What’s the dividing line between SaaS and a customized solution? Madison has been delivering both options to HR leaders for over 15 years and we see several inflection points. In some environments, however, the decision to go SaaS vs. a custom comes down to one simple question: Is the recognition mission critical or not? Do the senior executives truly believe they can use recognition to differentiate the company and its people in the global marketplace? Do they buy into the idea that the “investment” of recognition adds economic value?
Consider this: When employees are more engaged, their companies enjoy higher productivity; they have lower turnover risk and are more likely to attract top talent. These companies also drive greater returns to shareholders. Highly engaged employees are twice as likely as their less engaged counterparts to be top performers. They miss fewer days of work and 3 out of 4 exceed expectations as employees. And to top it off, highly engaged workers tend to be more supportive of organizational change.
Granted recognition is not a mission critical function in the literal sense. The business won’t stop if you fail to engage your employees. Take it away, or apply it ineffectively, however and the bottom line will suffer, discretionary effort across employees will shrink and customer enthusiasm will wane. In a business environment that relies so much on people why would any executive think that an employee’s emotional and intellectual commitments is not critical to the company’s mission? And why wouldn’t they use a recognition system that will help they optimize employee relationships?