Incentive&Motivation Magazine Autumn 2017 | Page 10

A 5-Part Series: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Rewarding in a Global Business PART 1 Considerations & Challenges By Michelle M. Smith, CPIM, CRP Vice President, Marketing – O.C. Tanner Organisational growth – and the growth and development of incentive, recognition, human resource, sales and marketing professionals – more often than not now involves an international component. We all need to lead the way in championing workforce cultural sensitivity and guiding organizations through complex global reward programs. International programs are exceptionally challenging, complex, and fraught with subtleties that can dramatically derail your best laid plans if you’re not extremely careful. No leader wants to take a chance on any recognition or incentive program, but once you cross a country border, the odds of something going wrong increases significantly. This 5-part series will drive the odds back into your favor by sharing what’s necessary to avoid risk and to improve your success levels internationally. Whether locally or globally, incorporating recognition and incentive programs into your corporate strategy has rapidly evolved from a discretionary corporate initiative to a ‘must have’ business imperative. Across the globe, corporations are wrestling to improve productivity in their organizations, reduce expenses, increase retention of employees and customers and stem the tide of an increasingly disengaged and restless workforce. 10 | www.incentiveandmotivation.com