15 Oct
Employee engagement and employee rewards programs are a hot topic in today’s business world of increasing competition for top talent.
However, administering effective employee reward programs can prove to be a huge challenge for organizations trying to juggle the many priorities on their plate.
One effective way to handle employee rewards is through software solutions such as an employee rewards platform. Rewards platforms are software systems designed to minimize the administration needed to conduct an employee rewards program, making it easier than ever to recognize employees and keep them engaged in the cause.
This article will explore the power of employee engagement and ways such a platform can help simplify the employee reward process.
The Power of Employee Engagement
The ultimate success or failure of any business depends on its people. Anyone can have a good product, strategy or business model. But without people on your team who are fully engaged in your cause, ideas fall flat, strategies fail, execution wanes, and even the best business models suffer.
This is why employee engagement has become a critical conversation point among both HR professionals and business leaders.
The question of how to most effectively engage employees in an efficient and cost effective way is the challenge of businesses of all shapes and sizes today. One of the key ways to influence employee engagement is through rewards and recognition.
The Gallup Q12 Survey, which is widely accepted as the most simple and effective way to measure employee engagement, lists as its fourth question “In the last seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work?”
Employees want to be recognized and appreciated for their efforts, and the degree of appreciation they receive is a key aspect of how engaged they feel in an organization.
Appreciation can come in the form of verbal praise, which is a much needed and very powerful way to recognize employees. However, varying expressions of gratitude through incorporating simple and personalized gifts can also be a great way to show appreciation and not just say it.
Finding the right gifts can be a challenge and can take time and resources that may not be available in your business. In these cases, an employee rewards platform can be a great solution to help make the process simple and cost effective so you can get the right rewards with less administration costs and better express your gratitude to employees.
What is an Employee Rewards Platform?
An employee rewards platform is a software system designed to help companies manage the intangible aspects of business, like relationships and engagement, with as much efficiency as managing sales or other concrete operational goals.
The goal of an employee rewards platform is to align with the company mission and to lower the time and administrative costs of administering employee rewards, making rewarding employees more cost effective and efficient for businesses and more powerful for the employees they are trying to engage.
AXOMO makes it easy to offer corporate rewards with automated or one-time store credit rewards based on work anniversaries, birthdays, employee appreciation gifts, and more:
Finding the right gifts can be a challenge and can take time and resources that may not be available in your business. In these cases, an employee rewards platform can be a great solution to help make the process simple and cost effective so you can get the right rewards with less administration costs and better express your gratitude to employees.
Common Employee Rewards Platforms
Employee reward platforms are not just for big companies.
Organizations of all sizes can benefit from using one to recognize their employees. They come in many different types and have many different features.
However, two of the most common types of employee rewards platforms are verbal recognition, and rewards focused on employee gifts or items. Verbal recognition platforms are often still considered employee reward platforms, but these types of software packages focus more on facilitating verbal recognition rather than physical rewards.
These platforms provide an easy way for managers and employees to send praise to one another via notes or cards or other means and can be a great asset to an organization’s overall recognition strategy.
Other platforms are geared more toward employee rewards such as gift cards or physical items as employee gifts. These platforms leverage the power of gifts in recognition and are designed to simplify the logistics of ordering, pricing, shipping and selecting these items for employees.
Other Benefits of Employee Rewards Platforms
Employee rewards platforms that focus on physical reward such as items or gifts can also have several other distinct benefits for organizations of all sizes. The same platform that an HR manager would use to reward an employee could also be used to purchase swag for a marketing event or items for an onboarding package.
The platform can double up as a solution for all small item needs and could simplify the process of purchasing company items for many departments, not just the employee recognition team.
Any company that requires uniforms can add those necessary items as purchase options on the employee reward platform. While these wouldn’t be rewards necessarily, some software packages allow items such as uniforms and company swag to be added to the platform, giving employees a convenient place to order the items they need without manager assistance.
Any promotional swag items for expos, trade shows, marketing efforts or simply to have around the office could be added to the platform as well for convenient ordering, shipping and pricing. Recruiters and HR managers could use the platform to order items for career fairs, on-site interviews or onboarding welcome packages.
Most of all, employees and managers could have one convenient location to purchase items for one another as a way to express thanks. Thus one software package can fill several business needs at once, saving time and money that can then be spent furthering your organization’s mission.
The Power of Simplicity
The key reason why an employee rewards platform benefits organizations is the power of simplicity. Employee rewards are necessary and most companies want to reward their employees with meaningful rewards and experiences rather than just cash.
But the cost in time and additional energy to administer these types of programs can be prohibitive for some organizations and an unnecessary burden for others.
Any promotional swag items for expos, trade shows, marketing efforts or simply to have around the office could be added to the platform as well for convenient ordering, shipping and pricing. Recruiters and HR managers could use the platform to order items for career fairs, on-site interviews or onboarding welcome packages.
Most of all, employees and managers could have one convenient location to purchase items for one another as a way to express thanks. Thus one software package can fill several business needs at once, saving time and money that can then be spent furthering your organization’s mission.
Employee recognition should not be a burden or a drain on the business, nor should it be a chore to provide meaningful ways to recognize employees for their work. And employee recognition should absolutely not be something that is cheap, impersonal or lame. That kind of experience will defeat the purpose and make an employee feel devalued rather than appreciated.
Instead, using software to create a simple, yet powerful employee reward system, with freedom and flexibility, will allow you to show appreciation and create a culture of gratitude and recognition.
That culture will spread throughout your organization and will show employees that they are valued simply for who they are and how their unique talents impact the team. This leads to engaged employees who can in turn create monumental change and growth for your business over time. That is the power of culture and engagement in a cause. All of this can come from simple efforts to show appreciation in a meaningful way, facilitated with the help of a rewards platform.
How AXOMO Helps Work Families Keep It Together
AXOMO is an employee rewards platform that allows companies to sell custom designed, name branded merchandise to employees and managers. The software allows managers one easy access point to thousands of items for employees and gives options for customization in terms of name, color and many other options.
The AXOMO platform can also be used for employees to purchase items for one another and employees can receive credits to the online platform as part of an organization’s comprehensive employee reward program.
AXOMO makes logistics such as selecting items, designing colors and branding, shipping, ordering and even warehousing and delivery convenient and simple. We also offer 27/4 support from our team of experts who can help you troubleshoot any difficulties you may have. The platform includes data analytics features that help to determine top selling items and to avoid unnecessary spend on unwanted gifts. With AXOMO, the options for employee rewards are endless.
If you are interested in learning more about our platform, feel free to give us a call or schedule a free, no obligation demo of the software. We would love to see how we can help you with your employee engagement needs.
