Employees Make The Best Brand Advocates
When employees are motivated, happy at work and supportive of a company's mission they can make the best brand advocates. In the age of social media, 24/7 news cycles and constant media messages
, it is important to have brand advocates that will evangelize your brand and its mission. Since brands don't have social capital, you need people working for you, willing to put their social capital behind your brand. Employee brand advocacy can provide a variety of social benefits including:
Feedback Motivates Employees
3 Signs of a Truly Loyal Employee
- They dissent and disagree: This seems counter-intuitive to employee loyalty, but an employee who can give honest opinions for the sake of building the team and making it better is more valuable than an employee that keeps quiet. Reward employees for making bold statements if it helps the company. Spot rewards for taking the risk, like a small denomination gift card to Speedway, 1-800-Flowers or
The Limited is a great way to reinforce important, but perceived high risk behavior. - They support the company in public: Everyone wants their fights and disagreements to stay behind closed doors. No matter what an employee thinks and says internally, to the outside world they show their appreciation with praise for the work environment and share knowledgeable facts about the company and products.
- They praise their peers: Peer-to-peer recognition programs are important and empowering. Peer recognition helps employees get to know each other and bond, while helping each other be and do the best they can. Encourage it by letting employees allot points to each other for later rewards.
Gamification Boosts Employee Engagement
We have talked quite a bit about gamification for all kinds of employee incentives in this space. But this is
big news. Adding gamification to an employee engagement strategy alone raises overall employee engagement by 29%. To quantify that in popular social media standards
, gamification raises social sharing on Facebook and Twitter by 22% and raises content exploration by 68% according to VentureBeat. So now that we know it works, and before everyone rushes to implement gamification and peer recognition programs
, it is important to understand
how gamification can raise the bar on your employee engagement initiatives. Gamification builds personal connections. In order for employees to compete against each other and recognize each other's accomplishments and good work
, they have to get to know each other. It is those relationships and increased peer interaction that keeps employees engaged at work. It also keeps them happy and loyal, so implementing gamification can be a great way to maintain a positive, productive and healthy work environment.
For more information on implementing gamification for increased employee engagement check out this article from Maritz Motivation Solutions.
Employee Recognition for National Work & Family Month
National Work & Family Month (NWFM) isn’t just a conceptual idea to prompt employers to take work life balance seriously. The U.S. Senate has declared this an annual event, stating that “reducing the conflict between work and family life should be a national priority."1 Utilize the month of October to celebrate your workers’ families, personal interests, and personal goals. You could hold month-long inter-office contests with prizes that reward for their enthusiasm and participation, offer spot-rewards for employee recognition, encourage folks to share their work-life and work-family balance ideas, and hold prize drawings. What are America’s most prized rewards? Gift cards. They make the perfect reward for workplace events and celebrations. Albertsons gift cards for high quality foods and treats for loved ones, Speedway gas and Autozone gift cards to show appreciation for the long commutes that take away from family time, The Children’s Place for outfitting young families…you get the picture.
