Common Mistake #2: No Clear Global Strategy

Harnessing the true power of Strategic Recognition in a modern Global 2000 or Fortune 500 company requires a global strategy that includes all recognition activity in the employee base worldwide.

Strategic Recognition is a central component in a Total Rewards portfolio and needs to be managed consistently in every country where the company has employees. There can be no discrepancies in the program country to country and the differences in cultures that exist in the company must be acknowledged. When rewarding employees who are deserving of equivalent rewards but live in multiple countries, the Standard of Living in each location must be considered and the reward value adjusted accordingly.

End rewards need to be relevant and with no inequity in the options and value of rewards from country to country. You certainly don’t want to reward one team member in one country with a reward that would buy a nice dinner for two, and give the same reward to another team member in another country where they could buy dinner for a week!

A global strategy also enables the development of a single brand and language around recognition. It creates clear visibility and audit-ability into the budget spend across the globe. This lets senior executives focus on a meaningful dashboard that provides true, clear, global insight into the company’s culture and social architecture across divisions and regions.

Vince Lombardi once said, “Nothing is as unfair as the equal treatment of unequals.” Are your low performers treated the same as your average performers? How about your high performers? Are they the only ones receiving any recognition? What do you think the right approach to recognition is?