'Attachment' Levels Between Employers and Employees on the Rise

A recent survey by human capital consulting firm Randstad finds that a majority of U.S. employees are highly engaged and happy in their jobs. According to the latest Randstad Employee Attachment Index, 78% of respondents report feeling inspired to do their best at work; 76% are proud to work for their companies; and 66% enjoy going to work every day. Likewise, researchers found that employee volatility is down, with 60% reporting they would not give consideration to or accept a new job offer in the next six months. For more information, go to http://www.randstadusa.com/

10 Steps That Ensure Employee Engagement Success

Improving Employee Engagement is not the product of one initiative. Organizations need a framework to achieve significant improvement in engagement. Sequencing and content of the initiative are critical, as is communication.

1to1 Media Names 2011 'Customer Champions'

Peppers & Rogers Group’s 1to1 Media division has announced its 2011 class of 1to1 Customer Champions. The 1to1 Customer Champions program recognizes executives who believe in treating customers in a way that builds loyalty and engagement while driving bottom-line results for their organizations. Now in its eighth year, the program honors 15 executives annually who use innovative approaches to instill customer-centric strategies throughout their organizations. The 2011 honorees include: • Ven Bontha, Director of Customer Experience, CEMEX • Rich Brecht, Senior Contact Center Manager, J&P Cycles • Mike Colbourn, VP and Director of Marketing, Stowe Mountain Resort • Roger Curtis, President, Michigan International Speedway • Susan DeLaney, VP Customer Experience, UPS • Tom Feeney, President and CEO, Safelite AutoGlass • Dennis Fitzgerald, VP Customer Satisfaction, Yaskawa Electric America, Inc. • Stephen Jackson, Chief Information Officer, Harry Rosen Inc. • Donna Lendzyk, Manager, Customer Loyalty, SaskTel • Ingrid Lindberg, Customer Experience Officer, Cigna • David Payne, Assistant VP Contact Center, Stancorp Financial Group Inc. • Chuck Sliker, Senior VP of Operations Service, Arby’s • Jeffrey J. Smith, VP Operations and Loyalty Services, Omni Hotels & Resorts • Tim Teran, Senior VP Consumer Insights and Strategy, Macy’s Inc. • Jay Topper, Senior VP Customer Success, Rosetta Stone Info at www.1to1media.com/view.aspx?DocID=33197

3rd Internal Branding & Employee Engagement Canada Conference - May 1-2, 2012 - Toronto, Canada

By attending this event, industry leaders will share best practices, strategies and tools on increasing employee connection and awareness, leveraging new communications and establishing the management culture in every layer of the organization. Hear from speakers from TB Bank, Mastercard, Boeing, Mayo Clinic, Hain Celestial, VON and many more at this two-day premiere event! Contact Michele at Michelew@marcusevansch.com today and mention “EEA” to receive a $200 discount!

7th Internal Branding & Employee Engagement Conference - April 17-18, 2012 - Miami

Capitalizing on Voice of Customer: The only metric that impacts other metrics…

“Why is customer loyalty and engagement important? The biggest reason is that customer engagement is the only metric that impacts other metrics typically measured by a company. As one industry expert noted, When customer engagement slides, so do a great many other outcomes, including future sales, growth and profit. Obviously, engaged customers are the best customers for a company to have. Eight of ten executives believe their company loses sales each year because of failure to create engaged customers, and 80% say that engaged customers are critical because they recommend products or services.” Excerpted from ‘Capitalizing on Voice of Customer,’ Published by Allegiance (www.allegiance.com)

Engagement: Winning the Battle for Customer and Employee Hearts and Minds: The Spillover Effect

Measuring the success of a business is not as simple as saying: ‘happy employees equal happy customers.’ Happy employees can also be lazy employees. A person taking tickets at a movie theater may be happy, but it may be because he or she gets to sit around on a comfortable chair while drinking free soft drinks and eating free popcorn. Many people might be happy if their employers paid them for what is merely time spent drinking soda, eating popcorn and collecting ticket stubs. For the above saying to be true, companies should be looking at levels of engagement as the measuring stick. We know that emotionally engaged employees feel like they are doing something valuable for their organizations and that their efforts will make a difference. Customers know when they are talking to emotionally engaged employees. The positive feelings that the employees have about their jobs and employers influence the level of service they give to customers. When these positive experiences continue to happen, then customers become engaged, and they become advocates for the company’s products and services. While movie theaters may be an easy target when it comes to pointing out the signs of disengaged employees, it’s certainly not exclusive to this business. Employees across all industries have a major impact on customer loyalty and engagement. The mantra of ‘happy employees equal happy customers’ is real, and companies should seek emotionally engaged employees because it will be these employees who help create emotionally engaged customers. This is the spillover effect.

The Enemy of Engagement: Put an End to Workplace Frustration--and Get the Most from Your Employees

Frustration isn’t an employee issue; it’s an organizational issue. Frustrated employees represent 20% or more of the total workforce, leading to a major loss in performance, talent and revenue. Frustration wears down motivated, dedicated employees who really care about their jobs but can’t get the organizational support they need to get things done. Focused on making contributions, these employees often hide their frustration, leaving managers in the dark about their discontent. “Frustrated employees really want to succeed in their role, but become aggravated by organizational barriers or a lack of resources,” says Mark Royal, Senior Consultant at Hay Group and co-author of the new book The Enemy of Engagement. “Managers must ask the right questions and address the issue promptly, or risk losing top talent who care deeply about the organization.” Royal’s co-author and colleague, Tom Agnew, says that frustration isn’t just an employee issue, it’s an organizational issue, adding that “Managers must listen for clues and serve as the voice for frustrated employees.” For more information on The Enemy of Engagement, contact Andrea Friedman at 212-584-5476 or Andrea@blisspr.com

The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools & Strategies for Business Success: In Celebration of Collaboration

Every year numerous business books and magazine articles are written about collaboration in the workplace. It’s hard not to be in favor of collaboration, but why do some organizations do it so well and other fail at it? Is it the company culture that makes a difference or perhaps the skills of those who endeavor to collaborate? Could it be the tools used to collaborate? Take a moment and make a list of the tools that your organization currently uses to foster collaboration among coworkers. It’s a bit challenging for many businesses because collaboration is viewed as a pathway to a result rather than a result itself. Many people think of collaboration in terms of a process to be managed rather than a set of tools to be engaged. Thus, you might say that brainstorming sessions, conference calls and company strategy retreats are among your current methods of collaboration. You might even argue that the telephone and the office copy machine facilitate collaboration. Indeed, these may be effective methods for your company, and they may lead to desirable results, but what if the process of collaboration itself became a highly valued product? Is it possible or even advisable to get your customers and prospective customers to engage in some form of collaboration that will benefit your company? The answer is yes, but the concept can be a bit counterintuitive. After all, imagine what kinds of things your customers could say about you if you were to enable that conversation through one or more social media tools that allow them to interact with and influence one another. Talk about the good, the bad and the ugly. Ask yourself this, however: Do you gain more by sponsoring or at least endorsing this kind of conversation than you do by running from it? Excerpted from The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools & Strategies for Business Success, by Lon Safko and David K. Brake. John Wiley & Sons. 2009.

A Look at Branding from Both Sides of the Glass

While external branding gets most of the money and attention, internal branding is really what it’s all about

A Three-Dimensional Medium for Engaging Communications

This article, based on research funded by the Promotional Products Association International, looks at how using promotional products to support customer communications efforts can improve engagement.

Adding a New Element to ‘Brand Architecture’

Brand Architecture is an essential process in all marketing, as it provides the framework for establishing an organization’s personality and unique selling proposition. In the old days, companies rarely concerned themselves with the cost of dissatisfied customers, as long as business was growing.

AstraZeneca Leads the Way to Enterprise Engagement

This feature article from Engagement Strategies Magazine looks at how AstraZeneca's internal and external engagement efforts have helped to make it one of Fortune Magazine's "Most Admired Companies."

Author Gary Hamel on the Engagement Imperative

This well-known author and Harvard professor has strong words for business about the importance of engagement.

Block the Exits or Start Building Employee Loyalty

Research shows employee and employer confidence in the health of the U.S. economy is growing, but it’s a bumpy ride. Employees have been beaten up over the past several years. They’ve survived budget cuts and layoffs, been asked to do more with less and have shouldered the burden of many of those decisions. As a result, two out of every three of your employees are likely to be heading for the exits and new jobs when the U.S. economy turns around. An engagement strategy focused on transparency, communication and recognition for their loyalty could stem that rush to the door. Three ways to quickly turn the situation around are 1) Build transparency within your organization, 2) Provide opportunities for growth, and 3) Reward employees for meeting or exceeding those expectations. Here’s how… Read the full report

Build Brand Values Into Recognition Programs

A new white paper, 10 Tips to Build Brand Values Into Recognition Programs, notes that a large part of designing an employee incentive, rewards and recognition program is focused on productivity, compensation and profitability.

Build Brand Values Into Recognition Programs

A new white paper, 10 Tips to Build Brand Values Into Recognition Programs, notes that a large part of designing an employee incentive, rewards and recognition program is focused on productivity, compensation and profitability. An equal part of the strategy, however, is centered in how these initiatives tie back to the core messages that are integral to business values and brand promise. This article highlights 10 popular brand values, how they’re supported through incentive, rewards and recognition programs, and some of the communications ideas that can help build more creative, effective, and memorable programs.

Building (and Keeping) an Engaged Employee Team

It’s a simple formula: Hire and retain top-flight talent, then put those people together into a winning team. Sounds easy, right? Well, any manager or HR exec with more than a couple of years of experience will tell you it isn’t.

Capitalism That Cares

While no one is absolutely certain about the agenda of the Occupy Wall Street movement, one message is clear: there is a growing outcry for a more humane form of capitalism, as well as a sense that Wall Street is part of the problem. Ironically, this movement could have a profound effect on the way businesses get managed and marketed, as consumers gain more and more control about who they want to do business with and when and seek out companies they “like.”

Carlson, PollStream Change Names

As part of its recent rebranding, Groupe Aeroplan, parent of Carlson Marketing, announced that the company is changing its name to Aimia. The business-to-business brands LMG Insight & Communication and Carlson Marketing will now operate under the name Aimia. Also effective immediately, PollStream has changed its name to TemboSocial, reflecting the firm’s increased emphasis on its suite of solutions and the development of other software tools focused on connection, conversation, recognition and additional engagement products and services.

Case Study Examines Rapid Improvement in Engagement

Average levels of employee engagement weren’t good enough for Stryker, as one New Jersey plant discovered. The Gallup Management Journal recently published an extensive case study looking at how a fast-moving manager changed the plant’s culture in less than a year, improving engagement levels from 48% to 57%. Stryker believes that

CEOs Share the Same Engagement Strategy

At least two major U.S. companies offer proof that a focus on engagement can provide dramatic results. The CEOs of major companies in two very different industries – Schering-Plough and Campbell’s Soup – changed the culture of their organizations over the last several years by implementing a management strategy that engaged employees to concentrate on customer-focused innovations. And the results were demonstrated in improved profitability and shareholder returns.

Channel Partners: Overview

This article looks discusses the various types of resellers and the types of incentive programs that can be used to motivate resellers and looks at some of the factors that can influence the success of such programs.

Channel Partners: Strategic Issues

How can you make your distributor/reseller incentive program stand out to increase its chances of success? This article offers a number of suggestions.

Collaboration: More than the Sum of its Parts

A pair of articles examines this critical building block of engagement from two different perspectives

Communications Key to Maximizing Incentive Results

Clear, creative, continuous. That formula guarantees enthusiasm for any program. And the Internet makes it easier than ever to make communications count.

Conference Board Talent Management Strategies Conference - Feb 9-10, 2012 - NYC

February 9-10, 2012, New York City If you are a Human Resources leader, Talent Management professional, or someone responsible for talent acquisition, employee engagement, succession planning or employee and leadership development, attending this conference will help you address your most pressing talent management issues.

Consumers: Incentive Overview

This article looks at the types of consumers and the motivational factors affecting consumer incentive plans.

Consumers: Strategic Issues

What makes a successful consumer incentive program? Here's a look at how to set goals, track results, and measure ROI.

Consumers: Types of Programs

This article takes a look at the variety of consumer incentives that companies can choose from.

Customer Retention: Keeping Your Best Customers for the Long Term

This white paper from the Performance Improvement Council of the Incentive Marketing Association looks at the importance of using active retention efforts to keep both consumers and business-to-business customers for the long term.

Dittman Launches Website for Group Incentive Travel

Dittman Incentive Marketing, a national performance improvement and incentive marketing provider, has launched a new website highlighting leading corporate group travel incentives. “Our success over the years is deeply rooted in the belief that best-in-class incentive travel is the prime mover in the motivational universe,” says Jim Dittman, President of Dittman Incentive Marketing. “It moves minds and hearts into action that produces demonstrable ROI against ambitious goals.” Dittman Incentive Marketing partners with Fortune 500 corporations to design and deploy customized solutions that improve sales performance and employee engagement. By communicating corporate brand values and brand promise, corporate human resources, sales and marketing executives can leverage Dittman Incentive Marketing to enhance corporate culture for a more engaged workforce. Info at www.DittmanIncentiveTravel.com

EEA Advisors Discuss Internal Branding with HR Executive Magazine

EEA Curriculum Challenges Reward Assumptions

Recently, the Enterprise Engagement Alliance (EEA) performed a review of the past quarter-century of research into Rewards & Recognition. Among the main objectives of this review was to determine links between the use of Incentives and Engagement. Looking at evidence from more than forty studies, researchers found that incentive and reward programs can drive engagement if they are carefully and deliberately designed to do so. Read more >

EEA Curriculum on Measuring Engagement and Performance

There’s a reason for the old adage: “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” Anyone who has ever tried to run a business knows that’s true. But it is also true that you can’t manage what you measure only once each year. When it comes to employee and customer engagement, most of us... collect information through annual surveys, analyze the results, share them in a high-level report and perhaps devote part of an executive meeting to discuss the implications. Like performance reviews, this is usually done once a year – if at all. In order to make informed decisions based in fact, managers need to: · Regularly monitor trends in employee, customer, supplier and partner engagement · Analyze those trends · Share the information across the organization · Set goals · Mobilize executives, managers and supervisors to take action Effective measurement requires that certain fundamentals or principals be observed. Meaningful measurement will normally require an estimate of business impact at minimum and, in some cases, a Return on Investment (ROI) calculation. Following the advice below will ensure that you develop credible and defensible estimates of the business impact and ROI (where necessary) of your engagement initiatives.

EEA Rewards & Recognition Expo - April 30-May 1, 2012 - St. Louis

A unique opportunity for rewards and recognition suppliers to meet with top incentive and recognition buyers in an intimate, relaxed environment, and to tap into the expanding recognition marketplace. Co-located with the Recognition Professionals International Annual Conference, April 29-May 2, 2012

EEA Webinar Series on 'The Science of Rewards & Recognition'

The EEA has scheduled a series of webinars on The Science of Rewards & Recognition presented by EEA Chairman Allan Schweyer in conjunction with the Incentive Research Foundation. Here are the dates:

Employee Engagement, Customer Satisfaction and Profitability

This study from the Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement seeks to understand the organizational drivers of employee satisfaction and employee engagement, and the downstream effects of these employee attitudes on customers and financial performance

Employees: Strategic Issues

This article provides a model for creating incentive programs for non-sales employees.

Employees: Types of Programs

This article provides an overview and key planning considerations for the most common types of non-sales employee incentive and recognition programs.

Engaged Workers See Glass as Half-Full

Engagement is about attitude. So it's not surprising that engaged employees have a tendency to see the glass as "half-full" and report positively on their company's situation. Example: A new Gallup study reports that employees who are in engaged in their work and workplace are twice as likely to report their organization is hiring new workers as those who are actively disengaged. On the other hand, workers who are emotionally disconnected from their work and workplace are far more likely to report their organization is letting people go than those who are engaged.

Engagement = Business – Where the Rubber Meets the Road

If you still doubt how the emerging field of engagement is affecting traditional marketing, listen to this. One of the companies involved with the Enterprise Engagement Alliance is a long-standing integrated marketing agency that moved away from focusing solely on meetings and incentives several years ago to provide a more broad-based, solutions-oriented performance improvement services. As a result, it was a natural for the company to embrace “enterprise engagement,” and the firm, which I cannot name here, was one of our first founding sponsors and remains actively involved.

Engagement in Action

While I haven’t yet seen any major business publications cover the emerging area of engagement, the traditional trade media is on it. Recent articles in publications as diverse as the HR Executive (here and here), Corporate Meetings and Incentives, Training, and the American Management Association have featured articles on various aspects of engagement. Even more telling are instances like what happened to me recently.

Exploring the Building Blocks of ‘Employee Lifetime Value’

This document examines properties shared by Employee Lifetime Value and Customer Lifetime Value, which are explored in further detail in a 45-page research report entitled Employee Lifetime Value: Measuring the Long-Term Financial Contribution of Employees.

Featured Webinars

Federation Study 2007: A Study of the Incentive Merchandise and Travel Marketplace

This article takes a look at the Incentive Federation's 2007 U.S. Incentive Merchandise and Travel Marketplace Study.

GE Touts Employee, Customer Link in Moving Ad Campaign

This TV campaign is evidence that more organizations see the value of touting the connection between their employees and customers.

Gift Card Consolidators Offer Protection, Peace of Mind

While most people would agree that gift card consolidators are a significant force in the incentive industry, there seems to be some confusion about just what a gift card consolidator is and who stakes claim to the title.

How Attributes of Social Media are Changing Corporate Performance

Today, the structure of recognition and rewards solutions has to be such that continuous change nurtures interest according to societal trends. It must enable the thoughtful consideration of brand values as inherent to the initiative, and it must allow for contribution, participation, thought leadership, and rewards participation across all silos or types of work. The language of motivation is growing to keep pace with Social Behaviors, encompassing people’s needs for contribution to safety, innovation, and charity, as well as their need to collect accolades, points, recommendations, and thanks. In addition to achieving or unlocking rewards, collection of points ‘for the sake of collecting’ is demonstrated in Social Behaviors.

Human Capital Diagnostics: Measuring the Intangibles

Measuring Intangibles Boosts Performance A new EEA white paper, Human Capital Diagnostics: Measuring the Intangibles, offers compelling proof that companies perform better when they make a concerted effort to measure things like employee performance, engagement, innovation and change. If human capital represents a company’s largest cost and most critical asset, it follows that decisions about talent are among the most important any organization will make. It also means that accurate human capital diagnostic (HCD) and assessment tools are vital to organizations in order to prevent expensive mistakes in hiring, training, deploying and managing the performance of talent.

Human Resources and Marketing: A Missing Link?

This article provides an overview of research from the Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement looking at the importance of communication between human resources and marketing.

Incentives, Motivation & Workplace Performance

This paper from the Incentive Research Foundation looks at the factors in incentive program design and implementation that can impact its success.

Keeping Engagement Alive During Tough Times

This paper explores how to keep employee engagement alive, even during economic downturns. The ideal engaged employee has a proven track record of making meaningful contributions, speaks positively about the organization to friends, coworkers, clients and potential employees, and puts forth the extra effort to be successful over the long term. Since employee engagement is proven to have a measurable impact on profitability (due to enhanced productivity, innovation and the quality of goods and services delivered) the imperative for managers becomes development of engagement strategies and practical implementation. If you haven’t done so already, now is the time for you and your team members to take the initiative – define what your engagement objectives are, how they will be accomplished and get the necessary buy-in. Understand that engagement efforts don’t fall only to managers; the process needs to be a two-way street. Employees have high expectations of management, and management should have the same high expectations of their employees. Read the full white paper here

Let’s Pretend You’re Spain…

A bit of Brand Engagement wisdom from Robert Passikoff, Founder and President of Brand Keys, Inc., Catch his education session at this year Enterprise Engagement Expo: “The Integrated Incentive Engagement Evaluator.”

Marcus Evans 7th Annual Internal Communications & Situational Messaging Conference - Nov 30-Dec 1 - Boston

This year’s event will be one you won’t want to miss! We’re featuring two-full days packed with presentations and panel discussions lead by BP, Eddie Bauer, Lowes, American Airlines, BNSF Railways and many more. Attend and learn how to effectively handle situational messaging at your company including: crisis communications, mergers and acquisitions, corporate social responsibility and change management.

Marcus Evans Strategic Recruiting & Employer Branding Canada - March 20-21, 2012 - Toronto

The Strategic Recruiting and Employer Branding conference will enable employers to re-purpose and re-focus recruiting efforts by advancing processes to adapt to evolving challenges within the current recruitment market. This conference will demonstrate how to align a truly integrated Strategic Recruitment Strategy to the multiple business units across the organization while building on internal bench strengths, the employer brand and successfully capturing valuable talent within national and global markets. For additional information please email ddrey@marcusevansch.com or visit http://www.marcusevansdefense.com/eei_srib

Maritz Announces Custom Travel Division

Maritz recently announced the launch of Maritz Journeys, a new division providing personalized, one-of-a-kind travel itineraries geared toward incentive/reward trips and vacation planning for individuals and small groups. By tailoring the experience to the traveler’s interests and specifications – such as length of travel, destination, activities and budget – programs are designed from the bottom up to create a truly rewarding and memorable experience. The travel solutions range from incentive trips and experiential travel to destination celebrations and multi-generational family travel. Info at www.maritzjourneys.com/

Mercer Survey Shows Declining Employee Loyalty

Employee loyalty is dropping around the world, according to new Mercer’s What’s Working survey. The research, conducted among nearly 30,000 employees in 17 geographic markets between the fourth quarter of 2010 and the second quarter of 2011, shows that the percentage of workers seriously considering leaving their organization has risen since the last time the survey was conducted in each market (prior to the economic downturn). In many markets, the increase is 10 percentage points or more. In the U.S., the increase was 9 points, from 23% in 2005 to 32% in 2010. According to Pete Foley, PhD, a Principal at Mercer and North American Employee Research Leader, “The overall employment deal is in a state of flux around the world, with employees rethinking what they want out of the employment relationship. Our research shows that, despite the ongoing economic uncertainty, more employees would consider leaving today for a better opportunity.” For a complete summary, go to http://inside-employees-mind.mercer.com/press-releases/1430455

New Book Examines Impact of Employee Frustration on Engagement

Frustrated employees represent 20% or more of the total workforce, leading to a major loss in performance, talent and revenue. Frustration wears down motivated, dedicated employees who really care about their jobs but can’t get the organizational support they need to get things done.

New Company Offers Unique Award Strategy

LoyaltyShares LLC, a New York-based company, is launching what it calls a Loyalty Equity Acquisition Program, or LEAP, offering a way to include the sponsoring company’s publicly traded stock as an award redemption option without disrupting or changing the current loyalty program process and technology. In addition to providing a template for implementation and guidance in planning, LoyaltyShares LLC will have an ongoing program role as data intermediary, facilitating the flow of information to and from program members, the reward-points system, and the system for administering program shares. Info at www.loyaltyshares.com/

New Enterprise Engagement Benchmark Indicator Ready for Testing

The Enterprise Engagement Alliance has created a simple tool that any company can use for free to almost instantly benchmark its engagement efforts against best practices and an aggregate of other organizations using the tool. You can test it at http://www.eewidget.com/eebenchmark

New Enterprise Engagement Benchmark Indicator Ready for Testing

The Enterprise Engagement Alliance has created a simple tool that any company can use for free to almost instantly benchmark its engagement efforts against best practices and an aggregate of other organizations using the tool.You can test it at... http://www.eebenchmark.com. Simply fill out the questionnaire, click on submit, and the results come up instantly. Complete confidentially is assured, because there’s no need to identify yourself or your client. Please feel free to share any feedback with me. The questions are based on extensive research on Enterprise Engagement practices and on input from Allan Schweyer, EEA Chairman and an expert on employee engagement; Rodger Stotz, the Incentive Research Foundation’s Chief Research Officer and an expert on channel partner engagement, and Tom Hoffman, Executive Business Editor for Peppers & Rodgers’ 1to1 Media division.This tool was made possible by sponsorship support from Canon Special Markets, JWT Inside, and Marcus Evans.

New Research Shows the Path from Engagement to Productivity

There is a real ROI to corporate efforts to engage employees, according to research by Corporate Executive Board research arm CLC-Genesee, which has been surveying and analyzing employee engagement at companies for a number of years.

Older Workers Are Most Engaged

A new research study by the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College examines work experiences of employees, finding that those 40 years old and older are the most engaged and demonstrate the highest level of organizational commitment, and that those 50 years old and older are the most satisfied with their jobs. Employees between the ages of 30 and 39 evidenced

Performance Management & Incentives in the Era of Sarbanes-Oxley

This white paper from the Performance Improvement Council of the Incentive Marketing Association looks at how Sarbanes-Oxley requirements can affect incentive and recognition plans.

Practicing the Power of Nice

Linda Kaplan Thaler, one of the keynote speakers at this year’s Enterprise Engagement Expo, believes that – contrary to the conventional wisdom – ‘nice guys finish first’

Promotional Products: Impact, Exposure And Influence.

This research report suggests that use of promotional products can improve advertising results.

Promotional Products—The Key Ingredient to Integrated Marketing

According to this study, combining use of promotional products with other marketing media will improve overall results.

Recognition vs. Compensation

This article addresses the fundamental question of when to use cash or tangible awards in your incentive, performance, or recognition program. It summarizes research on the subject and outlines steps to be taken in this critical area of employee motivation.

RPI Annual Conference - April 29-May 2, 2012 - St. Louis

At the Recognition Professionals International (RPI) annual conference, recognition professionals from all industries, levels, and departments including human resources, benefits, compensation, and management from around the world will meet to network with peers and learn how to develop effective employee recognition systems based on best practices that enhance employee engagement and performance.

Salespeople: Strategic Planning

This article addresses the important issue of setting goals and objectives for your sales incentive plan.

Selecting a Toolset for Improving Collaboration

The argument for better Employee Engagement has never been more compelling. Articles, papers and blogs abound covering the philosophies and tips for improving work environments, social conditions and organizational sensitivity.

Survey Examines the Engagement/Performance Equation

Employee engagement and employee performance management truly go hand in hand. The goal for both is to create alignment between the needs, desires, skills and activities of individuals and what the business requires to achieve results. But in today's intense business environment, what managers and employees need to achieve this balance can be difficult to discern.

Survey Looks at Use of Communications Tools to Build Engagement

A recent survey by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Research Foundation and Buck Consultants finds that the most common communication tools used to engage employees and foster productivity in organizations ...

Survey: 26% of Companies Fail to Retain High-Potential Employees

According to a survey of 562 senior managers and executives by AMA Enterprise, 26% of employers are ineffective in retaining their high-potential workers. Even though more than half (56%) are considered “somewhat effective” at hanging on to high-performing talent, only 18% are “very effective,” according to the survey’s findings. “Management succession and future leadership are paramount concerns at most companies today,” says Sandi Edwards, Senior VP of AMA Enterprise, a specialized division of American Management Association that offers advisory services and tailored learning programs to organizations. “Yet their efforts to hold on to their best people often fail.

Tax Considerations for Incentive Programs

This article looks briefly at some of the important federal tax requirements that apply to incentive programs.

Taxation of Employee Achievement Awards

Here's a look at some of the tax issues that apply to employee achievement awards.

Temkin Releases Employee Engagement Benchmarking Report

Employee engagement is one of the four customer experience core competencies and it’s the one that companies tend to struggle with the most. To examine this critical area, Temkin Group surveyed more than 2,400 U.S. employees, finding that only 40% are fully committed to helping their companies succeed, 54% will do good for the company even if it’s not expected, and 26% are likely to look for a new job within six months.

The Customer-Employee Connection

You might have seen the moving ad from manufacturing giant GE demonstrating the emotional connection between its employees and customers. (Embeded video at right – Subscribers may need to click through to see video.)

The Economics of Engagement

In today's economic environment, employers are struggling to find every advantage possible to thrive, grow or simply to stay in business. For most US based organizations payroll represents the largest expense. Advantages therefore, come first and foremost through better talent management.

The Economics of Retention

A carefully considered employee retention strategy can help boost engagement and reduce hiring, training, and other costs associated with turnover.

The Motivation Show - Oct. 23-25, 2012 - Chicago

The Motivation Show includes the Incentive Travel and Meetings Executives Show (IT&ME) and the National Premium Incentive Show (NP/IS), with exhibitors representing the entire range of premium and incentive product and travel destination offerings. Educational sessions cover consumer premiums, employee incentive awards, incentive travel, employee recognition and performance improvement.

The New Face of Engagement

The old tools for reaching and building relationships with customers aren’t working as effectively anymore...

The New Face of Your Brand

I had a recent experience with the new service 800 Got Junk that demonstrates how organizations are going to have to take an entirely new look at the definition of their brands. If you don’t know the service, it’s at face value, a great way to get rid of unwanted anything in a hurry. Just call the toll-free number and, depending on your location, chances are within a day or two the company will schedule an appointment to come by and take it away. The price is based simply on the percentage of the truck your garbage requires.

The New Role of Rewards and Recognition

What's the role of rewards and recognition within the field of enterprise engagement? There is almost nothing more engaging than a carefully selected reward or gift well suited to the recipient and commensurate with his or her contribution, as a customer, channel partner, or employee.

The People vs. The Internet

Have you bought a computer lately? A recent shopping experience demonstrates the value of people and how corporate cost-cutting can have a negative impact on the customer experience and brand loyalty. Businesses that cut corners with people face long-term consequences that, as a result of social networking, they can no longer ignore.

The Road to an Engaged Workforce

This research article identifies several characteristics driving employee engagement, including employee satisfaction, and identifies organizational communication as a key driver of employee satisfaction.

The ROI of Integrated Marketing

This article defines integrated marketing and looks at the the importance of communication to program success.

Towers Watson Releases Talent|REWARD Software

Towers Watson recently announced the release of Talent|REWARD v7, the newest version of the company’s software solution that helps organizations deliver comprehensive talent management and reward programs. The new version of Talent|REWARD v7 provides a broad range of capabilities for organizations looking to improve business results through better management of HR processes and their employees. The software lets organizations optimize and automate talent and reward programs, focusing on three key themes: • Usability. Personalized dashboards, one-click access to critical capabilities, and support for Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari and Firefox allow users to leverage the technology and processes they are most comfortable with more efficiently. • Leverage. The latest release now includes support for both Towers Watson job-leveling methodologies -Career Map and Global Grading -enabling clients to leverage their investment in the company’s proprietary approach to global job leveling. • Speed. All users will benefit from a three- to fivefold increase in application responsiveness. This will help all managers and employees, as well as HR, realize the true value of an integrated talent management and reward solution. Info at www.towerswatson.com/press/5552

Turning the Page – Year in Review

Now that 2011 is officially in the books I thought I’d bring everyone up to speed on the work that was done last year and hint at some of the great stuff planned for 2012. As you know, the Enterprise Engagement Alliance has a clear, ambitious mission: to help support a new formal business practice required

Two New Maritz White Papers Examine Critical Engagement Issues

Motivation management & research firm Maritz recently released two white papers touching on key areas of engagement. The first, A New Paradigm for Loyalty Marketing: Building Loyalty Along the ‘Earn, Burn, Yearn’ Continuum, notes that just as advertising has evolved to address multiple consumer segments, loyalty marketing’s approach must also adapt to multiple customer personas. Program messages and communication should be tailored and segmented to reach these specific personas, and the value proposition of the rewards needs to appeal to enrolled participants. With this approach, a one-size-fits-all loyalty program instead becomes an authentic customer engagement program that’s based on relevance and relationships.

Which? Who? What? Why Award Selection is Critical to Driving Engagement

Each year in the United States, organizations spend tens of billions of dollars on cash and non-cash rewards for consumer, distributor, sales and employee incentive programs –merchandise, gift cards, group and individual travel programs, time off, cash, etc. But few organizations invest the necessary time to understand which rewards should be used for which people to encourage what outcomes

Why Incentive Programs Endure Recessions

Historically, incentive programs, unlike other sales and marketing strategies, have endured economic downturns. In fact, according to a review of past Incentive Federation and industry studies, the incentive industry managed to grow following the recessions that occurred in the late 1980s, after September 11, 2001, and during the downturn of the late 1990s, following the dot-com collapse.

‘Hey! There’s a Person in There!’

To survive and prosper in tumultuous economic times, a firm’s most important operating asset is a resilient, innovative corporate culture – and the engaged employees who promote it from within.

Engaged Workers See Glass as Half-Full

Engagement is about attitude. So it’s not surprising that engaged employees have a tendency to see the glass as “half-full” and report positively on their company’s situation ...

"Bach - Sounds of Success"

The Bach Collection is sold through distributor showrooms and branches to builders and plumbers. This channel is extremely competitive. Distributors typically sell products from as many as twelve manufacturers and, at any given time, they may be exposed to 5-7 active promotions designed to capture their attention and time. To cut through the promotion clutter, Performance Plus Marketing recommended a high-impact sweepstakes structure for "The Sounds of Success."

"Do More Get More"

T-Mobile worked with performance improvement company Marketing Innovators to execute an employee initiative that would help them reach their goal of becoming America’s number one wireless service provider. Their target audience of 11,000 customer-facing employees in fifteen call centers nationwide was a diverse group, representing a true cross section of the American work force in terms of age, ethnicity, geography, and job responsibility. The driving force behind the “Do More Get More” campaign was the compelling incentive program.

"Enterprise Engagement" Has Its Place on Wikipedia, Social Networking Sites

You can join the discussion about engaging employees, channel partners, and customers can increase productivity and profits by visiting these social media sites.

"It's Always About the Boss"

Engagement doesn’t just happen, and in most organizations frontline management has a lot to do with the success – or failure – of an organization’s engagement efforts. Recent research from the Gallup organization on employee disengagement in Germany, for instance, suggests that highly motivated people can become disengaged when their supervisors don’t ask for their opinions, don’t offer feedback, show little interest in them as human beings, and ask them to do jobs that are not suited to them. “Quitting is almost always a statement against the immediate supervisor,” says Gallup strategic consultant Marco Nink, who speaks at length in this interview on the supervisor's impact on engagement.

"Leveraging Excellence"

Anderson’s thirty-five employees are young, technologically savvy, professionals between the ages of 25-45. Most are married with children and, as a group, the staff tries to maintain a fair balance between work, family, and community involvement. The “Leveraging Excellence” program was designed to motivate positive changes in employee behavior that would improve each employee’s knowledge, increase their performance, and thus, contribute directly to their own success, as well as their organization’s success.

"Master's Circle - Hawaii 0-Five - Hana Hou Maui"

Every year, Diebold’s world wide sales staff and manufacturers’ representatives are assigned annual sales objectives. Those who meet their sales goals automatically qualify for the Master’s Circle. The top 10% of those who earn Master’s Circle status gain admission into the elite Circle of Excellence.

"Raymond Safety Bowl"

In the mining industry, the average cost of a Loss Time Accident (LTA) is approximately $50,000. To raise awareness of good safety practices on and off the job, Massey worked with Artistic Promotions to develop an incentive program that would motivate their predominately male work force of coal miners, supervisors, and mine safety directors to improve individual, team, and mine safety performance. Football was a theme that had broad appeal for this target audience and with the goal of improving team performance, it was logical to create the “Raymond Safety Bowl”. The Bowl was named after a former employee, Raymond Bradbury, who was legendary for his concern for safe work habits.

$1-Million Sweepstakes Builds Shaw's Sales

Shaw Industries stimulated excitement about its floor covering products among 30,000 independent retail sales representatives located in 10,000 showrooms through its "Win Shaw's Money $1,000,000 Sweepstakes."

''Born To Be Wild'' Trip Promotes Teamwork

Washington Mutual, Inc., North America's seventh largest bank, selected an incentive trip to the island of Kauai in Hawaii as the incentive reward for its top achievers. The trip would also introduce Washington Mutual's corporate culture to attendees from Home Savings of America, a newly acquired company.

''Capture Your Share'' Generates 18% Sales Gain

MBM Corp.'s sales follow the 80/20 rule: 80% of all MBM purchases are made by 20% of the dealers that sell its line of paper shredders, cutters, and other office equipment. To motivate everyone in its network of 1,800 dealers in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico, the company teamed up with USMotivation to create the "Capture Your Share" campaign.

''Dare To Dream'' Campaign Upgrades Customer Service

Pick-n-Pay, a South African supermarket chain with 265 stores, opted to rebuild its corporate image, emphasizing such tenets as respect, dignity, and freedom for all individuals.

''Finnish in Russia'': An Incentive Legend

Since qualifiers could not visit all the famous Finnish sites, locales came to them. Experiences Unlimited built a Lapland village and constructed a kota, a Lapland tepee, for the group's dinner in a spruce forest. Sleds with wheels were assembled to provide traditional dogsled transportation minus the snow. A mystical shamanic dance and a multimedia aurora borealis show completed the evening's activities.

''Mohawk Means Business'' Sparks 31% Sales Rise

When Mohawk Industries, a $2-billion manufacturer of carpets and rugs, acquired several prestigious brands, it took considerable resources of time and money. The expansion and consolidation process inevitably affected some of the company's key residential dealers.

''Now You See It, Now You Don't''

Unum Corp. hosts its Chairman's Conference every two years to recognize the top 5-10% of the sales force from its seven companies. Program qualifications place heavy emphasis on collaborative sales involving more than one company's products. Sales results for this promotion were spectacular: collaborative sales were up more than 200%, and overall sales increased 15%.

''Picture Perfect Awards'' Motivate Sales Force

In addition to the company's own sales staff, the program was aimed at 14 manufacturer rep organizations, 3 major distributors, and their respective sales forces, which numbered several hundred people. The program also included almost 3,000 sales staff from computer dealers, remarketers, resellers, retailers, and catalog companies.

''Producer Perks'' Beats Cash for LifeUSA

To capture the attention of LifeUSA agents, awards had to be of high value, innovative, and flexible. The agents, primarily males in their mid-30's and up, are attracted to the latest gadgets and electronics. Also, awards had to appeal to novice agents as well as top producers.

''Sellutions'' Promotes Sales of Products, Services

The program was introduced via an announcement featuring a scale model Harley-Davidson and a chamois cloth, imprinted with information about the "Sellutions" Web site and program rules. Copy invited participants to "Head out on the highway...the information highway," directing them to the Web site for full program details.

''Spirit of the Seasons'' Challenges Diebold Sales Force

With the Big Island of Hawaii as its incentive destination, the "Spirit of the Seasons...Discovery" promotion focused on four elements: a bird of paradise; wind and water; a snow-capped mountain; and a spewing volcano. Four brochures—one relating to each of the elements—were created, using stylized images. A dramatic mailing box was created to increase interest. A videotape announcing the destination, along with the brochures, fit inside the box, which was sent to participants' homes to generate interest among family members.

''Winner's Circle'' Builds Honda's Warrenty Sales

The "Winners' Circle" program logo and theme were designed around the popular motocross cross-country motorcycle race, and featured the No. 1 plate that is awarded to winners. Honda is a leader in production of off-road motocross bikes and a sponsor of the No. 1 team in the sport. Therefore, the logo and theme were a natural tie-in for use in printed material.