Designing a Fair and Effective Employee of the Quarter Reward Process for Our IT Team

Hi,

I had to design a process for the "Employee of the Quarter Reward." We are an IT company with 50 employees. We have different teams such as Java, PHP, Delphi, .NET, and Marketing. Therefore, I need a proper process to evaluate employees on a monthly basis.

We plan to award Rs 5000/- to the winner. Some criteria that come to mind include performance, meeting deadlines, revenue generation, and interpersonal relations. However, I require a comprehensive process for this, as my management does not want to follow the same appraisal process used by supervisors for yearly appraisals involving form filling.

Please help.

Very good initiative, Keerat. It would be great if you could also provide a certificate and publish the employee's name with their key accomplishments.

Employee of the Month can be chosen/evaluated based on the following factors, for which you may require help from all department heads.

You can consider these:

- Attendance
- Attitude/Behavior skills
- Time Management Skills
- Areas of additional responsibilities
- Work-related achievements
- In what ways has this person's performance been outstanding?
- Role model to others?
- Team Spirit
- Beyond the call of duty
- Problem-solving ability
- Creativity
- Leadership skills
- Others add if any, etc.

On a monthly basis, get all the required inputs from each departmental head (use official email - avoid verbal communication) and as an HR evaluate/screen on some grounds. Finally, call everyone for a meeting to announce the award.

Let me know if you have any queries.

Hi, thanks a lot for the reply. Even I had suggested the same to management, but the problem is that management is saying that if we follow this, it will be similar to annual appraisal. We need something simple involving less time and effort and different from the appraisal method; otherwise, annual appraisal and the employee of the quarter processes will be the same.

1. Ok, then prepare a one-page template that consists of five questions and ask each of your department heads to fill it out quarterly. Based on all their comments, choose the nominee for the Best Employee award.

Here is a template that I use in my company for Peer Recognition awards.

2. If this doesn't work, then a simple way to execute this is to let each department head choose a member from their team (mentioning the reason for nominating the nominee and their key role played) and email their name to HR. HR and Management can then decide on it.

3. If this doesn't work, then quarterly, gather everyone for a meeting (including management) and let each member convey what they have accomplished in the last three months (5 minutes each). Let the management announce the chosen name.

4. If this doesn't work, then ask your employees to send a timesheet to HR on a monthly basis, which includes a synopsis of the work they have performed for the entire month. Based on that, choose the Best Employee.

5. If this doesn't work, then HR should conduct a survey to find out the star performers by interacting with the Department heads or employees themselves. This evaluation should consider both performance and character. HR can then easily decide whom to nominate.

The most important thing is that HR should always be prepared to answer questions from employees because everyone assumes they have done their best and are the best. Everyone will be curious to know on what grounds a nominee was chosen and why their name was not included. When selecting an employee as the Best Employee out of 50, HR should be able to explain how this particular employee is different, best, or unique compared to others, and why they were eligible for the award.

Good luck! Let me know if you have any queries.

Hi,

If you need something simple involving less time and effort and different from the appraisal method, ask the Head of Department or management - who is the best in his department or office - and announce that particular person as the Employee of the Month.

Hope you will find a solution.

Regards,
Vidya

Hi,

You can also do it like this:

Send the nomination form to all your employees and ask them to nominate one employee from the organization. The employee who receives the most nominations will be the winner (Employee of the Month).

Regards,
Vidya

Hi Vidya,

Sorry to interfere, yaar. I just wanted to express the other side of this nomination option. As HR professionals, we should always be ready with answers for any questions raised by the remaining 49 employees. Questions like, how effective do you think this process is? and do you think that you have nominated the right person? Justify.

If this is a union election, then what you suggest can be considered. However, this award is based on performance and character. How can one employee know the performance strategy of another employee, especially when they belong to different teams?

If they are from the same team, then yes, I agree with what you say. However, here all 50 employees have to give their nominations, and there are chances that not all 50 employees are known to each other as they belong to different teams and have different roles. So, this nomination will not run in terms of performance or character but in favor of our friends or known persons.

What do you say?

"hi, you can do it like this also. Send the nomination form to all your employees and ask them to nominate any one employee from the organization. The employee who receives the most nominations will be the winner (Employee of the Month).

Regards, Vidya"

Hi Vidya,

What if there are politics within the department? What if, due to a personal grudge, the department head doesn't announce the actual name of the star performer in their team? The actual star performer will not be recognized, the employee will get demotivated, lose interest in his job, and finally look out for a change.

As these awards serve as a motivating factor for all employees, I feel it's good if we collect proper data from the Head as well. HR should conduct a small survey on the same. Considering less time and effort, no HR/Management has the right to end up making wrong decisions.

Okay, let's assume there are 5 departments. Then, you will get 5 employee names announced by their respective heads, and all 5 cannot be awarded as the Best Employee. So, you need to choose only one out of the five. On what basis will you choose? Ultimately, you need official data about each employee nominated, and only then can HR make a decision.

To choose that one employee, HR should obtain the exact reason and key accomplishments from their respective heads (like on what grounds they suggested that employee's name). Based on the data received on the nominated employees, HR can choose the Best Employee. I hope you agree with me.

"If you need something simple involving less time and effort and different from the appraisal method, ask the HOD or management who is the best in the department or office and announce that particular person as the Employee of the Month.

Hope you will find some solution.

Regards,
Vidya"

Hi Malini,

Your point is also correct.

In my last company (where there were 1500 employees), we followed the same process (but department-wise), and it was successful.

As it was a 50-employee organization, I don't anticipate any difficulties in implementing the same process.

I believe it will be more time-efficient and effective, meeting Keerat's requirements.

Regards,

Vidya

Hi Vidya,

As you have followed the process department-wise, it didn't give rise to any issues because you go according to what the head says. However, as per Keerat's requirement, they have to choose only one employee as the best employee from all the departments.

Especially in small companies, everyone will be keen on everything, leading to many issues. If you choose a specific employee from a particular department, then the heads of other departments will start asking questions to HR, stating that their choice was the best. They might question the factors used to select that person as the best, and so on. For this reason, I suggested gathering all details about the chosen employee from their respective heads before deciding on the nominee.

If Keerat can implement the Best Employee award department-wise, then I would say your suggestion is the best one to execute as it is less time-consuming and a very effective process. Thanks, yaar.

Smiles,
Malini. P

Practically, it is tedious for everyone to select any one out of 50. So, maybe management and HR can nominate (based on functional, behavioral, and managerial aspects) a maximum of five candidates, and all can then choose the best one out of these five. This approach may work.

My problem is how to compare the different nominations that have come from various departments and determine the best employee.