Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER January 25, 2016 FEATURES 17 Colleen McCarville vice-president of human resources at Killam Properties The Halifax-based real estate company has about 600 employees I t's important to have employee recognition programs — formal or informal — at every organization, according to Colleen McCarville, vice-president of human re- sources at Killam Properties in Halifax. "Recognition of an employee's eff orts on behalf of the organization have a direct impact on their on-the-job performance and, in turn, the success of the organization." e real estate company has had various recognition programs over the years. Its most recent program, "Core Value Champions," is based on the organization's core values and recognizes employees who live those values through their daily work. Employees must be nominated by other employees in the organization. e program is meant to draw attention to, and cel- ebrate those who live, the core values of: strong cus- tomer relationships, "do the right thing," creative solutions, "build community" and "curb appeal," says McCarville. "It is also a way to communicate the values in practice and to strengthen the workplace culture that is built on these values." As a reward, the core value champions re- ceive recognition in the employee newslet- ter, a personalized card and a cash gift card. Another program is the "I like my RM" program designed for front-line staff, which is fuelled by the feedback of Kil- lam's customers on resident managers. "Our residents use Facebook to post photos and explain why their on-site manager is great. Our marketing team tallies online votes ('likes') and we highlight our top em- ployees through social media," she says. The contest show- cases employees in a public way and also creates social media buzz about Killam and its people. "Using Facebook allows the individual employees to share their success very publicly with family and friends should they choose to. e campaign is a successful marketing tool for prospective tenants, in addition to a recognition tool," says McCarville. Employees are recognized online through social media and at employee events. e winning employees receive cash gift cards while the residents who nominate the employees also are awarded. When it comes to the preferences of diff erent generations or lifestyles, that's not much of a challenge, says McCarville. Some demographics are less likely to use social media, so the company communicates with them offl ine, through paper copies, for example. Otherwise, it's no problem to make accommodations, she says. "We even had one instance where an onsite manager set up a Facebook account with an elderly tenant because he wanted to participate in the program." And if a recognition program is facing budget cuts, the employer should focus on per- sonalizing the recognition and making it public, says McCarville. "Make it clear why the employee is being recognized. None of this needs to be costly, and has great impact on engagement." When it comes to the return on investment, Killam's recognition programs are one piece of an array of employee programs that drive morale, engagement and performance, she says. "Recognition programs, combined with incentive programs, strong benefi ts and perks programs, interesting work and safe environments, can be measured through turnover rates and employee satisfaction rates." Change can be good for recognition, as technology has made it easier to communicate with employees, disseminate information and share photos, she says. However, the desire to be recognized and appreciated, often in a public forum, doesn't seem to have changed much over time, says McCarville. "We keep it simple." recent program, "Core Value Champions," is based on the organization's core values and recognizes employees who live those values through their daily work. Employees must be nominated by other employees in the organization. e program is meant to draw attention to, and cel- ebrate those who live, the core values of: strong cus- tomer relationships, "do the right thing," creative solutions, "build community" and "curb appeal," says McCarville. "It is also a way to communicate the values in practice and to strengthen the workplace culture that is built on these values." As a reward, the core value champions re- ceive recognition in the employee newslet- ter, a personalized card and a cash gift card. Another program is the "I like my RM" program designed for front-line staff, which is fuelled by the feedback of Kil- lam's customers on resident managers. "Our residents use Facebook to post photos and explain why their on-site manager is great. Our marketing team tallies online votes ('likes') and we highlight our top em- ployees through social media," she says. The contest show- cases employees in a public way and also creates social media buzz about Killam Brenda Schacht vice-president of human resources at Horizon Utilities in Toronto The company has about 425 employees A t Horizon Utilities, recognition is not just about business, it's about the person, according to Brenda Schacht, vice-president of human resources. To that end, the company recently revamped its thank you card program. "People really respond to those small, more frequent gestures of recognition than neces- sarily if there is a big bang and then you don't do anything for a year," she says. "It's more simple than extravagant." While recognition has always been important at the municipally owned electricity dis- tribution company, in the last few years, Horizon has focused on broadening the program and looking at diff erent ways to recognize people, says Schacht. "I don't think our recognition is really driven so much by budget issues as by 'We just think it's the right thing to do because we need to support a positive culture and a perfor- mance-based culture and to try to move our employee engagement to higher levels all the time,' so budget really isn't the driving factor for us." The 425-employee company also has a corporate intranet with diff erent templates available to recognize both business-relat- ed and personal accomplishments, such as a person running a marathon. ere are also TVs in the various buildings that showcase both corporate and individual accomplishments such as birthdays or an employee getting married. And there are service awards and team awards, such as a bowling event after a proj- ect is completed. e recognition is about people feeling valued, supported and engaged, says Schacht. "You want people to really feel like what they do and the eff orts they put forward every day are valuable to the organi- zation, are valued by the orga- nization and it really sup- ports a strong, positive performance-based culture." Factors in success Making sure the recognition is successful involves leaders, she says. "In fact, we just provided our leaders recently with a job aid around reminding them about recognition and to make sure they keep it top of mind with little cards that can prompt them." It's also important to keep the program simple and straightforward, says Schacht, "and also to make sure that the way we're recognizing people has meaning to them, meaning and value to them individually because, as we know, we talk a lot about (how) there's many types of people in organizations, diff erent generations, so you have to make sure that you are recognizing people in a way that makes them feel good." Technology has its positive and negative sides. On the one hand, it allows for more im- mediate recognition and the ability to broadcast accomplishments more eff ectively. "It really becomes more of a just-in-time opportunity to recognize and to broadcast that out across the organization," says Schacht. On the other hand, people really appreciate the personal touch, such as the thank you cards, says Peg Zahtila, director of learning and organizational development at Horizon. "We're fi nding people might be more inclined to send a quick text or quick email but it doesn't quite have the same impact as a handwritten note or card or face-to-face ' ank you for that work you did, I know I asked for it on short notice' — whatever the situation. So (technology) detracts from those simple things." And when it comes to determining the impact of the recognition, Horizon tracks its productivity measures, which are reported up to the senior levels, as well as the board. More indirectly, success is tracked through employee engagement levels and customer satisfaction, says Schacht. " ere needs to be some business case for it, especially if you're going to spend signifi cant dollars. I think you need to fi nd some ways to try to measure the impact of what it is you're doing and whether or not in fact it's being valued by your staff . So there's this gut anecdotal 'Yes, it's the right thing to do,' but I think, in this day and age, you've got to have the business case for spending the money." simple than extravagant." While recognition has always been important at the municipally owned electricity dis- tribution company, in the last few years, Horizon has focused on broadening the program and looking at diff erent ways to recognize people, says Schacht. "I don't think our recognition is really driven so much by budget issues as by 'We just think it's the right thing to do because we need to support a positive culture and a perfor- mance-based culture and to try to move our employee engagement to higher levels all the time,' so budget really isn't the driving factor for us." The 425-employee company also has a corporate intranet with diff erent templates available to recognize both business-relat- ed and personal accomplishments, such as a person running a marathon. ere are also TVs in the various buildings that showcase both corporate and individual accomplishments such as birthdays or an employee getting married. And there are service awards and team awards, such as a bowling event after a proj- ect is completed. e recognition is about people feeling valued, supported and engaged, says Schacht. "You want people to really feel like what they do and the eff orts they put forward every day are valuable to the organi- zation, are valued by the orga- nization and it really sup- ports a strong, positive performance-based culture." "Using Facebook allows the individual employees to share their success very publicly with family and friends, should they choose to." "People might be more inclined to send a quick text or email but it doesn't quite have the same impact as a handwritten note or face-to-face."

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