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ADVICE
6 Steps To Building a Case for Recognition in Business
As the market continues to intensify in a competitive climate, businesses are seeking innovative ways to optimise their success. At Rippl, we believe this all begins with the people behind a brand and how empowered they are to thrive in their roles. We proudly partner with leading organisations that share this belief. So, if you’re also all about investing in the power of employee recognition and reward to enhance your business’ productivity, employer brand and overall bottomline, you’ve come to the right place.
But, we understand presenting a compelling business case for recognition can be challenging – so we’re here to help. Here, we delve into 6 steps for building a tangible proposition which secures senior stakeholder buy-in to creating a workplace culture where every person can thrive. And in turn, so can the business.
Let’s dive in.
Why Is Recognition Important in Business?
Firstly, let’s explore why employee recognition is important in today’s modern workplace. With latest statistics showing 6.5 million UK employees are actively seeking their next role due to feeling undervalued, this concerning gap in engagement strategies continues to be overlooked by many organisations.
It boosts workforce retention
82% of employees who feel undervalued are in the process of looking for another role. This is particularly amplified in frontline and deskless workforces where lack of recognition, connection and engagement is growing the ‘deskless divide’ and causing employees to seek their next opportunity.
Effective and meaningful recognition is fundamental to creating a workplace culture where every person feels they truly matter and are valued by their business – and those who remain overlooked cause higher staff attrition and a damaged employer brand.
It promotes a positive and aligned company culture
Employee recognition is the catalyst behind creating a positive and empowered workplace. And research shows employees who believe their business to have a good culture are 3.8x more likely to be engaged. Plus, when recognition is intrinsically linked to the business’ values, it creates a purpose-led culture where the organisation’s mission is not only understood, but exemplified by all.
When employees are clear on the behaviours and actions required to personify their business’ values, they’re 107% more engaged – and by leveraging recognition and reward to contextualise each value for every individual, businesses can ensure their culture is aligned at every level.
It enhances productivity
When people feel valued, they’re motivated to achieve great things in their roles. A Deloitte study showed the organisations who invest in an effective employee recognition programme show 14% higher engagement, productivity and performance than the businesses who don’t.
Plus, with over 70% of employees reporting they would like their employer to do more to motivate them, there is growing appetite around effective recognition and reward in the workplace to incentivise individuals’ performance in role. When teams feel incentivised and valued for their contributions, this not only enhances productivity and output, but decreases absenteeism and presenteeism.
How To Build a Case for Recognition in Business
So, how can you now translate this impact ROI into a compelling and structured business case to present to budget holders? Here, we’ve collated 6 tips for what your case should not only include but also consider before it’s shared for review.
1. Set out your programme’s key performance indicators
As with implementing any new strategy, the key measures of success need to first be explored, consolidated and understood to track and prove whether the investment has been successful. Building the business case for employee recognition software is no different.
Part of this includes identifying the key challenges the business currently faces, with data-led insights where possible, then following with how recognition and reward will not only address these but deliver tangible improvements at scale on the current numbers.
An example of this would be around current absenteeism, retention or satisfaction levels. Once a benchmark for each has been established, a minimum and stretch goal should be set for improving this by 10%, for example. By setting measurable targets, this will not only outline the direct return on investment from the outset, but keep the programme tightly aligned to its purpose during rollout and at regular intervals, helping you renew contracts if objectives are met.
Whilst it’s important to keep performance indicators measurable, and therefore numerical, it’s also good to include the wider impact of recognition on the business’ culture, employer branding, and belonging and inclusion strategies as secondary focuses.
2. Conduct a value assessment
This will enable you to identify a solution’s priority and value against the fundamental programme objectives you’ve set to quantify and benchmark its fit. Based on your primary and secondary criteria, assess each solution’s influence on each by assigning different values scores. This is also important when comparing 3-4 solutions against one another to explore which is the best fit.
Once you’ve assigned a value score to each objective and for each solution on your radar, total the values to see which has the highest and lowest score in relation to each objective. Here’s how this could look:
| Criteria | Value Score = 1 | Value Score = 2 | Value Score = 3 | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alignmnet with strategic goals | Low, N/A | Medium | High | 2 |
| 2 | Business productivity improvement | None or decreased | < 10% | > 10% | 3 |
This is also key for enabling senior stakeholders to have visibility of each potential vendor, and how each stacks up against the objectives and outcomes of investing in a recognition programme.
3. Assess the risks
Whilst weighing up the values, a risk assessment is important to include in your business case. This demonstrates consideration of any possible roadblocks or drawbacks from each solution, and prepares your team to be questioned on any of these. Include in your risk assessment any foreseeable challenges, their expected impact and, where possible, suggest solutions for mitigating these risks – such as additional costs, profitability, implementation and integration, training and resources, and contractual terms and conditions.
This risk assessment will also be fundamental to ensuring you’re asking the right questions to each potential vendor, so any major challenges are identified early on so when you come to finalise your business case, no stone is left unturned.
4. Gather key stakeholders
Depending on the scale and complexity of your programme, there may be quite a few stakeholders who will need to be involved in the buying process. To minimise any unforeseen challenges or considerations, ensure every relevant stakeholder is involved as early as possible.
Of course, it’s important to ensure there aren’t too many cooks in the kitchen so once you have key stakeholders identified, ensure each person is clear on their responsibility and scope contribution to the project. For example, will they simply need to view a platform demo, will they need to carry out compliance checks, or will they be required from implementation to launch?
5. Evaluate all options
If you’ve considered each of the previous steps, this should ensure all options and outcomes have been carefully assessed. However, it’s important the leading team feel comfortable and confident answering questions around any programme drawbacks when your business case is presented.
You need to assure senior budget holders that you have already considered every possible option and explain how any concerns raised can be overcome at little or no cost.
6. Identify the primary and secondary benefits
This is where the business case must go beyond just the platform features and encapsulate the overall benefits it could enable for your business. We recommend splitting this into primary and secondary values – with primary covering off all clear financial benefits, such as lowered turnover, increased productivity, faster speed to hire.
Then, you can delve into the secondary benefits such as creating an empowered workplace culture, elevating employer brand and increasing connection and engagement across the workforce.
The Importance of Employee Recognition Programs
So, whilst creating a compelling business case for delivering recognition and reward can feel like a daunting process, it can be made easier by ensuring each of these six steps are covered so that no stone is left unturned and senior budget holders are presented with a holistic and comprehensive proposition that outlines the real impact of investing in a programme.
It’s important when you come to create the business case that you give as much detail as possible, and avoid assuming budget holders may already be aware of certain information. By telling the full story behind your proposition, you can ensure every stakeholder is bought into the value and impact it can bring.
Rippl
Rippl Recognition & Rewards Platform
Contact us today to discover how Rippl can help you build your ideal recognition and rewards platform.
FAQs on Building a Case for Recognition in Business
An effective reward strategy is becoming increasingly important in attracting, maximising and retaining the people behind a brand. Especially as many businesses face tighter budgets which make frequent pay rises less feasible, employers need to look at wider routes to competitive compensation to champion employees’ wellbeing and empower them to thrive.
Effective recognition will remain agile in how and why it’s delivered. Recognition can be anything from a simple ‘thank you’ to a more tangible reward for employees’ contributions. Importantly, this shouldn’t remain exclusive to job role performance or exceeded KPIs – but rather should encompass all value they deliver for wins big and small.
For inspiration on how to effectively recognise and reward employees, check out this blog exploring 14 powerful ways to empower your people.
Effective recognition is a key predictor of positive business culture, enhanced productivity and future-proofing the workforce. In this blog, we explore the business benefits of prioritising a culture of recognition and reward – grab a coffee and dive in.
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