In Six Sigma architecture, having a rewards and recognition policy in place is equally important. In bringing about changes in the system smoothly, rewards and recognition can play a very important role. If employees feel that their initiatives are being recognized, they will come forward with suggestions for improvement.
If a person working on a particular process has some problems, and if they feel encouraged to make suggestions, they will be interested in taking a change further. They would feel that the change is for the better and that it will not be of any harm to their status in the organization.
If the person in question studies the process properly, comes up with a good idea and is recognized for the effort, they will feel involved in the entire process and accept the new process easily.
Rewards could be in the form of small gifts in front of colleagues or cash rewards to a certain level. The other advantage of having a reward policy is that it will encourage others to participate in the process as well.
However, it should not create a winner-and-loser scenario in the organization.
The Different Levels of Rewards
There could be different rewards for different levels of people. Rewards can be for certain achievements in the project or for a unique initiative. For Green Belts, depending upon the size of the project and if it has been implemented perfectly, rewards such as gift certificates or cash rewards can be very motivating.
Along with this, recognition of employees' achievements in front of their peers is much more effective than even a monetary amount. Efforts should be made to congratulate employees in team meetings for the efforts that they make on a project.
Salaries and Bonuses for Black Belts
For Black Belts and Master Black Belts, companies can tie their salary or bonus structure to the various benefits that they have brought about from their various projects. Productivity, reduced losses and improved quality can be factors to determine their rewards.
For one and all any reward, big or small, is motivating enough if handed over with acknowledgement from management and colleagues. Even Quality leaders, Champions and CEOs should be recognized for their efforts.
At the completion of the Six Sigma Project, having a luncheon celebration with all employees will prove motivating to the team.
Six Sigma Team Involvement
The involvement of team members and other employees in the planning and execution of a program is very useful. To engage people in such efforts, a recognition program is in order. HR can play a relevant role in this process. With the support of the HR department, teams can set up the appropriate system for rewarding and recognizing their employees.
With their support, senior management can set up the structure for compensating or rewarding employees with raises or bonuses. They can even help in developing a non-monetary reward system.
Reward and recognition is a very important and useful part of Six Sigma architecture. The proper, careful and systematic use of the same can prove to be very motivating for the employees and ultimately lead to success of the Six Sigma project.
In difficult situations, when companies are in crisis and can only be saved by major effort, group morale often rises to far higher levels than before. Individual objections and objectives are bypassed in the collective drive to do what must be done. This is where recognition awards take its importance. High group morale can enrich individual motivation and performance remarkably!
I. Planned Awards:
1. Recognition Awards
On its basic concept, recognition awards are effective ways of increasing and boosting a person's morale. It encourages them to accept of and have a desire for change at all times. The change they will make is not entirely for the advantage of the company but to his or her own personal achievement as well. Basically, the common recognition awards given to an employee are based on the three categories of recognition. These can be planned, immediate, or formal. If a recognition award is set on a formal approach, the award should focus more on the employee's exceptional contribution to the organization for a given year. Some of the examples of formal recognition awards are:
2. Employee Service Award
This may refer to the remarkable service extended out by an employee. This means that he or she had taken responsibility of not only doing their assigned task but were able to complete other work that made the entire organization benefit from it.
3. Customer Relations Employee Awards
This is to recognize people who constantly make effort in reaching out to the company's most important asset the customers. And by merely providing them with exceptional customer service is good enough in such a way that the company is too grateful to just take it for granted.
4. Retiree Recognition Award
This goes out to employees who gave almost half of their life serving the company, providing exceptional service, and undivided loyalty throughout the service period. On the other hand, if the recognition award is planned, meaning giving out these kinds of recognition awards are pre-set and the frequency of conducting them is on a routine basis, then it should be focused on simply recognizing an employees simple yet notable achievements or manifests a good area for advancement.
5. Employee of the Month
This is given to employees who where noted to have done outstanding performance in a given month. This type of recognition award usually boosts the person's morale in terms of emotional satisfaction and personal fulfilment. This, in turn, encourages and motivates them that if their colleague was able to achieve it, so can they.
6. Best in Attendance
In order to motivate people to come to work on time and avoid habitual absences, this type of recognition award should be given. This, in turn, reflects the company's value for the employee's presence, that a day or even a fraction of missed work is detrimental to the entire organization's development.
7. Best in Customer Service
This type of recognition award is given to those who have exceptionally rendered customer service to their clients, thereby, motivating more people to opt for their services because of the kind of satisfaction they will get from the organization's staff. In many cases, it is usually the customer service that keeps people from coming back to the company. And so, if carried out well by an employee, it is just right to acknowledge it. And last, if the recognition is based on immediate recognition, the recognition awards should reflect the urgent need to take note of a person's commendable completion of a given task, in which, when done by anyone else may not have resulted as well.
II. Unplanned Awards:
1. Teamwork Effort
This type of recognition award is given to a group whose outstanding performance had contributed to the company's growth.
2. A special project award
This refers to the immediate completion of a special project which reaped good results. This recognition award is effective in motivating people that the earlier they complete their work at the same time maintain the quality of output, they will be rewarded.
3. A simple employee appreciation
This type of recognition award is a simple way of uplifting the confidence and drive of the employee to continue and keep up the good work. The bottom line is that, if a company knows how to take car of its people by giving recognition award, the employees will take good care of the company in return.
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