"I Want To Hold Your Hand"
Survey Forecasts Solid Growth for Centralized Approach to Global Employee Rewards and Recognition Programs
Miami, FL, June 7 , 2010 – Grass Roots, the leading provider of global incentive and recognition programs for employees, channel partners and consumers, today is releasing the results of a independent research study conducted by Research Powered Marketing Group (RPM) to determine management preferences for companies with employee reward and recognition programs and what they consider to be industry best practices.
Surveying more than 550 compensation and human resource executives with Fortune 500 companies and The Financial Times Global 500 constituents, RPM found that respondents want a highly intuitive, centralized control and management platform that is designed to provide results-driven reward and motivation programs globally.
Seventy-three percent of those companies surveyed indicated that they had a global rewards and recognition program in place. Of those who currently are not running a program, 67% would likely consider a global program next year. This indicates a significant target and growth potential for the incentive industry.
“Although we’ve been talking about globalization for 20+ years, the truth is that it hasn’t really happened. As we come out of the worst economic decline the world has seen since the Second World War, globalization is once more on the agenda. This time I think it’s for real. There appear to be two key motivators – cost and growth” said Stephen Humphreys, president and CEO of Grass Roots for the Americas.
According to Humphreys companies are looking for cost savings across the board and growth in new markets. Harmonizing employee recognition programs around the world is one way to save and to bring emphasis on aligning employee behavior to corporate culture. “Grass Roots has seen a massive increase in global RFP’s (Requests For Proposals) in recent months, including one that showed the company was running more than 30 programs around the world with as many vendors. Centralizing with one vendor/one platform would obviously bring savings” he added.
Respondents were also asked to rate the features of their global programs in order of importance. Translation of languages and localized rewards topped the list followed by 24-hour access, flexible platform, contact center support and the addition of social media.
Those respondents who’ve launched a unified global rewards and recognition program have generally chosen one of two routes – either in-house management (with one or more supporting vendors or they have selected a truly global vendor. The study reveals that those who’ve chosen in-house solutions are mixed in their satisfaction. Some say they view the in-house program as a trial until they chose a single vendor. Others say the in-house programs are taking too much time and too many resources and a one vendor/one platform approach would solve this issue. “It was interesting to note that of the companies surveyed that were using multiple vendors commented that they were experiencing fragmentation and inequities in the distribution of rewards and recognition, which is another problem that can easily be solved with one vendor with local offices around the world to assure adherence to cultural and social issues” Humphreys added.
The Grass Roots survey, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” is available to download on www.grassrootsinspires.com.
About Grass Roots
Grass Roots, recognized for its global performance improvement solutions, helps clients achieve their business goals through innovative recognition, incentive and loyalty programs to engage and motivate employees, channel partners and consumers. Founded in 1980, Grass Roots is co-headquartered in Miami, London and Singapore and has an expanding network of offices in 27 worldwide locations with over 1,000 employees and five international customer service call centers. Grass Roots offers unparalleled global customized solutions that have a positive influence on attitudes and behaviors and are proven to drive employee engagement, brand recognition, loyalty, sales and productivity.
Grass Roots currently services 79 of the Fortune 500 constituents, and counts among its customers Bristol Myers Squibb, BMW, RIM BlackBerry, Barclays Bank, Microsoft and EMC.
