Rewards & Recognition (August 2013)

• Incentive Travel: The Smart Business Proposition.
• Dittman Becomes First Certified Engagement Solutions Provider.
• IRF Launches 'Third Thursday' Education Series.
• Rymax Cited as a Top Recognition Provider.
• Mark Your Calendar! Enterprise Engagement Curriculum Webinars.
• Rewards & Recognition Expo Set for April 2014 in Nashville.
• Cracking the Code.
• Performance Management Meets the Wisdom of Crowds.
• Recognition Programs: Six Steps to ROI.
• Marketing's Role in Engagement.
• Is 'Social Recognition' the Next Killer App?
• Strategic Implementation of Enterprise Engagement

News Briefs

Incentive Travel: The Smart Business Proposition

The Site International Foundation has released a new White Paper, “Incentive Travel: The Smart Business Proposition,” as part of its Incentives Move Business series. The paper focuses on how well-designed incentive travel and motivational events can help companies achieve corporate business objectives and provide a measurable return on investment.“Motivational programs that fail are often the victim of poor program design in areas like rule structure, award selection, promotion and measurement,” notes Jane Schuldt, President of the Site International Foundation. “Understanding the objectives of a program, how they align with overall compensation and recognition, and defining what motivates participants are keys to a program's success.” To download the “Incentives Move Business” White Papers, please visit siteglobal.com.

 

Dittman Becomes First Certified Engagement Solutions Provider

Dittman Incentive Marketing announced that it has attained the status of Certified Engagement Solutions Provider, a new certification recently created by the Enterprise Engagement Alliance (EEA), a coalition of companies and associations dedicated to the concept that engagement is an enterprise-wide endeavor that “begins with people and ends with profitability.” To attain Certified Engagement Solutions Provider status, members of the Dittman team were required to successfully complete rigorous testing and demonstrate their understanding of the engagement framework, economics, implementation process and tactics, and validate their actual experience with design and implementation. Susan Adams, Special Initiatives Director and President of IMA Recognition Council for 2013, Brian Carr, Director of Individual Awards, and Steve Cummins, Director of Digital Marketing, are among the Dittman team members who have achieved the individual Certified Engagement Practitioner designation. For more information, visit www.dittmanincentives.com.

IRF Launches 'Third Thursday' Education Series

The Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) has created an ongoing education series targeted at professionals involved with incentives, recognition, engagement and motivational meetings. The sessions, dubbed the 'Third Thursday' Education Series, will take place on the third Thursday of every month, running though May of 2014. The sessions will take the form of webcasts that will be posted on the IRF site at 2pm Eastern time/11am Pacific on the appointed day. Initial sessions began in June and are archived on the IRF website. The remaining schedule is:

• Using Reward and Recognition to Meet Cross-Organizational Needs September 19
• How to Integrate Business Meetings and Incentive Travel October 17
• Balancing Program Owner and Participant Needs in Award Funding and Selection November 21
• 2014 Trends in Engagement, Incentives and Recognition December 19
• Designing Communication Strategies that Get Results January 16
• How to Tame Business Challenges using Digital Solutions February 20
• Optimizing Social Media in Incentives and Meetings March 20
• IncenTED presentations on Social, Mobile, Digital Innovations April 17
• Release Brilliance: Show Up, Be Accountable, Drive Results May 15

For complete session descriptions, speakers and other info, click here

Rymax Cited as a Top Recognition Provider

Rymax Marketing Services was recently named one of the top employee recognition providers by HRO Today, a leading publication for HR decision makers. The “Baker's Dozen Customer Satisfaction Ratings of Employee Recognition Providers” honors the best solutions providers in the industry. This is Rymax's seventh consecutive year in the top 10. The Baker's Dozen ranks hundreds of employee recognition providers based on customer satisfaction feedback collected from current clients of service providers and HRO Today's mailing list. Ratings are determined statistically and all feedback is provided from customer's survey participation. “Our client's satisfaction is extremely important to us and it is extremely gratifying to get confirmation that we are not just meeting but exceeding their employee recognition needs,” says Paul Gordon, Rymax VP of Sales. For more information about the Baker's Dozen, click here

Mark Your Calendar! Enterprise Engagement Curriculum Webinars

Every Enterprise Engagement webinar includes practical, research-based reference and how-to information on various areas of Engagement, as well as preparation for at least one aspect of the Enterprise Engagement Certification program. The sessions include spot polls that help you anonymously benchmark yourself or your organization against other participants. You can participate in the live webinars and/or later access the recorded versions and corresponding textbook chapters at any time. All webinars start at 2pm Eastern. Upcoming dates and topics:

• SEPTEMBER 10: Recognition Textbook Chapter Preparation
  Sponsored by Marketing Innovators and Achievers

• OCTOBER 1: Preference Management Textbook Chapter
  Sponsored by Possiblenow.com

• NOVEMBER 5: General EEA Certification Prep
  Sponsored by Maritz

• DECEMBER 3: Assessment  
  Sponsored by Rideau

Get descriptions and register for any of these webinars at www.enterpriseengagement.org/education/#1

Rewards & Recognition Expo Set for April 2014 in Nashville

On the heels of its highly successful 2013 event in New Orleans, the Enterprise Engagement Alliance has announced the launch of the Engagement University, the first formal curriculum and certification program on Engagement throughout the organization. It will be held in conjunction with the 2014 Rewards & Recognition Expo and Engagement Pavilion, featuring leading exhibitors of reward, recognition and engagement products and services. Engagement University is designed to provide corporate practitioners and solution providers with formal education on the economics, definitions, framework and best implementation practices related to:

• Improving customer loyalty and referrals
• Enhancing distribution partner engagement
• Increasing sales and customer service performance
• Improving employee productivity, quality and wellness
• Building better vendor relationships

Led by a faculty of corporate practitioners, solution providers, research experts and professors in business and organizational/consumer psychology, the program brings to life a formal Enterprise Engagement curriculum and certification program with sessions on Engagement program design and implementation; Enterprise Branding; Communications; Learning and Gamification; Rewards & Recognition; Measurement; and more. Registration will open Dec. 2, 2013. For more info, go to www.enterpriseengagement.org/Engagement-University/

In the Current Issue of Engagement Strategies Magazine

The latest issue of ESM is in the mail! Here's a look at what you'll find inside:

Cracking the Code

Reward codes and digital gift cards – quickly acquired, used and gifted – are gaining momentum in the marketplace.

Performance Management Meets the Wisdom of Crowds

If recognition is thoroughly woven into the fabric of your culture, it becomes a true measurement tool of individual and organizational performance.

Recognition Programs: Six Steps to ROI

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to try and set too many objectives and not focus on what really matters.

Marketing's Role in Engagement

How do we engage employees who deliver on the brand when they have no clue as to what we really do and we have little or no authority over them?

To make sure you get your copy of Engagement Strategies Magazine, go to www.enterpriseengagement.org/account/login/ and update your subscription today!

Insights from ESM Rewards & Recognition e-News

Is 'Social Recognition' the Next Killer App?

In the world of talent management, social networks have been used successfully in knowledge sharing, the identification of skills and construction of teams, in recruiting, onboarding and certainly learning. "Social Recognition," which uses software to enable people to recognize one another, is a relatively new entrant in the pantheon of talent management technology. Yet it draws on practices from some of the world's most popular internet applications. In connecting peers to peers, and in this case, employees to employees and employees to customers, partners, suppliers and others (the extended enterprise) it opens another dimension in recognition that has the potential to generate powerful cultural evolution within remarkably short timeframes. In others words, social recognition software can be transformative. It can fill a recognition gap quickly and it can extend recognition beyond the organization to help engage customers and other constituents. [Read the White Paper].

News From Enterprise Engagement Alliance

Strategic Implementation of Enterprise Engagement

In this paper, one in a series for our Enterprise Engagement curriculum, we examine a critically important element of enterprise engagement – moving from strategy to execution. This paper is targeted at organizations that wish to move from talking about and planning enterprise engagement to implementing the initiatives at a tactical and measurable level – throughout the enterprise and for all key constituents. The main objective of this paper is to assist the reader through practical, clear and readily available techniques, practices and tools to implement enterprise engagement across the organization. [Read the full report]

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