All companies are unique. Thus no vendor dominates the market
One thing I truly enjoy about my job is that I have the ability to interact with so many organizations that value their employees and want to help them know that. The reasons vary from reducing turnover costs, a mandate from leadership, improving what's working, etc. The common approach, is to let people know the company values their impact and improve the manager-to-employee dialog.
And no, giving an employee a gift card is not social recognition in itself. Praise and reinforcement are tools. Money and respect are critical to all of us. KangoGift helps show respect and build trust.
Empathy has taught me that there are always two sides. Not all leaders are out of touch. And not all employees are quite quitting. It's bridging these gaps that make a difference.
To that last point, there is no common way to do those 2 things. Thus an HR tech vendor can't become the leader and have all the companies use them. Payroll, enrollment, etc. are critical and tactical. And leadership is possible. Strategic projects can have best practices, yet they can't be standardized for everyone.
Now, as we sit here in the midpoint of 2023, I find myself looking back and planning ahead. As is my custom, I think of a few things that will help KangoGift become stronger and more able to meet our customers' needs for employee engagement and recognition. Three things come to mind.
There is no one way, or one solution, to build an employee reward and recognition program
We are not selling widgets
We all have one thing in common: we are all unique
We know what we’re doing, and that can help you build a much stronger relationship with your customer
Let’s talk about this in more detail
There is no one way, or one solution, to build an employee reward and recognition program—Someone once said there is no one size fits all solution anywhere other than the buffet. I don’t know about that, but I do know that there is no one way to do employee recognition. When you’re building a program, you need the solution that works best for you. Some people want spot rewards, others want to on-board people in a unique way, and others want to help celebrate life events, or build morale.
KangoGift has worked very closely with our global customer base to build unique programs designed to strengthen your social engagement with your employees. Understand that with this approach we can encounter and prepare for any organization's culture and sub-cultures. That is why customization is becoming more important. How else can we address this issue of uniqueness without customization?
Let me put it in the proper context. Should you be doing business with KangoGift or some of our esteemed competitors, you will hear a firm message. They will all be centered on a number of different themes. Too many to discuss here, but no matter who you deal with, they must recognize that your employee recognition and employee engagement program will only be successful if we set up a unique program based on your needs. The off-the-shelf program will only result in you doing nothing for anyone.
We are not selling widgets--One of KangoGift’s selling points is that we make people realize they matter. That the organization sees them as more than a cog in a machine. A widget is the literal definition of a cog in a machine. Faceless, nameless and replaceable. Things that today’s employees often believe their employers see them as.
What KangoGift, and others, are selling that unique form of solution. It is something quite rare in the technology industry. We are selling a solution that is built around the individual. The goal of our solution is to make the employees feel like they are a key component of the organization’s success. You can’t do that when you see them as just a widget.
The other great outcome of selling a solution that is the opposite of widgets is that you produce documentation that is based on human interaction and also provides management with a key snapshot into how employees are thinking and how managers are performing. Two widgets or ten may be important but, a widget isn’t going to leave you and make it harder to build more widgets. KangoGift can make sure you don’t have that problem.
We all have one thing in common; we are all unique--. That is one tagline of KangoGift and I love to say it to the human resources leaders we speak to because it is the essential core of what we do. Each organization is unique, each solution provider is unique, and each employee is unique. This can pose a problem since many solution providers want you to purchase their out-of-the-box employee engagement solution.
This can be challenging if you only want 3 parts, and the solutions provider is making you buy 10 since you can’t break them up. What you need to do in a situation such as this is to use a company such as KangoGift which, custom builds solutions that meet your needs exactly.
Imagine going to buy a new sofa and the store says you have to buy the orange end tables with it. Would you shop there? Do you know of any stores that make you buy something you don’t want? If you have to do that then you’re shopping somewhere else.
The key to building a successful employee engagement and recognition solution program is to recognize that everything is unique. The one-size-fits-all, or the take it all or nothing approach is just not realistic. Why do you want a solution that treats you and your employees like the widgets we just decided we’re not?
So, what next? Here are 3 things to take away:
If you think your program is not what it should be, there’s a chance it is. Each program is unique, and you need to embrace what fits your organization’s needs
You are always servicing people, not a widget. A widget is the exact opposite of what you are dealing with. If you can think how a widget would respond, react in the opposite fashion and, you’ll have the human resolution.
Don’t worry about the crowd. You’re unique and so are your needs., just like everyone.
There’s a reason you have so many choices to help run your employee engagement and recognition programs. No one can own it because each customer buys its solution based on its cultural needs and since no two are the same, it’s impossible. We are all alike in one way,,we’re all unique.