Innovations in Employee Reward Systems

Companies are frequently searching for ways to reward and celebrate their best employees beyond monetary compensation. A notable employee might be rewarded with a special perk like a reserved parking spot or a paid trip to a conference of their choice.

Another popular choice instituted by many companies is an "Employee of the Month" program, where each month, a single, exceptional contributor is awarded this title and perhaps given an additional token of gratitude beyond the award itself.

However, such awards can often lead to unrest in an organization. Collaborators that don't agree the recipient was truly the best employee for that month could lose faith in leadership's ability to recognize talent. Worse, if an employee believes they were more deserving of the award, this could demotivate that person. Such awards frequently go to people whose contributions were particularly in the spotlight of the leadership team, causing valuable employees whose contributions are not glamorous to be overlooked. All too often, such an occurance can make a hard working employee feel unappreciated and lead to them to consider searching for employment elsewhere.

The cost of replacing a trained employee is quite high, so an "Employee of the Month" program can often come with a huge cost. As a result many organizations have started abandoning these programs.

At Data Skeptic, we'd like to propose an alternative. We encourage you to create an award for "Employee of the Month, Runner up". That's right, give the award to the second most valuable team member. This program has several distinct advantages over it's more traditional counterpart.

First, recognize that an award for second place is a great achievement, even in a small company. Though they might prefer gold, every silver award winning Olympic athlete should feel pride for their achievements and the honor it brings to their country of origin. Even in a small company, second place is a noble victory.

Second, the Runner Up award eliminates the possibility of jealousy. It creates plausible deniability for the company. Several hard working employees might all assume that they were the true 1st place employee of the month, and thus, not qualified for the award for 2nd place.

Third, such an award, while a point of pride, also sends a message to the recipient: Great job! We appreciate you! But just so you know, you actually could have done a little bit better.

We hear many people have started rolling out these plans. Let us know how it goes if your company adopts this innovation.