Gamification & Non-financial Rewards to attract & retain talent

Question 1:

3 major challenges for companies

1. Making reward policies more sustainable
2. Personalisation of rewards
3. A more participatory approach to reward management

Question 2:

A good salary package is not sufficient to increase engagement.

1. Reinforcement theory: behaviour is strengthened when it is reinforced shortly after the behaviour occurs.
2. Self-determination theory: rewards can only be motivating if they respond to the basic psychological needs people have at work.

A: Autonomy
B: Reward
C: Competence

Question 3:

Rewarding at team or individual level: ensure as many positive interactions as possible.

1. Feedback is received much better when it is preceded by positive feedback: the Losada ratio 5:1.
2. KPIs are essential: make sure to set agreements together with the individual. Things go wrong when we approach the steps from targets to rewards in an overly mechanistic way.
   
   

Four tips:

• Ensure a clear objective and make it a participatory process
• Avoid a purely mathematical link between objectives and rewards
• Surprise with rewards
• Act quickly and provide timely reinforcement

Question 4:

Companies are looking for alternative forms of reward. Traditional mechanisms such as CBA 90 or various vouchers are no longer sufficient.

1. Too much thinking is still driven by process-based reward systems focused on budgetary control.
2. At the Vlerick Rewards Center, there is an increasing focus on the reward experience.
3. We need to think much more from the perspective of how employees experience rewards.

Question 5:

Companies are deciding to integrate their recognition policies into their engagement strategies and are looking for solutions to build long-term connections with their people.

By giving employees the opportunity to save rewards and later use those points to shop online, you create a real experience and also build an emotional connection with the organisation.

1. The concept of a “workation” is financially and fiscally attractive for companies.
2. The option of saving time to, for example, take a sabbatical (retire earlier, move to part-time work, etc.) works very well.

Question 6:

The more gratitude in a company the better the performance with a direct impact on productivity.

In addition, a number of other points are important:

1. Participatory management and transparency, which means genuinely involving employees in the challenges the company faces. Research shows that autonomy is a very important factor.
2. Today, increasing attention also needs to be paid to employees’ vitality. This can be integrated into recognition systems without turning it into a box-ticking exercise.
3. Companies that perform well in terms of sustainability find it easier to build long-term relationships with their employees.

Question 7:

If recognition is perceived as unfair, it creates an inclusion problem and sends mixed messages about what excellence looks like. Gamification linked to KPIs and milestones helps address this.

1. People need to have a sense of fairness regarding the level of their rewards.
2. The procedures for granting recognition must be transparent in order to build trust.
3. Managers need to learn how to deliver recognition in an effective and appropriate way.

Question 8:

Building a positive work environment is essential to motivate people and help them grow further. Expressing appreciation — whether or not linked to extrinsic forms of rewards — and creating a culture of gratitude are key to fostering a climate of trust and positivity.

1. Prof. Baeten hopes that this awareness will continue to grow within organisations. We are coming from periods that have had a major impact on budgets, including salary increases of up to 11%.
2. From the employee’s perspective, three things are essential:

• Do I earn enough? Fairness of rewards.
• Do I learn enough? Development and career perspective.
• Do I feel happy? Who feels happy in an environment where there is no gratitude or recognition?

Do I earn enough? Do I learn enough? And am I happy at the workplace?