Efficient Plant April 2020 - 32

column | workforce strategies

Recognition
And Reward
Matter
Jon Sillerud
Uponor North America

W

HEN THE ECONOMY is moving along
and business is good, we
have a skills gap that is an ongoing
challenge. When events, such as a
pandemic, intrude on daily manufacturing, normal activities are altered in
unpredictable ways.
In either situation, keeping good
employees engaged and retained is
critical, especially when those employees must work at the plant every day
to keep production moving. How do
you manage this in a society where
generations have shifted from company
loyalty to personal loyalty? You give the
stars their deserved star treatment.
This is not to say you shower mediocrity with lavish appreciation. Instead,
you recognize and reward those who
are most deserving to ensure your
high-performing, quality workers continue to bring value to your workforce.

RECOGNITION VS. REWARD

Learn what brings your employees pride. Company reward and recognition programs keep
workers happy and engaged in their jobs.

Jon Sillerud is Vice President, Operations, for Uponor
North America, Apple Valley, MN (uponor.com). Reach
him at jon.sillerud@uponor.com.

+

For more about workforce development
strategies and techniques, watch our new
webinar, presented by Jon Sillerud. You can
view the presentation at
efficientplantmag.com/2001uponor.

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Many companies have recognition
and reward programs to ensure
employees are happy and stay
engaged. However, it's important to
know the difference between the two
programs and why you should incorporate both into your company's
employee-experience strategy.
Simply stated, reward is economical; recognition is emotional. Rewards
are typically expected by employees
and conditionally based on a set
understanding of performing a task or
fulfilling a role and, in return, receiving
something tangible.
Recognition is not expected. It's a
spontaneous human connection that
can flow from peer to peer, regardless

of rank. It celebrates an individual and
can last forever in memory.

BALANCING PROGRAMS
To keep quality workers, you need a
balance of reward and recognition.
While a reward should always come
with recognition, a recognition
does not necessarily need a reward.
Having rewards for things such as
milestone anniversaries and annual
performance achievements is very
important, but the key is finding a
recognition that can be incorporated
on a frequent basis to encourage
employees' continued engagement.
For example, on our manufacturing floor, we have more than a dozen
continuous improvement (CI) boards to
show the status of employees' new ideas
for improvements in such areas as engineering, manufacturing, maintenance,
quality, safety, and training.
Each month, we draw winners from
the pool of employees who submitted
new ideas and recognize them on our
CI boards, as well as in our town-hall
meetings. While these employees don't
receive a tangible gift, the pride they get
from their recognition is significant.
The success of this program is
shown in the exponential increase in
engagement, beginning with a few hundred ideas submitted in 2012 and 2013
to more than 4,500 the past two years.
Having a quality reward and recognition program in place is essential
to keeping the now sometimes elusive
quality worker from walking out your
door. Learn what brings your employees pride and you will have another
tactic in your arsenal for keeping your
workforce strong. EP

APRIL 2020

3/27/20 10:30 AM
http://www.uponor.com http://www.efficientplantmag.com/2001uponor http://www.EFFICIENTPLANTMAG.COM
Efficient Plant April 2020

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