When you go above and beyond the call of duty at work, you expect a reward for your efforts. But the payoff is often delayed – or worse – and it’s rarely what you were expecting.
What’s typically at stake for employees is a cash reward and heightened organizational stature – a big step toward a promotion. If the organization fails to come through even star employees head for the exits.
Unfortunately, HR experts say two pervasive problems undermine employee trust in rewards programs. First, there is often a lack of transparency into the rewards process and second, there is fuzziness about what it takes to qualify.
A study of HR executives by Towers Perrin finds that rewards programs are “not meeting talent and people management needs effectively, especially in attracting and retaining people across the organization.”
What’s the answer? Job seekers who want to work for a world-class employer should look for a “recognition culture,” says Eric Mosley, CEO and co-founder Globoforce, a software company that specializes in employee recognition programs, often for multinationals.
If recognition matters to you, Mosley suggests some questions to ask when you’re checking out a potential employer:
- Does the employer apply for the annual Best Places to Work Institute awards?
- Does the employer set a target for every manager to give out recognition awards? Mosley says it is in management’s best interest to recognize their best performing team or department members.
- Have they (your interviewer) given awards before? Ask them to tell you about it.
- Does the company typically notify co-workers or keep it quiet when an employee achieves recognition for extraordinary work?
Will this line of questioning work in a job interview? “If they have a working recognition culture,” says Mosley, “they will be able to describe awards they have won or given and the impact it has had on their culture.”
If you’re going to give away the best years of your life, it’s a good idea to do it at a company with a strong recognition culture.
I think this is the kind of advice more people need to hear, and I think it’s something a lot of people learn the hard way. Interviews are just as much about you checking the employer out as it is about them checking you out. These are questions worth asking before you accept an offer.