What to look for in a Corporate Rewards Program

Date: January 27, 2021

Congratulations! You’ve decided you want a corporate rewards program. Now is the tricky part of choosing which company to go with.

If you’ve made the decision to implement corporate rewards, you know you can expect to see a reduction in turnover and an increase in productivity.

So let’s just jump straight in.

Where to start

When looking for a corporate rewards program, most people want to compare a few different platforms before they book a demo with one or two of their favorites.

There are two great platforms that we recommend:

Capterra: a crowd review site where you can see the top rated companies.
Select Software: unlike crowd review sites, Select Software only features the top 3-12 companies in a particular category. This saves you time as you’re only looking at the best vendors that have successfully completed the strict Select Software criteria.

Key features you want your Corporate Rewards Program to have

Once you’ve narrowed your search down to a handful of companies, you’ll want to compare the features each platform provides. Here are our ‘must have’ features that you’ll want too:

An App: you may not have a computer in front of you when you’re choosing a reward. You’ll want your corporate rewards program to have an app so your team can access it and claim rewards from anywhere.
Automated anniversary, birthday and welcome messages: let’s not stop there… you’ll also want the ability to allocate points or rewards to the special occasion. For example, on an employees 1 year anniversary they can choose an item of swag, or on a birthday they receive a certain amount of points which equals a $30 gift voucher that they can choose. The best part about these messages and rewards being automated is that the HR team don’t have to keep a calendar with reminders to do it!
Diversification and customization: each business is different with the types of rewards they want to offer their teams. This could be due to budget or industry regulations. Either way, you’ll want the ability to have a diverse selection of rewards as well as the ability to customize them to suit your specific needs.

The extra things you'll want

On top of the functionality of the corporate rewards program itself, you’ll want a couple of extra things from the company you’re working with which you can’t get a gist off based on the website alone.

Support: this is one of the most important components. No one likes being treated like a number. Choose a company that offers monthly check-in calls and will be as hands-on as you need.
Rapport: Sometimes you do a demo call and just click with the company and feel comfortable with the staff. A gut feeling about which company to go with should be trusted, especially when key features and pricing are similar.

“The team at Bucketlist were very easy to work with and so accommodating to our needs. They were able to jig the software to something that works for us and our regulations, and their ongoing support has been above and beyond,” said Tom George, Project Management Office Business Analyst at the University of Texas Arlington.

Read the full University of Texas Arlington (UTA) case study about their unique requirements with rewards and how the platform was customized to their needs. Through the Bucketlist rewards and recognition program, UTA experienced an improvement with both culture and communication.

Read the Full UTA Case Study

Most employee recognition and reward tools will be linked to your company’s core values. If you need help creating or updating your values, check out this great article Creating The Right Company Culture Through Values featuring Craig Forman, Lead People Scientist at Culture Amp.

Good luck on your search to find a corporate rewards program that is a right fit for your company. To find out more about how Bucketlist Rewards can help you, book a time that suits you for a demo and a chance to meet the team.

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