Effectively Recognize IT Employees
Use straightforward best practices to rapidly build an IT recognition program that drives team effectiveness – without the big financial or time investment.
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Contributors
- Cherie Smith, Enterprise Engagement Manager, CalPERS
- Chester Elton, Apostle of Appreciation, Founder, Author, Speaker, The Culture Works
- Fady Makar, Employee Recognition & Engagement Manager, University of Toronto
- Ilia Maor, Senior Director, Info-Tech Research Group
- Joel de los Santos, Compensation Expert, Bayer
- Kevin Cronin, Director, Corporate Event Awards, O.C. Tanner
- Kristin Claudy, Manager, Leadership and Engagement, CalPERS
- Mark Nagy, former Director, Recognition Programs, RBC
- Michelle Preston, HR Director, Kira Systems
- Peter Hart, President & CEO, Rideau Recognition Systems
- Scott Russell, Director – Client Services, C.A. Short Company
- Tina Gunn Weede, President & CEO, Peerless Performance
- Voke Ararile, Talent Acquisition Manager, Auto Capital Canada Inc.
- Even when organizations do have recognition programs, employees want more recognition than they currently receive.
- In a recent study, McLean & Company found that 69% of IT employees surveyed felt they were not adequately praised and rewarded for superior work.
- In a lot of cases, the issue with recognition programs isn’t that IT departments haven’t thought about the importance but rather that they haven’t focused on proper execution.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- You’re busy – don’t make your recognition program more complicated than it needs to be. Focus on day-to-day ideas and actively embed recognition into your IT team’s culture.
- Recognition is impactful independent of rewards (i.e. items with a monetary value), but rewarding employees without proper recognition can be counterproductive. Put recognition first and use rewards as a way to amplify its effectiveness.
Impact and Result
- Info-Tech tools and guidance will help you develop a successful and sustainable recognition program aligned to strategic goals and values.
- By focusing on three key elements – customization, alignment, and transparency – you can improve your recognition culture within four weeks, increasing employee engagement and productivity, improving relationships, and reducing turnover.
Start here – read the Executive Brief
Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should implement an IT employee recognition program, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.
1. Assess the current recognition landscape
Understand the current perceptions around recognition practices in the organization and determine the behaviors that your program will seek to recognize.
2. Design the recognition program
Determine the structure and processes to enable effective recognition in your IT organization.
3. Implement the recognition program
Rapidly build and roll out a recognition action and sustainment plan, including training managers to reinforce behavior with recognition.
Guided Implementations
This guided implementation is a nine call advisory process.
Guided Implementation #1 - Assess the current recognition landscape
Call #1 - Discuss formal and day-to-day recognition, the three keys to recognition, key data sources, and customization of the recognition survey.
Call #2 - Review survey results and identify themes to discuss in focus groups.
Call #3 - Identify key criteria based on organizational objectives.
Guided Implementation #2 - Design the recognition program
Call #1 - Determine the program format and identify if it will consist of both formal and day-to-day recognition initiatives.
Call #2 - Review formal recognition initiatives, if any.
Call #3 - Identify day-to-day recognition initiatives.
Guided Implementation #3 - Implement the recognition program
Call #1 - Identify key metrics that will be used to measure the impact of recognition. Discuss the Recognition Action and Communication Plan.
Call #2 - Review completed Recognition Action and Communication Plan and discuss manager training.
Call #3 - Discuss tactics to ingrain and sustain recognition.
After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this Blueprint, and what our clients have to say.
Client
Experience
Impact
$ Saved
Days Saved
City Of Kawartha Lakes
Guided Implementation
8/10
N/A
5
