets the employee know that the manager will be there for them when the employee needs them. In my own personal managerial existence, I experienced an example of being a real person. My admin clerk is a top-notch performer and goes after his job with much enthusiasm and competence. About a year ago, he started experiencing difficulties at home and it was starting to wear him down at work. I went to him one day and told him I wanted him to take some time off (with pay) to deal with his anxieties. He accepted my offer and took 3 days off from work. At the end of those three days, he came back his old self again with problems in hand. He realized what this cost me, as I had to pick up his slack and do his work while he was gone. He later told my boss that he still thinks about this great kindness that I had extended to him in his hour of need.
I believe that this type of award and recognition system will fit well into our organization. I know that most of my peer managers do not want one more article that has the FedEx logo on it. Our company would benefit greatly from moving toward less formality when it comes to recognition. Instead of relying on some cold, impersonal award, managers should recognize their team members in a more personal manner. Cash awards can still be given, but they must be done personally by the employee's immediate supervisor. I do not think that we have to "throw out the baby with the bathwater" in redesigning a new award system. We can still have formal recognition, but we need to systematically move away from those things that our employees no longer value and move towards those that they are excited about.
Conclusion
I personally believe that FedEx Home Delivery will get the best from our employees and will retain them the longest when we show them that we personally care about them. The best and easiest way we can do this is through our daily efforts in recognizing and thanking employees when they do good work, and not waiting until the end of the year to formally recognize them on one special day.
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