Talking the talk is one thing, but how many organisations actually deliver when it comes to valuing their staff? It's great when executives pick up a new idea about how to reward people's achievements within the business, but it remains so much hot air until tangible improvements are delivered to employees on the front line.
Hilton UK and Ireland, which employs 14,000 staff, inherited a perfectly serviceable reward scheme after its purchase of Stakis Hotels in 1999. Branded Esprit, the optional scheme allowed employees to earn "StarPoints", which could be exchanged for discounts and goods. Staff earned StarPoints directly from their general managers or by being nominated by other staff members - rather like house points.
So far, so familiar, you may say; after all, you're rewarded as a consumer each time you shop at a high-street supermarket or chemist. "So what's different about Esprit?" was one of the first questions director of human resources Andrew Johnson asked himself when he took on the role last April. Keen to improve Hilton's image as an employer, Johnson realised the company needed to offer more.
The man who oversaw the integration of Bass Ireland and Caledonian Breweries with Interbrew in his previous job decided the way to make the existing scheme more valuable was to focus on philosophy.
"Our Hilton brand is about putting back a little of what life takes out, but we can only do this if our colleagues feel valued and give their best," Johnson says. "I needed to update the Esprit scheme to get it living and breathing as a philosophy throughout the business."
Johnson's first moves were to outsource a dedicated helpline to help administer the incentives for the reward scheme and to start quarterly newsletters to keep employees connected with the business. The helpline was important because a review of Esprit at the time showed that hotel discounts were among the most popular incentives.
The helpline enables employees to check availability and book a room. Under the scheme, a stay at the five-star Hilton London Metropole on Edgware Road can be arranged for just £15 per person per night, and paid for in cash or StarPoints. StarPoints can also be used to treat friends and family members to the same discounts, gifts and services that Esprit members enjoy.
On top of this, each hotel runs a popular Employee of the Month award, which offers £50-worth of StarPoints, with additional perks depending on where the employee is based. For example, the current holder of the title at Hilton's headquarters in Watford, Hertfordshire, is enjoying the best parking spot just metres from the building's entrance.
The monthly contest gives the group 77 Employees of the Year - one from each Hilton unit - each winning further StarPoints and an invitation to a gala awards dinner, last year held at the Hilton London Metropole.
"We have a draw at the dinner to win a car or cash equivalent," Johnson says. "We get all 77 winners to stand on their chairs and then slowly whittle the numbers down. The tension, as you'd imagine, is fantastic, and second only to the celebrations we have at the end."
Esprit's reinvigoration has seen 2,000 join the scheme since Johnson took the reins, bringing the total to 10,000 members. "Membership is at 78% of total staff, but I'm aiming for 85% membership by the end of the year," he says.
Johnson's last innovation has been to issue the 10-strong senior management team with chequebooks holding various denominations of StarPoints. If they witness particularly good examples of service, they can take direct action to reward and encourage the employee. "We need a robust reward network but there should always be spontaneity, it's what makes us a great business," he says. "People catching people doing great things, that's the idea."
Let me entertain you
Although discounts are always appreciated, Johnson's attempt to grow Esprit and its value to employees is moving the scheme beyond this. "Rather than just discounts, I'm offering colleagues an increasing range of experiences," he says.
The Esprit scheme features a growing number of experience-style events, from health-spa breaks to hot-air ballooning.
Johnson's eventual aim is to move the scheme online. "If we can build a database of interests we will be able to tailor certain events for specific groups of colleagues," he says. "And by bringing people with common interests together we strengthen team effort.
"That's important to Hilton, because we already know turnover of Esprit members is much lower than those outside the scheme."