A 5-Part Series: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Rewarding in a Global Business
PART 2 Awards
By Michelle M. Smith, CPIM, CRP Vice President, Marketing – O. C. Tanner
Awards are often the largest incentive or recognition program budget line item, and can certainly be one of the most compelling factors for program participants. However, due to their importance to the recipients and the likely size of your investment, you’ ll want to be wellinformed before you proceed. The overwhelming message of international award success is that‘ one size does not fit all.’ From the obvious“ miss-fits” of different sized electrical plugs in different countries, to the more subtle nuances of taste; different people in different countries covet different items and different brands than their neighbours. Award items that are immensely popular in one country may garner little enthusiasm, or perhaps even disdain in another country. You can’ t be haphazard in your award selection for a global program as you could easily risk actually offending your program participants. Seek guidance from those knowledgeable in local tastes and customs for each country in your program. Incentive and recognition providers can provide assistance, as can your employees in those regions who would likely appreciate the opportunity to provide feedback on potential award assortments. Another consideration regarding awards is whether it makes more sense for you to offer a single award assortment for your entire global program or to offer different assortments by country or region. One universal assortment may be easier to manage, but you’ ll be sacrificing a lot in the selection. Depending on the countries involved, you may have to eliminate everything with an electrical plug( or bundle the item with the adapters for the country in which it will be used) and exclude all award choices that would be culturally inappropriate or restricted from import in any of the participating countries. Further, you compromise the opportunity to populate the award assortment with enough regionally popular brands to create a compelling selection for your participants.
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