Q.How is your rewards and recognition mechanism different from other organisations?
A. Our total reward strategy encompasses the financial and lifestyle aspects that motivates talent engagement and retention for the long term. Cost of rewards, competitiveness in the marketplace, statutory compliance and the need of the employees in terms of benefits are other key considerations factored in any reward strategy. We are working to make it more business aligned and in sync with the expectations of our employees. However, we make sure that a star performer deployed in a problem branch is not penalised for the hardwork he or she puts in to fix the issue.
Q. What strategy do you follow in rewards and recognition of blue and white colour employee?
A. Recognition of employees at staff level is more driven by individual contribution on a monthly basis. Their rewards are based on their absolute contribution. For managers, the recognition is on the quarterly/yearly basis. The rewards for them are driven by performance, in relation with the performance of their peers at the similar level.
Q. What are the main challenges you face while charting the rewards and recognition strategy for each employee?
A. While working on the rewards and impact, it is mostly a choice whether rewards or results come first as the resources are limited. At Ujjivan, it has always been rewards first and that enables the employee to see a value in their contribution. Our rewards and recognition processes have always given us the desired results. While this framework provides a platform that enables performance or penalties, it is the effective supervision, quality training and better process controls that has given us the right results.
Q. How can a company flawlessly design and implement its rewards and recognition strategy in a crunch situation?
A. We have always believed in taking people along at all times. When we were facing the downturn, we spent time on developing people and their skills. We communicated with the employees from far off regions and ensured that the rewards and recognition budgets were not reduced. For our employees, it was business as usual.
