Loyalty. It’s one of the most desirable traits you want – and need – from your team. That’s never been truer than now, when unemployment is low, staff are happier to jump ship. While Australia may not have felt the full force of the ‘Great Resignation’ in 2021-22, a recent report from the University of Melbourne and YouGov suggests all isn’t well in the workforce.
The report, 2023 State of the Future of Work, says since the pandemic, workplace motivation is down and businesses may face declining productivity and workforce attrition if they don’t attend to the issues, including mental health of their staff. It also found that a third of workers under the age of 55 are considering quitting. To ensure you attract and retain the best talent, you need to be competitive in more than just salary, and a well-designed employee loyalty program might be just the thing your organisation needs.
A well thought out employee loyalty program can help you get the best out of your teams, keep your staff loyal and happy and promote a healthy company culture.
Benefits can include:
Increased employee engagement and improved productivity – Employees who feel appreciated are more engaged and motivated to contribute to the company, driving greater efficiency and productivity in the workplace. According to one report, 52 percent of employees say recognition can improve their engagement. And the result of that improved engagement? Well, organisations with high levels of employee engagement are reportedly 21 percent more profitable than low-engagement organisations.
Depending on the rewards program you use, you can also encourage some friendly competition among teams, further bolstering productivity and morale and converting passive employees into engaged superstars. A tailored rewards program which provides a training component can also enable your staff with the knowledge they need to be even better at their job.
Improved team morale – Happy, engaged staff lead to teams with high morale. Employee rewards program provide your team with a focus, encouraging them to excel and rewarding them for doing so.
Improved customer experiences – Employee experience is inextricably linked with customer experience. Happy employees are ideal brand ambassadors.
Higher employee retention rates – All of those benefits above help feed into improved employee retention rates. Losing a staff member hurts – just consider how much it will cost you, both in financial terms and in lost productivity and time, to find and hire a replacement and train them up. Reports suggest it costs roughly 20 percent of a salary to replace a lost worker.
Often, what keeps us at our job is the feeling of being valued and appreciated – exactly what rewards programs are designed to do. In fact, Deloitte research shows organisations with recognition programs have 31 percent lower voluntary staff churn.
Stand out for the crowd in attracting talent – Not only do we all want to work for a company that values us and treats us well but we also like added benefits. One survey shows 72 percent of workers said the more work benefits, such as rewards programs, that they have, the happier they are with their job.
There’s another big potential benefit for your employee loyalty program right now, too:
Ease the cost-of-living crisis burden – With more than a third of Australians reportedly struggling with costs, now’s the perfect time for a rewards program which includes discounts across everyday living expenses such as grocery items, fuel and other essentials.
For organisations, investing in an employee loyalty program can clearly have some big benefits – all of which can feed into making your business more profitable, or saving you costs, for example in recruiting new staff – as well as helping lift your employees mental health and wellbeing.
So what are you waiting for? If you’d like to know more about how an employee rewards program can benefit your business, and how to craft the perfect program for your specific business, contact us for further information.