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Appreciating great work boosts engagement dramatically. across cultures. across industries. across the world.

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inside return on performance Q2 2011

volume 3 issue 2

PEOPLE: purpose • performance • profit Business improvement starts with people.

Return on Performance provides the latest best practice strategies and research to engage, align and motivate employees, business partners and customers to yield measurable corporate results.

purpose 12 leveraging the talent advantage Workers have persevered through the rising demands of a bumpy economy and are looking to you for motivation to stick around. As more companies expand their workforces as the economy recovers, the challenge will not only be hiring the right people from outside your company, but also retaining the talent within your company today.

16 creating a culture of well-being

22 protecting high-potential talent

Smart business leaders realize that to build vital, productive organizations with people who feel great and work better, they must create a culture of well-being throughout their organizations, viewing employees as whole people whose personal lives cascade into their work lives.

If you’ve been ignoring your high-potential talent, be afraid, be very afraid.

Chances are they’re likely scouting out better opportunities especially now that the economy is in an upswing. In survey after survey, the percentage of high-potential talent seeking work elsewhere is high—in the range of 21 to 25 percent.

performance

profit

departments

24 incentives in action 27 people-centric leaders

7 8

10 editor’s message 29 fast facts 30 index to advertisers/advertiser.com

call to action recognize for results

Access the digital edition of ROP at www.returnonperformance.com.

5

editor’s message PEOPLE: purpose performance profit

D

o you have a sneaking suspicion that your top talent is brushing up their resumes? In a workforce where 25 percent of high-potential employees are looking to leave their current employer within a year1, it behooves you to dig deep to uncover the secrets to keeping your talented employees from jumping ship.

In this issue of Return on Performance, we’ll tackle these hard-hitting issues and present solutions for your company. On p. 12, “Leveraging the Talent Advantage” explores the challenge of providing the right incentives to retain the “neglected warriors” who’ve become overwhelmed with the responsibilities added to their job description during the recession.

“Creating a Culture of Well-being” on page 16 continues the discussion through a frank look at cultivating well-being in order to create a vital, productive organization of people that feel better and work better. Hear how Zappos.com is leading the well-being revolution through its innovation and business philosophies.

Finally, the article on p. 20 addresses the top tier of employees—the highpotential talent—and how to ensure this uniquely skilled workforce stays with you.

Now more than ever, leaders need to shake off complacency and expose the threats that could pressure talented employees to look elsewhere for an engaging and motivating workplace.

In the next issue we’ll explore innovation. Many experts agree that creativity and innovation are the new harbingers of success. We’ll examine the many ways companies are focusing on innovation and using it as a strategic advantage. Contact me if you’ve got an innovation success story to share.

Julie Ahlgren jahlgren@naylor.com

References 1. 2010 study by Corporate Executive Board

For an iPad-friendly version of the publication, visit www.returnonperformance.com to download current or archived issues of Return on Performance magazine.

6

Volume 3 Issue 2

Printed May 2011

Return on Performance is the definitive voice of the incentive marketing industry providing the latest best practice strategies and research available on engaging, aligning and motivating employees, business partners and customers to yield measurable corporate results.

PUBLISHED FOR: Incentive Marketing Association 1601 North Bond Street, Suite 303 Naperville, IL 60563 USA 630-369-7780 Fax: 630-369-3773 www.incentivemarketing.org PUBLISHED BY: Naylor, LLC 5950 NW 1st Place Gainesville, FL 32607 Phone: 352.332.1252 800.369.6220 Fax: 352.331.3525 www.naylor.com PUBLISHER Jill Andreu EDITOR Julie Ahlgren MARKETING Cassie Tooke PROJECT MANAGER Alana Place PUBLICATION DIRECTOR Tracy Goltsman ACCOUNT REPRESENTATIVES Sheryl Matheson, Cheryll Oland LAYOUT & DESIGN Catharine Snell & Kayti Taylor ADVERTISING ART Vinod Kumar ©2011 Naylor, LLC. All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of the publisher.

PUBLISHED MAY 2011/INC-Q0211/5343

CONTRIBUTORS Jodi Ferguson Sheryl Jackson Brian Katz Kelly Putter Michelle M. Smith Return on Performance magazine is the official magazine of the Incentive Marketing Association. www.returnonperformance.com

ROP EDITORIAL BOARD Karen Renk, CAE Chairperson Executive Director, Incentive Marketing Association Michelle M. Smith, CPIM, CRP, Editorial Board Chair Vice President, Business Development, O. C. Tanner Mike Arvelo, CPIM Executive Vice President, Paramax Spencer Toomey, IP Senior Vice President, The Corporate Marketplace Inc. DISCLAIMER The views and statements expressed herein are entirely those of the authors and should not be construed as statements or opinions of the Incentive Marketing Association.

REPRINT PERMISSION Requests to use materials published in Return on Performance should be directed to www.naylor.com/ clientsupport-articlereprint.asp. No reproduction in whole or in part of any part of this magazine is permitted without the written permission of the publisher.

SUBSCRIPTIONS Return on Performance magazine is published quarterly. For subscription information, please contact Julie Ahlgren, ROP editor, at 800-369-6220 or jahlgren@naylor.com.

by michelle m. smith

Unleashing opportunities for talent to flourish A

ttracting, retaining and optimizing talent—and doing it successfully—is the new leadership call to action. The quality and potential of your talent determines the productive capacity of your organization and will very likely correlate sharply with your potential for success and corporate profits.

Intangible talent assets like creativity, courage, commitment, persistence, passion, ingenuity and knowledge may not show up anywhere on your financial statement, but they are characteristics that may ultimately determine the fate of your company.

Apple, Nike and Google are exceptional corporate examples of this…what would these companies have become without the abundance of these traits among their workforces? What could your organization achieve if you also encouraged and developed this kind of talent?

The Corporate Executive Board has found that by focusing their talent management strategies, the best leaders generate as much as a 7 percent boost in revenue and profit performance over their less talent-focused peers. In addition, they achieve higher talent outcomes across the board, including employee effort levels that are 25 percent higher than average and markedly better

retention rates, with only 6 percent of their employees at risk of turnover.

Despite the compelling financial returns, Corporate Leadership Council research finds that only 19 percent of senior executives are committed to, and effective at, the talent management disciplines necessary to achieve these outcomes. We’ve got to change that and make talent development a priority. Leaders must realize that many of the solutions they seek can be found in the people they employ.

However, as worthwhile and profitable as it is to tap the full talents of your employees, doing so is only the beginning of your quest to unleash all the talent opportunities around you. Increasingly, leaders are realizing the equally abundant insights that are available from the full spectrum of stakeholders in the company—customers, suppliers, shareholders, channel partners and the community in which they operate. Ignoring these other stakeholders is squandering an opportunity to access vitally important data that’s there for the asking.

In his wonderful book, Practically Radical, William C. Taylor summarizes this idea elegantly: “In an interconnected world bursting with smart, well-trained, enthusiastic people, the most powerful ideas often come from the most unexpected places: the quiet

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call to action

genius locked deep inside the organization, the collective genius that surrounds the organization, the hidden genius of customers, suppliers, and other constituencies who would be happy to share what they know if they were asked.”

“All too often, we barely scratch the surface of what the people we work with are capable of contributing to us, of what the people we sell to are capable of teaching us, of what the people we come into contact with are capable of sharing with us—if only we would look beyond their resume, formal training, or official place in the hierarchy.

As a leader, you never know what people are capable of doing until you invite them to show you what they can do.”

Extend the invitation—soon—and unleash the talent that is waiting to flourish in and around your organization.

Named one of the most influential women in the incentive industry, Michelle M. Smith, CPIM, CRP, is an accomplished writer and speaker, past-president of the FORUM for People Performance at Northwestern University, president emeritus of the Incentive Marketing Association, and vice-president of business development for O.C. Tanner.

7

recognize for results

by brian katz

The downside of an engaged workforce: They want to be engaged I

’ve written quite a bit in this column how an engaged workforce can help a business weather the recession; how the employees will develop the processes and ideas to do more with less, while still keeping the customer satisfied. The problem is they are the ones you kept in the rounds of layoffs, and now they are the ones who are in fact doing more with less. What that means is they now have less time to ponder whether there is a better way to do something, less time to address a customer’s needs, and less time to improve.

In short, the things they found fun about their job—the very things that you want from an engaged workforce—have been minimized because of the business need to have the workers focus on volume. What to do?

First, don’t wait until they start complaining. If they start to complain, you may have already lost them.

Second, don’t interpret their failure to complain as acquiescence to their situation.

An engaged employee understands there may be prolonged periods when business circumstances require extraordinary effort;

8

they just want to know that the business recognizes that fact as well.

Third, which is really a corollary of the second tip, recognize the extraordinary effort.

Show your appreciation. Let the employees know the company is grateful for their loyalty and continuing work on the company’s behalf.

Fourth, let the employees know there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Explain your business plan, how it will impact them and what they can expect. Communication is the critical element in keeping people engaged—they have to feel trusted and part of the team—but it can be tricky. On the one hand, you probably really like the fact the business has tightened its processes and the work can now be accomplished with fewer workers. On the other hand, if you assume that extraordinary effort can be defined as the new norm, you risk losing people who miss the “fun” part of their job. That means training new people, who may not be as willing to turn out the same volume of work, which in turn means hiring even more people.

I wish there were a trick that could be used to mollify your good employees and

have them wait out the business downturn even though the job is not as fun. Or, more importantly, to accept the fact you want to maintain the leaner workforce even though good times have returned. But there is no bauble that can be purchased, no magic words that can be said, and no job title that can be given that will motivate someone to stay in a job that is no longer fun. What you need to figure out, in the context of your culture, is how to convince your people that the good work they are giving is worthwhile, recognized and appreciated.

And you have to give them the vision of what is down the road. If they don’t trust you, or if they don’t see the vision, they will become disengaged.

Managers, it’s time to earn your salaries— you need to figure this one out.

Brian Katz is general counsel and vice president of taxes for O.C. Tanner, a global recognition and incentive company headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT.

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leveragi the talent a

12

ging advantage by sheryl s. jackson

Workers have persevered through the rising demands of a bumpy economy and are looking to you for motivation to stick around.

©WWW.ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/RENÉ MANSI

A

s more companies expand their workforces as the economy recovers, the challenge will not only be hiring the right people from outside your company, but also retaining the talent within your company today, says Theresa M. Welbourne, Ph.D, president and chief executive officer of eePulse, Inc., a human resource consulting firm, and research professor for the Center for Effective Organizations at University of Southern California. According to Welbourne’s research, there is a group of employees at every company that she calls “the neglected warriors.”

“The neglected warriors are highly motivated, productive employees who have supported their companies throughout the recession but they believe their efforts are unrecognized by the company,” says

Welbourne. It is important to identify these employees and address the needs that they and other potential leaders have before other companies offer them opportunities, she adds.

Finding the right incentive to attract and retain employees starts with a good employee survey, suggests Welbourne. An employee survey helps leaders identify what is happening within the workplace and what employees need to believe that their time, skills and potential are appreciated, she says. “I recommend a series of short surveys that occur every two weeks and take the pulse of the organization,” she says. “We ask employees what they think of their job, what gets in the way of doing their job, and what are they working on now that energizes them.” Finding out what keeps employees from doing or enjoying their jobs is important

bottomline • Finding the right incentive to attract and retain employees starts with a good employee survey.

• Employees value clear direction from management.

• Career development opportunities provide incentive for employees to look at their position as a career rather than a job.

• Competitive salaries, year-end bonuses and other monetary recognitions don’t serve as true incentives that create a desire to stay with an organization.

13

because removal of those barriers not only increases productivity but also improves morale and employee satisfaction, she says.

There are a lot of barriers that may not be obvious to top management, says Welbourne. “One company said it valued innovation and wanted employees to be creative,” she says. The surveys, however, eventually uncovered the fact that employees remembered a situation that occurred six months earlier when a couple of employees who did suggest an innovation were fired when their idea did not work. “Employees wanted a chance to be innovative but they also wanted to know that if they came up with a bad idea, they’d get feedback from upper management, not a pink slip.”

“An employee survey helps leaders identify what is happening within the workplace and what employees need to believe that their time, skills and potential are appreciated.”

In addition to an environment that encourages creativity and innovation, employees also value clear direction from management, says Welbourne. “Helping employees set priorities is an important part of any manager’s job,” she says. “In my company of only 15 people, we use Skype to get together from wherever we are located for priority moments,” she says. The meeting doesn’t last long but gives everyone a chance to find out what each person is working on at that moment. “Even with only 15 people, we discover that some people are focusing on non-priority items. Imagine how difficult it is to keep a company of 15,000 people focused on priorities,” she adds. If top

14

management clearly defines priorities, and all managers communicate those priorities, employees understand the direction of the company better and understand how they are contributing to the company’s success, she explains.

Careers vs. Jobs Another concern expressed by employees is the desire to learn and improve skills or knowledge. At the Knowland Group, a business development software and services company for the hospitality industry, employees not only have opportunities to improve skills needed for their jobs, but they also have a clearly defined pathway for promotions, says Bill Cushard, chief learning officer. “We make it clear that we want to help people develop their careers, and we offer a series of training programs that prepare employees for the next step,” he says. The Knowland Employee Development Pipeline is open to all employees. “This program is a real incentive for the self-motivated employee who wants to develop a career with our organization,” he says. The Pipeline is not a guarantee that everyone will be promoted as soon as they complete the recommendations on the pathway, he points out. “We are upfront that if there are only 10 jobs at the level above you and all 10 are filled, a promotion cannot happen immediately,” he says. “Also, although the pathways included suggested timeframes, we point out that different circumstances might speed up or slow down promotions,” he adds.

“We also are building a leadership library for all employees to use,” says Cushard.

“The books focus on how to be a leader, and different senior leaders will list their favorite picks,” he says. “The books are part of the employee’s self-directed career development.”

Career development opportunities also provide incentive for employees at the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, Iowa, to look at the bank as a career rather than a job, says Nancy Betz, senior vice president and human resource director.

There are different levels within each job, so there is opportunity to move up in both title and responsibility and pay, she says.

“Another program that we will implement this year will allow high performers to swap positions with other high performers,” she says. Not only does this enhance the individual’s career development, but it also

“Competitive salaries, year-end bonuses, and other monetary recognitions are important to employees, but they are often expected, so they don’t serve as true incentives that create a desire to stay with an organization.” produces a strong pool of potential future leaders for the organization, she says.

“Our senior leaders must have a thorough knowledge of the entire organization and this program will enable people to gain that knowledge,” she adds.

Employees at the bank are thinking of the bank as more than just a job, says Betz.

“People say they want to stay here because they like the organization and they like the people,” she says. Although there are 225 employees at the bank, there are many activities that give people a chance to get to know people outside their departments, she says. “We want people to get out of their ‘silos’ and create relationships throughout the organization,” she says. Social activities centered on the rival Iowa-Iowa State football game include games that require interdepartmental “teams” to pass a football from one to another for prizes. “You meet new people in different departments, and it encourages collaboration in job responsibilities as well,” she says.

The Knowland Group also offers employees a more social opportunity to interact with each other and a benefit that employees value, says Cushard. “Every year we have a Fitness Challenge for all employees,” he says. From late February through early June, the company hires a personal trainer to come into the offices to work with employees on personal fitness goals they set for themselves. At the end of the period, prizes are awarded for best meeting those goals. “The goal might be quitting smoking, losing a certain amount of weight, or even doing a certain number of sit ups,” he explains. “The trainer determines who best met their goal and the first prize is a trip for two.”

The company also encourages fitness and health throughout the year by paying for employees’ personal gym memberships if

they prove they go at least 10 times each month, he adds.

Competitive salaries, year-end bonuses, and other monetary recognitions are

important to employees, but they are often expected, so they don’t serve as true incentives that create a desire to stay with an organization, points out Betz.

One of her organization’s most successful recognition programs is very informal, she says. “Our Shared Excellence Awards are employees recognizing other employees,” she says. If an employee wants to recognize someone for their contribution to a team project or their help in any way, the employee contacts a manager for approval, then chooses something from the company store, she says. “The simple, low-cost program is effective because the employeeto-employee recognition is unexpected and directly related to an individual’s accomplishments.”

business improvement starts here

Mike Ryan, senior vice president, marketing and client strategy at Madison, a global leader in workforce engagement and sales incentive marketing, shares strategies for retaining and motivating talent in the post-recession era.

“Since the recession began, companies began to make some draconian cuts. They’ve been driving performance on the backs of their employees every day, and in many cases these are their best employees. Every indication I see indicates that these people feel underappreciated, they feel overworked, and they’ve had it. They are looking to leave.”

Here’s what you can do to keep that from happening.

Encourage field managers to recognize their best people: Recognition is where employers need to start first. Corporations have been speaking with mixed messages over the past two years. Those messages have revolved around saving money and getting the job done. Nowhere in that conversation has management put an emphasis on recognizing top people. Senior managers need to reaffirm with field managers that this should be a priority.

Give them the tools to do that: One of the things that prevents recognition from occurring is the mechanics of it. All the things that can grind the recognition process down to a halt and make it not only frustrating for the manager, but something that the manager at the beginning of the day says they don’t have time for, is going to prevent recognition from actually occurring. Build a system that automates some of the processes behind the scenes, such as identifying specific criteria or components, and processing approvals.

Tell the stories across the organization as to what successful people are doing: Organizations need to help celebrate the things that employees have done to re-engage themselves with the organization’s direction.

Embrace social media: The time has come for organizations to become more open minded about social media techniques. Social media networking is a big part of the way we build communities. It’s all about redefining the definition of a colleague. Is a colleague someone you just work with, or is it someone you have a friendship with? In the most engaged environments, it is the latter.

15

creating a

culture of w

16

well-being

by jodi ferguson

Rising beyond the health club discounts and weight-loss challenges is a call for a culture of well-being that will last long after the excitement of a new program fades.

T

here’s a cultural revolution going on in corporate America, and it’s coming to an office near you.

Smart business leaders realize that to build vital, productive organizations with people who feel great and work better, they must create a culture of well-being throughout their organizations, viewing employees as whole people whose personal lives cascade into their work lives.

Creating a culture of well-being is crucial to workplace success, says Jim Harter, Ph.D.

and Gallup’s chief scientist for Workplace Management and Well-being.

“When we hire people, it’s not just a worker that’s coming in to work. It’s the whole person, and it’s the whole person that produces or not,” says Harter, who co-authored the book Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements. “When we studied great managers, it became clear to me that the managers that were exceptional in engaging the employees were thinking of the whole person.”

“We recognize and celebrate each person’s individuality, and we want their true personalities to come out and shine in the workplace.”

Organizations that do not help employees develop as individuals limit their own productivity, and thus, their profitability.

Many organizations view employee well-being as a way of gaining a competitive edge. Not only are employees with low well-being costly in terms of health care and lost revenue, but organizations with a strong culture of wellbeing have an advantage in attracting and retaining top talent.

Zappos.com is one company that is leading the well-being revolution. A leader in online clothing and footwear sales, the Las Vegas-based company debuted at number 23 on Fortune magazine’s 2009 list of 100 Best Companies to Work For. It has been described by blogger Jeremy McCarthy as “the workplace utopia of the 21st century.”

In an online video (blogs.zappos.com), Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh stresses the importance of viewing employees as whole people. “We recognize and celebrate each person’s individuality, and we want their true personalities to come out and shine in the workplace,” he says. “When people are comfortable truly being themselves, they’re letting their individual personalities shine.

That’s when the creativity comes out; that’s when employees are passionate and productive and engaged with the company.”

Employees who thrive translate into a company that thrives, says Zappos.com executive Fred Mossler.

“Well-being is forefront in our minds in everything we do. We don’t do it because

17

bottomline A strong culture of well-being can help attract and retain top talent.

The five factors of well-being include: career, social, financial, physical and community well-being.

Don’t be afraid to relinquish a degree of control by empowering employees to have a say in company decisions.

Positive feedback needs to be tailored and unique to each individual and can be a great motivator.

it brings success to the company. We do it because it’s part of our DNA and because healthy, happy employees bring success, and that is a healthy side-effect,” says Mossler.

“We’ve worked really hard to create the kind of company where you work with your friends and you get to be the same person on a Tuesday afternoon as you get to be with your family on a Saturday morning,” he says.

“That kind of freedom causes motivation and engagement to soar. It’s one of the things we’re most proud of.”

Five factors of well-being So how can corporations create a culture of well-being? Obviously the solution lies deeper than offering gym time or healthier snacks in

the office vending machines—although both those things do play a role in well-being.

Harter identifies five essential factors that contribute to well-being. These include career, social, financial, physical and community well-being. All five are tightly interrelated.

To leverage change, Harter says organizations need awareness and education about what they can offer employees.

Next, they require positive defaults to help

“When we hire people, it’s not just a worker that’s coming in to work. It’s the whole person, and it’s the whole person that produces or not.”

employees make good decisions, whether that means choosing affordably priced snack options in the cafeteria or making the decision to opt in or out of a 401(k) plan. It’s also important to build an environment where employees can interact and connect socially.

Harter says most change happens through social networks that already exist, so strong role models are vital to well-being. “We do things in response to other people, and it’s a really strong driver,” he says. “We tend to mimic the actions of others to some extent.”

At Zappos.com, no one department is responsible for the corporate culture. Instead, Mossler says it’s everyone’s responsibility.

Employees are encouraged to get together socially so friendships will develop, and from those friendships will spring caring and concern.

Each organization will have varying goals and values, but Mossler says the important thing is to be strongly committed to its values, and this will lead to stronger well-being. “It’s something that requires a full commitment even when the world gets busy and funds get tight. It’s essential to who we are, and we don’t skimp on it or make excuses or make it somebody else’s responsibility.”

Other companies are sitting up and taking notice of the way Zappos.com has integrated well-being into its corporate culture. So CEO Tony Hsieh began offering quarterly seminars where business leaders can meet with Zappos. com managers to pick their brains for ideas.

The company has even launched its own website, ZapposInsights.com, a business membership that allows other companies access to the company’s management team and business philosophies.

“Our larger goal is to help other companies achieve a wonderful culture where they have happy employees. We are very open with the information we share on how we built our culture,” says Mossler.

Employee empowerment Back when Hugh Aaron was CEO of a Rhode Island company that manufactured

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coloring materials for the plastic industry, he didn’t have the benefit of websites or seminars to help him boost well-being.

Looking back, Aaron describes his business as “dysfunctional,” saying it was run like a “typical autocratic business in America.”

Now retired from corporate life, Aaron has turned his attention to a full-time writing career. Among his many fiction works are two non-fiction books that could qualify as required reading for today’s corporate leaders: Business Not As Usual: How to Manage a Company through Hard and Easy Times and its sequel, Business Not As Usual, Volume 2: Beyond the Bottom Line.

When the economy slowed down, he became “desperate” for ways to increase profits. So he did the unthinkable—he opened the books to his employees, trained them to read profit and loss statements and balance sheets, and created an employee stock ownership plan.

Why take such radical steps? Aaron admits opening up the books sounds crazy, but he recognized that his employees were the real experts on what his company needed to be more successful. “My argument was: it’s certainly their business. Our jobs depend on how well they do,” he says. “They knew the problems we were having better than anybody and how to solve them.”

And thus began a dramatic transformation that escalated the company’s profitability.

Seven members of the staff including Aaron, managers, supervisors, and one rotating employee representative met for an hour early each day to discuss problems and offer solutions. While Aaron reserved the right to make final decisions, he says everybody had an equal voice during the morning sessions.

The range of ideas that emerged was enormous and resulted in many changes that empowered the employees. For instance, employees were tested to see where their true strengths lay, and Aaron discovered many of them weren’t happy in their positions. So he started moving people into areas that fit their strengths and preferences.

“It was a brilliant idea, and it came from one of our employees. This created a wonderful sense of well-being,” he recalls.

Aaron says giving employees a measure of control over their daily work was a fantastic motivator. Many CEOs like power and don’t want to share it, but Aaron wasn’t afraid to relinquish a degree of control. “I empowered them all, and I loved it,” he says.

One of the benefits that stemmed from these changes was a very direct method of

sharing profits. Aaron established a base for productivity and a percentage of the profit above that base line was divided among employees as cash bonuses. The staff quickly realized that trimming costs translated into bigger pay checks.

But he also learned that cash isn’t the only incentive that leads to employee well-being.

Recognition and praise for a job well done can be the most powerful incentive.

“When people do something positive, we want it to be affirmed by others. This need is constant and ongoing,” says Harter. “It’s very difficult to overdo recognition.”

Good managers realize that positive feedback needs to be unique to each individual. In order to make recognition

equitable however, there must be some method of objectively measuring employee performance and that’s why performance recognition programs are so popular. Positive actions should result in positive rewards. So if an employee does something to improve his or her health, an employer could offer a selection of compelling merchandise from which the employee could choose an award.

Similarly, Zappos.com uses incentives such as team recognition and time to work on projects of their choice as motivators.

“The incentives place a lot of importance on peer recognition, and we reward a lot around people that are contributing to the team and to the culture, not for individual performance,” says Mossler.

business improvement starts here

Louise Anderson CPIM, president and CEO, Anderson Performance Improvement, an award-winning global rewards and recognition provider, provides solutions for leaders who want to develop a culture of well-being.

• Focus on changing behaviors—not just rewarding someone who already goes to a health club.

• Offer daily tips for healthy living, whether it is eating or exercising.

• Get people engaged every day by recognizing and rewarding them, not just for healthy things but also for things that made a difference and helped the organization do a better job today for its customers.

• Provide scratch-and-win cards to employees so they can thank those who have helped them be successful or reward a peer they see doing something healthy.

• Recognize milestones and healthy choices with points that accumulate and can be traded in for a reward of the employee's choice.

• Write down company values. They don’t need to be big global values—these are characteristics that companies want to make sure everybody recognizes each other for.

• Consider a knowledge-validation system, which enables any department or division to stimulate learning and improve performance at every level of your organization.

• Kick-start employees through daily challenges that can be inspirational, educational and thought-provoking.

• Keep it simple.

• Use an online reward recognition system. This will not only allow people to know who is recognizing and who is being recognized, but also for what. Most importantly, the data and the reports will show who is not using recognition.

• If recognition and well-being is struggling in certain areas, coach those who aren’t at the level you want them to be.

Healthy people mean healthy results, happy employees and happy clients. “We reward and recognize for the things that make a difference for our employees and our customers. Those two things are: having happy, healthy people and doing the right job at the right time,” says Anderson.

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protecting high-potential by kelly putter

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Nurture the best and the brightest through engagement and communication, and you’ll ensure top talent is thriving.

T

oday’s corporate world might learn a thing or two from Perry Como’s melodic urging to hold on tight to its brightest stars.

But, of course, the smooth-voiced singer recorded that innocent tune in the 1950s, when the living was easy and deals were sealed on a handshake.

As faraway as those times seem now, when it comes to grooming tomorrow’s leaders, it’s still not a bad idea to borrow from the song’s advice. So, without handcuffing your brightest lights to the nearest desk, how exactly should organizations develop and retain their top talent?

The answer to that is vast and varied, so let’s begin by first identifying high-potential talent, or hi-pos, as they’re commonly referred to. According to a 2010 report conducted by the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), high-potential talent is defined as employees who have the ability, commitment and motivation to succeed within more senior positions within your organization.

In other words, they’re your leaders of tomorrow. Think they’re a dime a dozen?

Think again. According to the Corporate Leadership Council, less than 8 percent of employees have a strong chance of achieving high-potential status. Given their scarcity, it’s important to see why organizations need to carefully identify and develop this rare breed of employees.

If you’ve been ignoring your highpotential talent, be afraid, be very afraid.

Chances are they’re likely scouting out better opportunities especially now that the economy is in an upswing. In survey after survey, the percentage of high-potential talent seeking work elsewhere is high—in the range of 21 to 25 percent.

The CCL surveyed 199 hi-pos for its 2010 study and found that 21 percent were actively

looking for work. Furthermore, the Corporate Executive Board, an international best practices research firm, showed 25 percent of high-potential employees were looking to leave their current employer within a year in a 2010 report. But perhaps even more telling is that the report showed that 21 percent of employees see themselves as being highly disengaged from their workplace, a number that has increased nearly three-fold since 2007.

“In survey after survey, the percentage of high-potential talent seeking work elsewhere is high—in the range of 21 to 25 percent. “ Engage & engage some more That figure isn’t surprising to Michael Couch, a Pittsburg-based organizational effectiveness consultant, who says America’s rising stars are more mobile today than ever thanks to the economy’s much-awaited recovery and the huge talent bubble created by the large numbers of baby boomer retirements.

Couch encourages his clients to pay hipos above market rates and provide plenty of “engageable moments.” The best way,

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Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket Never let it fade away – by Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance he says, to recognize hi-pos is by giving them the most meaningful, challenging and “mission-critical” assignments.

“You want them taking on the jobs where they make the biggest impact,” he says, “and taking on projects that are important. That gives them a lot of exposure to the customer, to the business and also to as many people within the company so that they’re well connected and seeing how everything works.”

Hi-pos comprise a complex talent pool, many of whom need to know officially that their superiors value their talents and abilities.

So speak up and speak out—often. Of the CCL survey group, high potentials expressed a high degree of commitment and motivation to their work, yet those seeking employment elsewhere were proportionately higher among hi-pos whose bosses had not deliberately acknowledged or identified them as going places within the organization. Informally identified high potentials were more likely to be seeking employment (33 percent) than high potentials (14 percent) whose organizations had formally identified them as such.

“So you can see how the transparency may be playing out in terms of the commitment of the employee to the organization, “explains Michael Campbell, who with fellow CCL researcher Roland Smith, conducted and wrote the study on high-potential talent released in 2010. “The other piece is making

bottomline • High-potential talent is defined as employees who have the ability, commitment and motivation to succeed within more senior positions within your organization.

• High-potentials expect development, leadership training and mentoring.

• One size will not fit all in successful retention programs; tailor plans to fit the needs of each employee.

• Use your top talent to leverage developing talent at different levels of the organization.

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sure you’re explicit in communicating with that person.”

Say it loud, say it clear Staffing experts agree that there is definite risk associated with not communicating with high-potentials, and those that clearly communicated with their high-pos resulted in employees presumably more satisfied in their employment as fewer were actively looking elsewhere for work.

“If you’re not communicating with your high potentials, believe me when I tell you, somebody else is,” warns Dave Sanford, executive vice president of client relations for the Boston recruitment firm Winter Wyman.

“And it’s not your friend; it’s your competing company, the headhunter, the brother-in- law at Thanksgiving dinner. If you take them for granted, you will pay a price.”

Related to the notion of transparency and open communication is the idea of clarity and how high potential talent expects a certain amount of clarity that they often feel they aren’t getting from their superiors. Career pathing and support in identifying next steps in terms of where they are in the succession plan and what skills are needed for the next level should be addressed in regular ways.

“High potentials expect development opportunities,” says Smith. “They want informal and formal training opportunities;

they want access to senior level leaders, not just access to hear a speech or hear someone tell war stories, but meaningful interaction, mentoring and coaching.”

Bend the boss’s ear Couch says hi-pos want opportunities to meet with upper levels of management. Make sure they’re connected with their superiors in what Couch calls “skip-level” meetings, so they get a chance to be heard and seen by the boss’s boss. “Not only does the high potential benefit, but so does the boss’s boss because they get great ideas and feedback and information from the hi-po.”

Hi-po respondents to the CCL survey also indicated they were looking for more authority, especially the authority to make meaningful decisions, added Smith.

Ironically, some hi-pos expressed feelings of stress or anxiety around high expectations or performance.

Upper-level organizational leaders alienate their talent by not spending enough time with those they’ve earmarked as their future corporate leaders. That, says Smith, is a big mistake because ultimately what happens is all the high-potential talent is lumped into one category and is handled in one way. And naturally, like all human beings, all hi-pos are not cut from the same cloth. By alienating upper-level superiors and your organization from your rising stars, you can’t differentiate the unique and individual needs of each. This sets the stage for resentment, bitterness and retention issues. “If an organization thinks everybody wants an expatriate assignment abroad, that may not be case for all hi-pos,” points out Smith, “so we encourage organizations to get to know their talent on a deeper level.”

Tailor your talent Having some kind of tailored strategic plan for your high-potential talent is key to keeping them happy and in place, says Sanford. One size will not fit all in successful retention programs. Once you’ve heard what your employees

need from you, work to accommodate those requests. “If members of a high-performing team are feeling overworked, look to hire an assistant,” recommends Sanford. “If a parent is having difficulty balancing his work and home life, work with him to help alleviate that struggle. Leaving early one afternoon a week to coach Little League may do wonders for his job outlook (especially if the company also sponsors the team!). Another employee may want to give back through charitable work by going to a disasterstricken country to help with relief efforts or by serving weekly lunch at a local shelter.

The organization should work with that person to make sure he or she is able to give back while feeling supported at work.”

Sanford says it’s a good idea to include hi-pos in strategy sessions. Ask for their input and include them in the company’s growth plan by sharing the leadership team’s goals and vision. This shows you place trust in them. And since the organization has invested in them, they will feel more invested in their employer. People will also have more buy-in about the business strategy if they have a voice in where the company is going, and in turn will feel more loyalty towards the organization. “Your ability to include those people in decision-making is a huge way of telling them I really care about what you have to say,” says Sanford.

“If you’re not communicating with your high potentials, believe me when I tell you, somebody else is.”

Let talent seek talent Citing his own recruitment firm, Sanford notes a pending HR initiative that management expects will work well in singling out high potentials. “We tap our best salespeople on the shoulder and put them in a room and say, tell senior management how you do it. It’s a forum, but it’s a place to be able to tell the company something about what they know how to do and for the company to listen to it.

It’s empowering.”

Hi-pos should also play a key role in the organization’s development of the rest

business improvement starts here Employees in the top 15 percent (high-potential employees) can be very influential on the 70 percent (those middle performers) says Tina Weede, president, USMotivation, a full-service incentive marketing company. She offers suggestions for keeping high-potential talented employees engaged and providing a positive impact on the rest of the organization.

• Companies have to give high performers a voice.

• Leaders must be willing to listen and take action based on the feedback they receive from top talent.

• Recognize and recognize frequently. Provide rewards based on high achievement.

• Align high performers with other high performers and leadership.

• Remember that it is critical to take care of human capital.

• Focus on transparent and concise communication.

Leaders need to be ready to communicate, communicate and then communicate some more.

• Verbalize company goals and direction.

• High performers need to be a part of strategic planning and the execution of those imperatives.

• Give people the opportunity to recognize each other and then communicate these successes to the rest of the company.

• Provide top talent with new opportunities to be challenged.

What to avoid: • Don’t allow the status quo.

• Don’t put everyone in the same bucket. Sometimes people make the assumption that what works for one will work for the other. But, employers must ask the question, what motivates you? Listen to the responses and act on an individual basis.

"People are looking to leave. If they don’t feel engaged, if they are not emotionally attached and there is not a high level of trust in your organization, you do have to be fearful that your good performers, and even the middle sector, is looking to leave," says Weede.

of its talent pool, says the CCL report. By receiving opportunities for growth, they are more likely to reciprocate those efforts by actively developing talent within the company.

What this means for organizations is that the development of hi-pos continues to be perpetuated throughout the company as they themselves become the developers of talent.

“The surprise to us was the number of people who believed they were actively

developing talent beneath them,” says Campbell. “By investing in high potentials you should also think, how do you use them to leverage developing talent at different levels of the organization.”

The need for organizations to invest in talent management is obvious. Doing all you can do to recruit, develop and retain your rising stars could be about as vital as your bottom line.

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incentives in action

by sheryl jackson

FIS connects 32,000 employees with online recognition program E

mployee engagement is a challenge when you have 32,000 employees located throughout the world, but the challenge increases when your company has grown through a series of mergers and acquisitions of 40 companies since its inception in the mid-1960s.

With overall employee satisfaction increasing by 31 percent and overall employee engagement increasing by 16 percent in a one-year

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period, FIS™, a global, leading provider of technology solutions to the financial industry, has found a way to meet the challenge.

“FIS is You,” an employee recognition system introduced in 2010, not only translates across different countries and languages but also enables local communities to maintain traditions that are unique to their location.

“Because FIS was created through a series of mergers and acquisitions, we had different organizational cultures throughout the company,” explains Michael Oates, executive vice president and chief human resource officer at FIS. “A few years ago, we began to pull all of our locations together with the same operational and cultural focus.” A key component of the re-branding program is an online-based employee recognition program entitled “FIS is You.” “FIS is You” is an all-inclusive, points-based global recognition system that enables timely recognition for employees throughout the company, says Lisa Sweeney, vice president of employee

“The online system enables employees and managers to send e-cards or e-buttons to employees to say thank you or let them know you saw them do great work.” engagement. The online system enables employees and managers to send e-cards or e-buttons to employees to say thank you or let them know you saw them do great work, she says. Employees can be nominated to receive award points that can be spent immediately or accumulated for up to two years to save up for more valuable items available in the awards catalog.

The development steering committee represented a wide range of departments and locations, points out Sweeney. “They wanted a program that would provide frequent recognition to many different employees.” For this reason, the e-cards and e-buttons, as well as nominations for point awards, can be generated by anyone. “The recognitions can be peer to peer, manager to employee, or employee to manager,” she explains. Recognitions are tied to the company’s five guiding principles, which address client service, market leadership, operational excellence, community involvement and employee engagement.

The system also notifies an employee’s supervisor of award nominations by other people in the company. “I like that the system lets managers know when other people thank the people on their team,” says Lauren Pertle, development manager at FIS. “I was able to recognize a project team composed of 52 people from different departments easily, and their managers were automatically notified,” she says. This is an important feature for Pertle who has always thanked people for their work on project teams. “In the past I would send a note to the employee and hope they shared it with their manager, but I never knew if they did.”

Another advantage of “FIS is You” is the ability to see what gifts can be purchased with award points, says Pertle. Gifts range from $25 items including gift cards to high-end items such as cell phones,

Tom Clinton, FIS sales executive, accepting his award for 100% Club presented at the 2011 FIS President’s Circle. Pictured left to right: Frank Martire, president and CEO, Tom Clinton, sales executive, and Gary Norcross, COO.

web cams, bicycles or luggage. “It is easy to set goals for higher end gifts because you have access to the entire catalog, not just the gifts you can purchase with current points.”

There are three points’ award levels, explains Sweeney. “The system asks a short series of questions to determine the proper award level when you nominate an employee,” she explains. “Although the e-cards and e-buttons can be sent without approval from anyone else, a points’ award must be approved by the nominator’s manager,” she adds. Examples of actions that are appropriate for points’ awards include staying late to meet a deadline (500 points), receiving praise from a client (1,000 points), and leading a project team that successfully solved a client’s problem (2,000 points). “Five hundred points translates to a gift with a $25 value and 2,000 points can purchase a gift with a $100 value,” she says.

The merchandise available in the catalog is updated to reflect new or seasonal items, explains Sweeney. At this time, “FIS is You” is active only in the United States and Canada, but the company is working with the industry leader in employee recognition. Partnering with the employee recognition company, FIS is able to design not only a global online recognition system providing the multilanguage and global consumer experience for its employees but a comprehensive appreciation program.

“We are launching FIS is You to more than 7,000 employees across Asia Pacific, India and EMEA in May and to Brazil, adding an additional 10,000 employees in August,” says Sweeney. “By then end of 2011, we will have more than 30,000 people across 28 countries using the system in six languages.”

Although the goal of “FIS is You” is to promote a corporate-wide recognition program, there is still room for locations to maintain programs they have in place from previous companies, says Oates.

“In Jacksonville, we’ve always had a ‘Maverick’ award that is

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With Hinda, You Can Expect: t Millions of award choices t Digital award options t Excellent customer service t On-site warehouse and fulfillment t Global capabilities t The finest assortment of top-brand merchandise

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given to an employee each quarter to recognize his or her extra effort or innovation,” he explains. “In all of our other locations, local recognitions are still in place,” he says. The difference is that the recognitions are based upon the five guiding principles of the company, and rewards are also tied to the “FIS is You” point system and catalog.

“FIS is You” is flexible enough to work for all employees in all settings, and some other recognition programs are geared to specific audiences. A President’s Club is a competition focused on the sales force, a Milestones Program provides a consistent recognition to employees throughout the company for reaching specific anniversaries, and “Your Voice Counts,” a subsection of the “FIS is You” program is designed specifically for the thousands of employees in the company’s call centers.

“Recognitions are tied to the company’s five guiding principles, which address client service, market leadership, operational excellence, community involvement and employee engagement.”

“FIS points are given to call center employees at their 90-day and six-month anniversaries,” explains Sweeney. Points can also be earned in the “Your Voice Counts” program for good attendance, reaching monthly incentive goals set by supervisors, and attaining excellent scores in accuracy and courtesy as determined by the quality assurance committee and supervisors.

“One of the greatest challenges for any company is to communicate with all employees and promote new programs,” admits Oates. FIS eliminated the challenge of accessibility by placing it on the company intranet, and a campaign of emails, teasers and visual aids were used to promote the program. “We also required our 2,400 managers and supervisors to undergo a training session,” he says. Although busy schedules and competing priorities make it tough to get everyone to a training session, the time was well spent because managers train their groups on use of the program, he says.

The initial goals for the “FIS is You” program were 30 percent utilization or 30 percent of employees use the system to submit at least one recognition, and 40 percent reach, which means 40 percent of employees received recognition through the system, explains Sweeney.

“We have not quite reached the utilization goal, but we exceeded the reach goal in the first six months,” she says. “We are looking for way to expand our loyal, core group of users,” she says. “We’ll continue to market the program to employees in new ways, such as spotlighting people who receive recognitions or people who regularly use the system to recognize others.”

3/30/11 2:27:04 AM

people-centric p eop ple-centric le leaders

Mark Skogen president and chief executive officer, Festival Foods

How long have you been in your current position?

Four years.

Previous experience:

I grew up in the business, so I started working because it was a family business, when I was 12 or 13 years old bagging groceries, sorting pop bottles, filling a beer cooler that we had. I went to college and worked part time in the business. After college, I worked full time when we opened a new store in a completely new market in Marshfield, Wisconsin. I went over there to become the store manager. I was there for a couple years then there was another opportunity in Green Bay. I managed stores we had in the Green Bay area. Then I became general manager for the east side of Wisconsin. Then in 2006, I became president and CEO of the company.

Our company environment:

We talk a lot about our culture. There are different ways to go about selling groceries, and we believe that our culture and environment is very people-centered. We want to find the best people to work for us, who will in turn take better care of the shopper. I believe in a servant-leadership organization, which means taking care of our people, appreciating them, making them know they are important.

Greatest challenge:

Continuing to keep a strong culture and finding associates who are interested in working in a high level of service organization. If we lose sight of people being important to how we sell groceries, I don’t hold any hope for our continued success. The biggest challenge is continuing to find good people who want to be engaged in the process here and keeping them motivated and satisfied in their position.

In five years…

The challenge is always to remain relevant. We’ll continue to grow with controlled growth. We’re not the kind of company that is going to try to add five stores a year because it takes time to develop people, which are so important to us in growing. I’d like to think that we’d have two or three more stores in five years and that we’d have everything at a high level of service at each one of our stores across our company.

Why is Festival Foods a great place to work?

The atmosphere and the culture are comfortable. We strive for excellence, and a lot of times we get there; therefore we’re able to celebrate success and have fun while we work in this business.

Every day is a different day in our industry. Because you’re in contact with shoppers and other associates, it can be fun and challenging. You can make a difference every day. You can put a smile on a guest’s face by your actions and by exceeding expectations, and those things can be pretty fulfilling.

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Why do you believe it’s important to have engaged and motivated employees?

From our standpoint, it’s the way we’re going to sell groceries. We could just get backs and hands to go and sell groceries, throw them out on the floor and not have customer engagement, but there are others that do that pretty well. We want the high-touch retail environment, and so if we don’t have associates that are engaged and we simply provide groceries, we don’t provide an enjoyable shopping experience.

So why do we have to take care of associates? Because if we don’t, they aren’t going to treat shoppers in the way we need to treat them to be successful. They are going to show up and treat it like it is just another job. They won’t care as much, they won’t put out the effort, and they won’t have the fun they can have when we empower them and give them what they need to be successful.

How have you used incentives and recognition successfully, and what are your views on their impact?

We’ve used incentives for years of service. We bring that teammate into a huddle-up environment on the sales floor. We brag about good accomplishments they’ve had over the years they’ve been here.

Several people talk and explain what that associate has meant to our business and why we like to work with that person. I think it brings the individual to light and other people in the huddle learn a little about the associate they might not even work closely with. I think it makes them feel important, which is what we believe any human being wants. They want to feel appreciated and made to feel important.

We do simple things like nice-going notes. We have a form that we write a nice-going if we see somebody do something pretty neat, pretty special. We just write a note, which has been pretty effective. Just recognizing people on the fly when they do well. Or let’s say we get a letter or a phone call from a shopper, we’ll also call a huddle-up for those events and brag up that associate who had a letter written about them. We celebrate any success and try to show the whole team that this is what matters here—making special things happen for those who shop at our store.

How do you create a culture of wellbeing in the workplace?

What tips can you provide leaders for protecting high-potential talent?

How do you combat disengagement that can develop as a result of employees being accountable for more work with less time for reflection or enrichment?

How is innovation a part of the culture at Festival Foods?

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We do the Live Healthy America program once a year. It is a 100-day program online measuring physical activity and weight-loss. That’s been pretty successful. We’ve had 450 associates participate each time we do it. We try to create awareness that just by doing little things you can make a difference in your health. We give prizes at different points in the contest to try to raise awareness.

There are some health club benefits we provide. We try to remove the “I don’t have time” or “I can’t afford it” excuses. We give an extra discount on salad bar purchases. We are now doing health screening assessments, which are free of charge.

I think it goes back again to creating an enjoyable work environment. We talk quite a bit about pay not always being the top motivator. We need to have pay that is right and fair, but after that it’s all the other things that can make the job fun, whether it is the work environment, little benefits like discounts on the groceries or the fact that we’re very involved in our communities. That usually feels good to teammates – knowing that we give back and we’re a place that cares about our communities.

We stay close to high-potential employees. We do check-ins with them. We ask open-ended questions about how things are going and what can we do to make work here better. Part of our vision statement is being a preferred employer in any city we are in … and not giving the teammate any reason to look around.

The best thing for that is communication. If there are expectations that are being raised a bit, we need to fully explain why the expectation needs to go up. I believe that a servant-leadership environment in any business offers those reasons of setting an expectation, explaining that there is a gap in performance and asking why there is a gap. Rather than just dictating, ask the team of associates why there is a gap. Let them be part of the solution instead of just telling them here’s what were going to do and not telling why we are going to do it or how we’re going to do it, just get it done. That kind of dictatorship needs to be avoided.

It stems from the fact that we know we have to remain relevant. Times are changing. Generally human beings don’t like change. So, we’re making sure that we are always looking out ahead of the business and finding the new things that are going on like the natural, organic trend that is going to stay strong. Finding greener solutions for building our stores and the products we use is important to people. If you close your ears and just assume that you can run this business like you did five years ago, we’re going to be in deep trouble. We’d rather be three for 10 than one for one. Yes, we’re going to fail seven times in the three for 10 scenario, but we’re ahead of those that are only one for one and are afraid to try and innovate and do things that might be the next great thing.

fast facts 25% of employer-identified, high-potential employees plan to leave their current companies within the year, as compared to only 10% in 2006.

A 2010 survey of 20,000 high-potential employees in more than 100 organizations worldwide, also found that nearly 40% of internal job moves made ade by people identified as high-potential employees es end in failure.

(2010 Corporate Executive Board study) tudy) 46% of 935 leaders surveyed indicated that their companies did not have a program in place to fill key management positions.

Engaged workers are less than half as likely to report having three or more unhealthy days in the past 30.

35% responded that their companies do not use training to enhance leaders’ skills.

(OnPoint’s 2011 Execution Gap Survey)

Forty-two percent of actively disengaged workers are thriving in their lives, compared with 48% of the unemployed. At the other end of the spectrum are “engaged” employees—71% of whom are thriving.

(Gallup Daily tracking series conducted in November and December 2010)

A llack of engagement can lead to an overall reduction of 10 percent in o our GNP. (Recognition Council) Increased employee commitment could lead to 57 percent more discretionary effort, which in turn produces a 20 percent improvement in performance.

ARE YOUR EMPLOYEES ENGAGED? Engaged employees are highly productive employees.

Question is: How do you get them there?

The answer: Call EIM. Talk to us. Tell us what you need. We’ll listen and design an employee engagement program geared to meet your unique business goals and deliver results.

We are Excellence In Motivation.

Let’s accomplish something great…together.

Use a QR Reader to scan and learn more about EIM!

www.eim-inc.com | 800.963.9235

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index to advertisers/ advertiser.com Bose Corporation .............................................3 www.bose.com Buca Sales & Marketing, LLC. .......................30 www.bucadibeppo.com Excellence In Motivation.................................29 www.eim-inc.com Fairmont Raffles Hotels & Resorts ...................9 www.fairmont.com Hinda Incentives .............................................26 www.hinda.com Marketing Innovators..............inside back cover www.MarketingInnovators.com O.C. Tanner ......................................................4 www.octanner.com Outdoor World Incentives ...... inside front cover www.basspro.com Smartbox Experience Inc.......................... 10-11 www.smartbox.com Sony Electronics.................. outside back cover www.sony.com/dpf

For orders and inquiries contact our National Sales Office at 1.866.941.BUCA(2822) or bucagiftcardorders@bucainc.com

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Tumi Special Markets .....................................30 www.tumispecialmarkets.com

3/21/11 7:30:04 PM

© 2011 TUMI, INC.

ACCESS

Return on Performance ANYTIME, ANYWHERE WITH THE MAGAZINE’S FULLY INTERACTIVE DIGITAL EDITION Visit www.returnonperformance.com today to access the current digital edition, an archive of past issues and other valuable business resources from the Incentive Marketing Association.

WWW.TUMISPECIALMARKETS.COM 800.669.3181

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2/8/11 8:32:33 AM

Incentives, Engagement, Channel, Recognition, Loyalty...

It’s all about The Human Connection between the people who affect your business. ®

• • • • • • •

Technology Merchandise Gift Cards / eCards Prepaid Cards Travel / Experiential Service Awards Promotional Products

MarketingInnovators.com 800.543.7373 31

Eeny.

Meeny.

Sony.

Moe.

When it comes to rewarding employees, give them first pick.

You know how to pick employees who are winners. Why not acknowledge the fruits of their labor with rewards they really want? With over 2,300 products to choose from, Sony has the ideal reward for even the pickiest personalities and the most budget-conscious employers.

From digital cameras to personal computers to 3D-compatible TVs, Sony is the brand with the vast bounty of rewards to inspire your winning team.

f sony.com/motivation f 1.866.596.4823

Sony Incentive Program: the People’s Choice Rewards

© 2011 Sony Electronics Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Sony,“make.believe” and their respective logos are trademarks of Sony.

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