Creative rewards

Karen Warlow

HR Director, SEA – BT & BT Frontline, BT Global Services

Absolutely! It is not always easy to reward people financially particularly in the current market. However, taking the time to publically recognise people is something that has been well-received at BT. This is especially so when line managers may not have direct line of sight of the good work that staff are doing daily across borders. Last year, we successfully launched the Asia Pac Achievers Award. The scheme is open to all employees and nominations can be made by anyone – not just the management – on a quarterly basis. The winner is mentioned at our APAC Managing Directors all hands call, presented with a framed certificate and encouraged to take his/her spouse out for dinner on the company – after all, it’s frequently the support we get from home that enables us to perform in the workplace. From a business perspective, we have been able to contain our costs and from a motivation viewpoint, we have people chomping at the bit to nominate their teams and colleagues. We can never underestimate the power of saying ‘thank you - well done’.

Friedrich Rummel

Head of HR, Allianz Insurance

I’d like to share a personal example, about a reward I received from my manager for my performance in a major project.

The reward was so special that I did not even know that it existed: custom-designed running shoes. My manager knew I was preparing for my yearly marathon. He surprised me with my new shoes, tailor-made and designed with the Allianz name and colour as well as with further individual features. This very personal reward made all the difference to me and engaged me much more than a monetary bonus.

At Allianz we work to balance monetary and non-monetary rewards.

Non-monetary rewards include development opportunities like attending programs in our “Allianz Management Institute”, participation in international projects, short or medium term international assignments and sabbaticals. The most important recognition I believe is high quality feedback, where managers spend time to help their employees to identify strengths and development areas, and then help to address these with action plans.

Sonia Cargan

Vice President, HR – East Asia, American Express International Inc

At American Express, we strongly believe in rewarding and recognising our employees’ good work. We have organised two annual awards on a global and company-wide level to recognise our employees who are helping to keep our 160-year service brand heritage alive. The Chairman’s Award for Innovation recognises and rewards employees and teams who are making a difference in our organisation through innovation. One important criterion when short-listing nominees is that their innovation must ultimately lead to an improved customer experience – Internally and/or externally. In the past, we have recognised teams that have developed new and better ways to serve our customers, strengthened our capabilities, and set new standards in the industries we operate in. We also take great pride in our Customer Service Award that recognises our frontline customer care professionals who go to exceptional lengths to provide outstanding service to customers. A similar award, Pacesetter Award, identifies employees who have demonstrated the art of delivering great customer experiences.