With changing employee expectations, organizations need to keep up with what the present employee and the work environment wants and needs from their rewards and recognition systems and processes. Where does AI fit into that equation? How is AI impacting employee rewards and recognition systems that are in place? How can organizations align themselves better to technology that will affect incentive frameworks in the future?
While the work ecosystem may be dynamic and evolving at a speed that is often hard to keep pace with, certain aspects of work do not change. The concept of employee rewards and recognition is one such unchanging aspect that never loses significance despite the blitzkrieg of changes around it.
The systems and processes of rewarding and recognizing employees may undergo some minor (as well as drastic) modification, there may be ample debate on the best practices to follow when it comes to rewarding the people at work and HR teams across geographies and sectors may be utterly divided in their approach to recognizing their human resources. That said, employees will never stop expecting to be rewarded and recognized for their work and organizations will always try to come up with ways to live up to these expectations.
This mutually accepted transaction cycle has been around since the first employer-employee agreement and it is thus safe to assume that no matter the changes that inform the world of work, this cycle would continue into the future.
The system of rewards and recognition has undergone quite visible changes over the last decade. It has also been visible that the right R&R has the power to drive employee engagement and elevate the employee experience. The target audience at the workplace has changed and the present employee has very different needs, desires
What has not changed though is the fact that incentives, rewards and recognition sculpt the perception an employee has of the Organization that they works with. The timeless trend of rewarding employees for a job well done and recognizing their contribution has evolved. From being primarily cash or bonus-centric to becoming a lot less tangible and often without a direct financial note to it, today rewards can range from Amazon vouchers to paid holidays to a Netflix or gym subscription. The point is to create, within rewards and recognition schemes, another channel through which the Organization can communicate and engage with an employee in a format that is most relatable at the individual level.
Using R&R as an employee engagement tool demands a technological leap. Means and ways of engaging employees (should) have evolved with changes in how we communicate and the extent to which tech has pervaded every aspect of our functioning.
AI today is quickly becoming more than a phase and a fad – it is becoming the norm. Organizations thus need to weave in the AI wave into the tide of change that is sweeping over the HR landscape in general and rewards, recognition and incentive frameworks in specific.
