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u s O Kd Ideas and Information for The Recognition Experience
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Good Business Gourmet meals to go. Gift shop. Fresh flowers. Dry cleaning. A private wellness and exercise facility. Two golf courses. An exclusive inn. Do these sound like the makings of a resort vacation? Try again. These amenities are part of daily life when you work for Ohio-based Westfield Insurance. The company creates a family atmosphere for its employees as it aspires to become one of Fortune Magazine’s ‘Best Places To Work.’ You may wonder with so many impressive services and initiatives to choose from, what’s the most valuable program Westfield provides according to employees and management? They agree — it’s recognition. “Recognition started a long time ago at Westfield,” says CEO Bob Joyce. “A number of years ago we decided it was time to take recognition to the next level. We started an employee survey so we could step back and measure what recognition was doing. Now, years later, and after consistently improving recognition based on those surveys, we have Westfield Excellence — our performance recognition program.” Debra Lyons, Westfield’s chief human resource officer says, “Our first recognition program put us on the road to recognizing employees and rewarding those employees who went above and beyond their normal job responsibilities.
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Westfield Group Establishes a Solid Recognition Program
As that program grew and evolved, employee satisfaction surveys indicated some negative feedback about certain aspects of the recognition program. We knew it was time for a change.” Specific feedback from Westfield’s surveys suggested four key areas that needed to be addressed: ◆ Automated system ◆ Quicker turnaround between action and recognition ◆ Reduce subjectivity ◆ Increase program consistency (continued on page 2) Westfield’s Recognition Champions Fight for their Employees: Bob Joyce, CEO; Debbie Vorndran, employee programs specialist and 2004 NAER Recognition Champion of the Year; Rich Siegenthaler, manager of employee programs
INSIDE: Manager reacts to performance program: Page 2 ◆ Recognition and remote offices: Page 3 ◆ Exclusive designer awards: Page 4
RECOGNITION
SNAPSHOT
◆
Compelled to Commit?
According to a recent Franklin Covey questionnaire, less than half of U.S. workers are aware or are committed to their company’s goals. Other findings:
◆ Only 48% of workers say their employers have a clear, strategic direction.
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44% of workers say their organization has effectively communicated its goals.
◆ More than half of workers (54%) understand what they need to do to help their organization achieve its goals.
A well thought out recognition program can reinforce company messaging at a critical time when employees are particularly open to receiving the message. Source: Incentive Magazine, April 2004
CATCH UP ON THE CARROT CRAZE! I
t’s official — the business world is crazy about Carrots. In its first week, Gostick and Elton’s latest installment, “A Carrot A Day,” broke the Wall Street Journal’s list of the Top 15 Business Books. The pint-size, paperback gem offers managers daily tips (365 in all) for better recognizing employees. From offering up a parking space to tips for how to best interview employees and understand their recognition needs, Gostick and Elton’s suggestions turn managers into capable and confident leaders. Learn more about Carrots: www.carrotbooks.com
two WESTFIELD GROUP (continued from page 1)
With this feedback, Lyons charged a team of employees with creating more strategic recognition of above-and-beyond behaviors. Providing leadership and support Rich Siegenthaler, manager of employee programs and Debbie Vorndran, recognition program administrator and employee programs specialist in Westfield’s Total Reward Center of Excellence, facilitated the recognition team made up of people from across the company. The Emily Schlak, Recognition Team team was dedicated to Member and creating a program Trainer that would be easy to use, popular with employees and strategic in its use. Launched this year with the help of Ohio-based O.C. Tanner recognition expert Beth Patrick,
the Westfield Excellence performance recognition program answers employee concerns and centers on recognizing strategic behaviors that
Rob Bowers, exemplify the comRegional Claims pany’s five core comOperations petencies: Customer Executive Focus, Integrity and Trust, Interpersonal Savvy, Perseverance and Self-development. “One of our goals is to ‘connect the dots,’” explains Joyce. “When you put focus on a goal and demonstrate to the employee how what they do every day can connect to that goal, there is a better, deeper commitment to what we do. For example, we know from the first quarter results of the Westfield Excellence program that 64 percent of Westfield’s performance awards relate to customer focus. That means a large number of people are being recognized for going above and beyond for our customers — talk about bottom line benefit! That’s connecting the dots.” ❘❘ ❘❘ ❘❘ ❘❘ ❘❘ ❘❘ ❘❘ ❘❘ ❘❘ ❘❘ ❘❘
TRAINING FOR RESULTS In order to assure a proper understanding of the program and its desired outcomes, Westfield sponsored a comprehensive training on the new performance recognition program for each one if its more than 2,000 employees. “Training was critical,” says Rick Niese, senior executive of property casualty services. “It not only gave us the mechanics of the recognition process but also talked about the importance of recognition and how it can reinforce the values and goals of our company. Training was a good start for everyone to make an up-front commitment to recognition. By putting that type of time and effort into training, it demonstrated right from the very beginning how important the program was to the company.” Westfield’s recognition training included an overview of the importance of recognition, discussion on the strategy behind its creation, a review of the goals Westfield’s leadership set for the program and a detailed lesson in how to use the web-based program. Westfield recognition team member and trainer, Emily Schlak explains, “It was really important to us that managers and employees understand the program, its connection to Westfield’s performance management initiative and other goals. So we did separate training sessions for managers and employees. In the manager training, we spent time talking about what behavior should be rewarded, what awards were appropriate, where they could go for training. For employees, it was about education, getting them excited about the program and how it connects to core competencies.” Westfield used its own trainers as well as recognition consultants and trainers from the O.C. Tanner Recognition Company to kick off the program. “Training programs like the one conducted at Westfield help to maximize program understanding, elevate the perceived value of the program and increase the likelihood of program success,” says O.C. Tanner consultant Greg Boswell. “We were pleased with the fundamentals O.C. Tanner brought to the program,” says CEO Joyce. “The people O.C. Volume 8 Number 3
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Tanner put in front of our folks really started us off on the right foot. Our people have the right set of expectations about what the program is going to be. Without training you don’t have that baseline.” ❘ ❘ ❘ ❘ ❘ ❘ ❘ ❘ ❘ ❘ ❘
AVOIDING PITFALLS Training also helps to avoid management crises like one that affected Westfield recipient Andy Platz. An audiovisual specialist for Westfield, Platz is known for his responsive nature and behind-the-scenes heroics. In the past, Platz often earned kudos from those he assisted and they sent performance awards to him by way of his manager. Unfortunately, once submitted, nominations often took months to process. And without a system for tracking nominations through the approval process, there was often no way for program administrators to know when and if Platz received his awards. Today, Platz is elated with the timeliness and ease of the Westfield Excellence program. “I am so amazed at how streamlined the new program is; the recognition is virtually instant,” reports Platz. “The first award I was nominated for in the new program was a special experience. I was notified directly of my nomination and invited to select an award of my choosing from a special Web site. I found a Skil palm sander and was amazed at how fast it was shipped to me. When I received the sander I called the program administrator and ran the sander over the phone and said, ‘Check this out!’ Then I took the
sander down to the gentleman who nominated me for the award and had him autograph it.” Platz continues, “I’ve always had a lot of motivation, but programs
like this are real motivators. It’s not like everyone I help I wonder, ‘Am I going to get recognized for this?’ But it gives people a tool when an extra thank you is appropriate and now we have the perfect tool to do that.”
ea r g
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Implementing a New Performance Strategy: A Manager’s Perspective As the manager of Westfield’s Business Solutions Center, T.L. Brosseau oversees an intense and talented team of information technology experts. Westfield relies on their knowledge and skills to keep operations running. For Brosseau, the challenge lies in keeping this critical team motivated to press through sticky projects, late nights and the occasional weekend. Here’s what she has to say about the effectiveness of the Westfield Excellence performance recognition program:
Consistency “One of the things I like best about the Westfield Excellence program is our
ability to finally get consistency for the recognition process,” says Brosseau. “It had always been a problem to ensure that every manager had the same understanding of what the first level and the second level and the third level of awards meant. Now, Westfield Excellence gives us is the ability for one set of eyes to look at every award and get them all on the same level.”
Credibility “One of the things the consistency of the program has brought to our area is the feeling that the recognition and rewards program is worth something. Now people know that if they get a bronze award that is what their effort equated to, and if they get a silver, they really had to earn that level of recognition,” Brosseau says. “I see a lot more
buy-in, a lot more participation, a lot more enthusiasm behind recognizing not only their peers, but people outside the department because now it means something. That program credibility has been critical for us.”
Results “Nominations tend to come in groups,” reports Brosseau. “Right after a presentation you see an increase in productivity, effort and ideas. So after you make a presentation you know there is a surge from employees that will follow. Now that’s motivating!”
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TOOLS FOR SUCCESS Manager of Wellness and Employee programs, Rich Siegenthaler agrees — the Westfield Excellence performance award program is full of tools for everyone. “This program has tools that make my team’s job much easier,” says Siegenthaler. “In the former program, we did not have a resource or a tool by which we could collect data (continued on next page)
three or share information. All the old information was housed on enormous spreadsheets and the data wasn’t accessible. If we were going to be effective, we needed to have a measurable tool. And through this new program we created a measurable tool that provided us a better sense of whether or not the program was permeating throughout the organization.” Tracking and access of such data is also crucial to Westfield leadership who are looking for a solid return on the program. “I’m a big numbers person so I like to see things analytically,” says Joyce. “We do look for measurement of things. One of the things we like about the O.C. Tanner program is that we have some more instant numbers. Those statistics are helpful to the leadership team in seeing what is going on. We can see the energy it’s generatWestfield Excellence recognition recipients ing across departments.” Kathy Scheiring and Jeri Caulk. Equally important to recognition program administrator and employee programs specialist Debbie Vorndran is the assurance that those deserving recognition receive it. “We know the most meaningful recognition is timely and specific. By being specific we identify the actions and behaviors we’re looking for in our employees when they go above and beyond,” says Vorndran. “By tying those to our core competencies, we’ve given our employees a format, a structure, to the program that we didn’t have before. They know what they are being recognized for, they know the behaviors associated with the goals of the program, and they are consistent across the company.” Managers also enjoy the ease of recognizing entire teams using the program. “Another nice thing about this program is that it is not just individual recognition — you can recognize a team,” says T.L. Brosseau, manager in Westfield’s Business Solutions Center. “We take pride in teamwork at Westfield and this is a tool that pulls together people from all over the company and makes sure they get the right amount of recognition. That used to be very difficult. Now it’s simple. It encourages interaction outside
the group and that’s where you get more productivity, better decisions and big things for the company.” Terri Grimm, marketing communications manager, appreciates the ease with which the program helps her thank her own employees. “I try as a manager to say thank you a lot, but this makes it easier,” says Grimm. “The process is so easy. All I have to do is go out to our intranet site and there it is. Within a few clicks, I’m done. The site looks impressive. And the best part is there’s that momento for employees, an award they personally chose and can save to look back and remember what they did to earn that recognition.” ❘ ❘ ❘ ❘ ❘ ❘ ❘ ❘ ❘ ❘ ❘
THE IMPORTANCE OF PRESENTATIONS
service excellence and how we want to affect a customer focus. They begin to recognize through the award process what it takes for them to be committed to service excellence and customer focus.” In the end, Vorndran sees the Westfield Excellence program as a critical management tool. “As we look at reports and gather feedback on the program, we’ll be able to know what areas are using it, and what areas are Westfield executives Jean Jankord and Rick Niese stand firm on the importance of recognition not,” says Vorndran. “This provides us opportunities for one-onone training, counseling and communication. That type of knowledge
empowers us to make a difference in some of the numbers we see in HR. We know that people most often leave companies not because of the company, but because of the relationship that they have with their manager or supervisor. This program can help make a difference in identifying areas where recognition can help bridge that gap.” And it seems the more than 800 awards given out in the first three months after program launch are already making a difference in the energy and effort Westfield employees bring to the company. “Why wouldn’t you want to work here and be a part of this,” says Brosseau. “One of the things Westfield is striving for is to become one of the ‘100 Best Places to Work.’ One of the characteristics that qualify companies
for that distinction is a solid recognition program — this is a solid recognition program. This is one of the ways we encourage employees to step outside of the box, do something wonderful and make a difference for Westfield. It’s the kind of program you need when you want to take things to the next level.”
“With the new program, I am so amazed at how streamlined it is; the recognition is virtually instant.”
Andy Platz, Audiovisual specialist, Westfield Insurance
Westfield caps its recognition strategy by encouraging managers to gather peers for a memorable presentation. “It is absolutely critical for people to understand how much you appreciate them,” says Brosseau. “Part of communicating that appreciation is gathering their peers around them Performance recognition outside the home office and letting them know, ‘You have Launching a successful recognition program at the home office is one thing, but assuring energy and enthusiasm for the program makes it to done something wonderful, you your remote offices is another. have made a difference; you have As part of its company-wide recognition strategy, Westfield Group made a concerted effort to connect with employees made a bottom-line difference to outside the home office. Here’s what employees in those locations are saying about the launch of the program and its the company that I appreciate as perception today: your manager or as your peer that ◆ “Being remote has its challenges with being remembered and staying in the loop,” says Stacey Bruce, a staff operations manager in has been the recipient of your extra Westfield’s Lancaster operations. “The kick-off for Westfield Excellence was very well received in Lancaster. There was a manager session effort.’ It’s not an experience you held onsite to inform us about the new program and a demonstration of the recognition website. It was impressive! I really liked the charge can just get by ordering something that all managers were given to use the program within the next week — that “assignment” was a great idea and helpful to get us using the on the internet and getting it back. program quickly! To me, the thank you or the presen“Next, all Lancaster employees attended training sessions to learn all about the program. They were also told to use it quickly to become tation of the award is the most familiar with it. It was well received and helpful to have the training in person.” important part.” ◆ Rob Bowers, regional claims operation executive for Westfield’s Western division agrees. “In the past, there was less participation from the Jean Jankord, Westfield special field because the appearance was only people in the home office were being recognized for their efforts — it was almost a disincentive services executive agrees, “There is a because of the time it took to get rewarded. This program has changed that perception so that the people in the field benefit to presenting the award well. really embrace the program and there are some immediate, tangible results they can see from it. We’ve really seen a It helps our employees understand morale boost.” what we mean by a commitment to
The Field Effect
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S P O T L I G H T
Unmatched quality. Unmatched results. I
O.C. Tanner welcomes the world’s finest brands
magine an employee who works tirelessly for the business. Her insights and dedication inspire those around her. When it comes time to honor her efforts, it’s only appropriate that she has the opportunity to choose from the finest selection of awards. She spies a piece of designer jewelry she would never buy for herself — it wouldn’t be practical. But this time it’s different; this time it’s all about her moment — she selects an exclusive David Yurman necklace and it becomes her treasure. Every time she puts it on she smiles as she remembers the special recognition it represents. O.C. Tanner welcomes:
ku-dos - It may sound a bit exotic to your ear, but it’s a great word. It’s of Greek origin, and means to acclaim or praise someone for their achievements. Kudos to Alice on her 15 years of service.
Kudos Volume 8. Number 3 Publisher
O. C. Tanner Recognition Co. Editor Adrian Gostick Managing Editors Mindi Cox Sarah Orellana Design/Layout Janice Takagi Graphic Supervisor Shauna Raso Award Photographer Rick Hayward KUDOS is published by O.C. Tanner Recognition Company, 1930 S. State St., Salt Lake City, UT 84115.
John Atencio Scott Kay Gucci
KudOs
David Yurman ON THE COVER: Nikon AF SLR Camera Kit, Dooney & Bourke Duffel Bag, Scott Kay Diamond Ring
O.C. Tanner Honored as one of CIO Magazine’s Agile 100 O.C. Tanner’s efforts to improve the way it does business through technology have earned it a place on CIO Magazine’s prestigious Agile 100 list. The list honors the ability to marry “IT agility with enterprise agility in order to move quickly, adapt intelligently and create advantage in a rapidly changing world,” according to the publication. O.C. Tanner joined the ranks other leading companies such as DHL, FedEx Corp., T. Rowe Price, Dell, SBC, Harvard Business School and General Motors. “At O.C. Tanner, our mission is to strengthen companies through employee recognition. To carry out that mission, we must innovate, innovate, innovate. Our business leaders and IT people have developed a
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Cheers!
Copyright 2004 by O.C. Tanner. All rights reserved. Reproduction in part or whole without written permission is prohibited. Not responsible for unsolicted materials. Second-class US postage paid at Salt Lake City, UT 84101 and additional offices. Postmaster send address changes to above address.
marvelous synergy that drives innovation in client services, in the marketplace, and in our operations. Our company has truly transformed from staid to agile, all to the benefit of our clients and our own employees,” said Kent Murdock, O.C. Tanner president and CEO. O.C. Tanner was recognized for using agile software development methodology to implement more than 1,000 business system enhancements in a single year, and for IT enhancements to manufacturing, supply chain and customer-facing processes that reduced customer calls by half.
Good business for insurance leader underwritten by recognition.
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