Frequently Asked Questions

Most “rewards programs” available in the market today, are primarily designed to reward customers for purchasing more product; they’re actually customer/sales incentive programs. If run correctly, these programs can have a positive effect on customer orders, sales can increase. But too often the increase is short lived; the customer combines their next 2 normal orders into 1 big order, so they can win a prize. Then they skip their next normal order, and their actual volume has not gone up. If you truly want to change customers’ sales volumes long term, you need a very in-depth incentive program that’s combined with product discounts, additional marketing efforts, and significantly expensive/valuable prizes in order to get your customer to better align their business with increased usage of what you provide for them. They need to start concentrating on you as their supplier, and shift away from other activities or suppliers they are currently using.

Our Employee Rewards Program is focused inside your company, on your own team of employees. Our program is a far more quick and cost effective way to improve your company’s performance, because we concentrate on improving the culture within your own company. Our program is turn-key, and it’s up and running in 30 days. We help you to have a direct positive effect on your most valuable assets, your people and your work environment. This in turn creates positive results in all other areas of your business.

Rewards Programs work best when your managers really buy into them, and use them to recognize good deeds and accomplishments with their employees. This helps create a bond between your people, and improves your culture. Most of your managers will only need a “general idea” of what to reward, and then they will run with it from there.

Create a short list of specific/measurable Rewards Accomplishments that you want to improve upon, and decide how important each goal is to your company (Is it a SILVER, GOLD, or PLATINUM level reward?). This will give your employees a “set way” to earn Rewards:

• Attendance Goals (100 days without an unexcused absence, or without being late)
• Safety Goals (each time a new record is reached for days without a safety violation)
• Training / Certification (completing a company required program)
• Productivity or Sales Goals (hitting a new “highest ever” sales or production level, by day/week/month/quarter, or however you measure activity)
• Team Leadership (accepting responsibility to lead a team activity)
• Work Anniversary Date (insures everyone is recognized at least once per year)

But also let your managers use their discretion to recognize non-measurable behaviors and activities that you want to see repeated:

• Suggestions / Ideas (that increase productivity or reduce costs)
• Participation (in unpopular tasks or when volunteering for weekend/early/late/over time projects)
• Mentoring Co-workers (helping others, or taking the time to make someone else a better employee)
• Referrals / New Leads / Up-Selling / Cross-Selling (someone creates a referral to a different department/product/service, in an effort to help the company)
• Outstanding Customer Service (someone receives a very positive report from a customer)
• Going above and beyond (completing a significant task that’s outside normal responsibilities)
• Personal Goals (when you find out that an employee accomplished something important to them personally; a fitness goal, medical check-up, a birth/wedding or significant milestone date)

Yes, we encourage you to let employees reward each other. Receiving recognition from your peer group is very powerful, and there are many ways you can incorporate this into your Program. Here are a few examples that work well:

• Each month, each of your managers can have their employees vote for their MVP (Most Valuable Player). The person with the most votes will win a reward, usually a SILVER or GOLD level reward.
• Each quarter (every 3 months), each of your managers can have their employees vote for their MVP. With this option, the top 3 winners each earn a reward; PLATINUM for 1st place, GOLD for 2nd, SILVER for 3rd.
• Once a month, each manager can rotate around his team of employees, letting one person pick the co-worker whom he or she think does the most for their team. This allows every person on the team to pick a fellow employee for recognition, throughout the year. You build comradery, and you also help keep everyone involved in your Rewards Program.
• We recommend making a rule that the same employee cannot win twice in a row, to help spread the good will around amongst each team. So your “star” employees can win multiple times throughout the year, they just can’t win twice in a row.
• You can collect these votes in private so no one knows who voted for whom, or you can make it a public event and reward the winner in front of his coworkers. Each of your managers may want to do it differently, but we’ll help make sure that it gets done.

We give you a custom made Rewards Sheet for your company’s Program, and it acts like an “order form.” Each time a reward is being given out, the employee selects the reward he or she wants to receive on this form, and then gives the form back to her manager.

Giving an employee a Rewards Sheet is best done in person, so your manager can make eye contact, shake hands, and thank that person for what they have done to earn that reward. Your managers can print this and hand it out. Or, if it’s not practical to give out each reward in person, the Rewards Sheet can be sent to a recipient by email. Here’s a sample Rewards Sheet, showing all the product choices your company might have selected for the GOLD Level. See Sample Rewards Sheet >>

Everyone benefits with our Rewards Program, because you’re using this program to improve your culture. This is why you get a minimum 3x positive value from the money you spend on our program… All employees, across all income levels, love to be recognized for doing good things. The physical Rewards Merchandise a person receives may hold more monetary value to someone who makes less money, someone who would not otherwise own that product, but the monetary value is only a small fraction of the “true value” our program creates. Building a culture where good deeds are recognized and rewarded, in a consistent and reliable way… that’s where the true value of our program is realized, from the most entry level position all the way to the Board Room.

This Program is designed to improve your company’s culture, so in that respect – yes, it’s a huge “bonus” to everyone you work with. But NO, this is not designed to replace any of your income programs, like commissions or bonus payments. This program works best when it is added on top of what you are already doing, not used as a replacement for something that gets taken away (except for your holiday party – this is a significant upgrade, substitute this for that…).

Our Program will be seen as a big upgrade over a “once a year celebration event.” Holiday parties are increasing fraught with danger, so they face more restrictions each year. Many employees don’t attend, and some that do… shouldn’t. Our Employee Rewards Program is a much better use of this expense and time commitment. Everyone participates in our Rewards Program, and it lasts all year. You’re also improving your company’s culture by recognizing and rewarding good deeds and accomplishments. Going forward, you’ll be getting more of the behavior you want, and less of the risk, cost and time commitment it takes to throw a 4-hour party.

Yes you can, everyone likes to be recognized on their birthday. But it would be better to make this a “work centered program” and recognize employees on their yearly work anniversary. Their families and friends will recognize birthdays, and you can be part of that if you wish. But only your company will recognize their work anniversary, so use this program to make that day more memorable. This also helps train your managers to track dates that are important to their employees, and recognize them as they come up. And the BEST PART – if you supply us with a list of dates you want to recognize, we will remind your managers when they’re coming up.

A comprehensive program like ours is most effective if you plan to spend approximately $175 per employee, per year – which is a tremendous bargain. You’re able to have a HUGE positive impact on your company’s culture, for less than 1% of current payroll cost. Any money you spend above this, we use to increase the value and frequency of the Rewards your team receives.

By spending at least $175 per employee, you’re recognizing and rewarding good deeds and accomplishments an average of 3.5 times per employee, per year. If you go much lower, you run the risk of your program getting lost in the background noise of daily life. You need consistency and reliability, on the part of both the rewarding manager and the receiving group of employees, so that rewards and recognition become part of your culture.

You also want the Rewards to be meaningful to the people who receive them. So, if your average salary is above $30,000 you should increase your spend by about 14% to $200 per employee. We use this extra money to create higher value rewards merchandise, and also put multiple items into “kits” for greater impact.

But, if you need to spend less than $175 per employee, per year – you can still have a fantastic program! You tell us how much you want to spend, and we will build the best Rewards Program for your budget!

Most employees feel like they are part of a small 3 to 4 person group, within your company. On average, at least 1 person in this group should be recognized and rewarded each month, so this program stays in their minds and becomes part of your culture. Our program is based upon a starting rewards frequency of 3.5 per employee, per year, at a cost of $175 per employee. If you increase what you spend above this amount, we can increase your frequency of recognition events, but you lose momentum if you go much lower.

Everyone needs to feel like a part of this program, so that everyone can experience firsthand how you’re improving your company’s culture. Everyone does at least a few good deeds throughout each year, and it’s important to catch them doing good, then recognize and reward them for it. In fact, it’s the lowest performers who should give you the most improvement with this program, because they’re not used to be recognized in a positive way. If you’ve got people who are so low down on the scale that you can’t find even one Rewards Moment to recognize them, do yourself a huge favor and replace them with new employees… There are other good people out there who need a job, in every city and town across this great country.

Good quality logo merchandise has far more value than an equal amount of cash, and it’s also one of the most effective forms of advertising for your company. Your merchandise lasts longer, and reminds the recipient, as well as those around her, that she was recognized for doing good things. Your merchandise makes a positive statement about your company, and also about the person who is rewarded.

YES, every item in our Rewards Program is a proven success. Think about it like this… We’ve all seen tons of inexpensive products out there, because most logo items companies give out have a retail cost of $4 or less, and the nicer items we occasionally see are about $7 to $10. All your Rewards Merchandise is at least 4x this at the SILVER Level, 8x at the Gold Level, and 15x at the Platinum Level. You will be proud to have your company’s name on every item in your program, and your employees will receive each item like a gift.

Yes, like many things in life, you can run something like this yourself; just like you can build your own house, or defend yourself in court. But it’s far more effective when you partner with an expert. We give your program consistency and reliability, so it becomes part of your culture. We know how much money you need to spend and how many times you need to give out recognition, so you’re most effective. We package each reward to arrive like a gift, and we have the experience to know what logo merchandise people want to receive. We also help track your managers, to make sure they are participating and doing their part. We give you a fully managed turn-key program, that’s up and running in 30 days, at a very reasonable cost.