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Case Studies

A Worldwide Professional Services Company

About the Client

A worldwide professional services company recognized it had a collection of highly motivated professionals, but it also understood that the unique demands of its business model could strain an individual’s sense of connection to the group.

Challenge

With its global workforce operating in a highly integrated yet virtual manner, the firm needed a recognition solution that reduced attrition and increased employee engagement—two factors that were adversely affected by the physical separation of work groups. Here, recognition opportunities are linked to key corporate values. Performance factors identify brand values in an identifiable context and connect them to a desired behavior that individual employees can more easily understand and act upon.

Solution

Working with a senior leadership team, Madison developed the economic business case for recognition. Using a combination of manager to associates and peer-to-peer recognition devices, our solution was designed to commemorate the importance of individual and team based contributions, promote shared values, exchange best practices/innovations, and reinforce a high level of “mutuality” in every employee interaction.

 

We helped the organization frame the economic justification for increased employee engagement and positioned behavior-based recognition as a tool to ignite higher scores. With a highly diverse workforce, Madison knew that the program needed to speak to each of its workers in a highly personalized manner if it was to have the desired impact. Madison segmented the eligible population through a series of pertinent variables (location, job codes, current assignment, team association, etc.) so messages, goals, success stories and the aggregate user experience was relevant to the individual’s role in the firm.

 

The nature of company’s business model also required a high level of fluidity. Teams formed around client projects often migrated across supervisory relationships and geographic locations. Madison developed a hierarchal structure that effectively managed the change in personnel assignments and reporting alignments. As a result managers could continue to track and give awards efficiently and accurately without any additional administrative burden.

 

The program relevant reward selection was from more than 100 countries. Madison designed a series of in-country reward catalogues that leveraged local suppliers guaranteeing that all redemption would be handled locally without the extra time and expense of customs, duty or international shipping.

Results

The company is a highly metric-driven firm and continues to track the program’s success against the objectives of its original business case, while also contrasting its own experiences against comparative best practices suggested by Madison.

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Here are some highlights from the last review:

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  1. Significantly reduced attrition rates, especially in its statistically outlying countries (historically experiencing greater than 40% attrition was brought down to 24%).
     

  2. Employee engagement scores continue to increase at an annual average of 12% per year as do the supporting financial outcomes linked to a highly engaged environment.
     

  3. Program utilization continues to outperform senior level expectations in all measured categories including login rates and award issuance, which is increasing yearly.
     

  4. Surveys confirm a higher level of satisfaction with the program’s structure and execution: 93% of employees rate the program as a “good” or "excellent” tool for recognizing high-performers within the organization.
     

  5. Senior management credits the increased use of recognition and non-cash compensation as a “significant factor” in sustaining a “recognition culture.”

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