Without a formal structure or scheme in place, the Caravan Club was being inconsistent in the way it recognised strong performance and positive behaviour. Working with our consultants they came up with not one but two new recognition schemes which work seamlessly side by side. Now that the roll-out is complete and impacts are being felt, their Director of People & Culture Kerry Upton reflected on the transition with Innecto Director of Consulting Justine Woolf.
Justine Woolf: As a business, how would you define your overall approach to reward?
Kerry Upton: Our approach to reward has always been pretty flat, which I mean in a good way! In other words, we have a structure where we provide most of our benefits to all our employees. Pay has tended towards the median for most roles, with exceptions where external market forces determine and come into play.
JW: What key challenges were you looking to address through a new recognition strategy?
KU: We ran a full review our culture and behaviours with a company-wide survey alongside focus groups with a broad cross section of the workforce and the findings were really interesting. It became clear that for many of our employees feeling valued was an important part of the employee value proposition.
Feeling appreciated for a job well done and an individual’s value to the organisation were key contributors to four crucial things: longevity of employment, loyalty to the organisation, performance, and willingness to go the extra mile.
While certain things were being done to show appreciation, they were happening informally and only in pockets of the business. It was inconsistent because we didn’t have any kind of formal structure to enable and encourage that behaviour, so we chose to put two schemes in place.
JW: Tell us about those solutions.
KU: First, we worked with Innecto to develop a recognition scheme where anyone in the organisation could send an e-card saying things like “Thank you”, “Well done” or “You’re amazing” which are linked to our ways of working and core values. Every card received is then put into a quarterly draw from which the winners get a £50 voucher to spend in our discount platform powered by the HAPI app
Secondly, we introduced our CAMC Stars Awards where staff can nominate each other or themselves for five main awards categories: Everyday Hero, Team, Site, Individual and Great in an Emergency. We then also have our most prestigious ‘DG’ award where an individual or team is recognised for going above and beyond by our Director General (CEO).
The nominations for those awards are scored against a set of criteria by our Recognition Champions, a voluntary group from across the club, and the winners and runners-up are celebrated at a fabulous event hosted at the RAC in London each year. We are now in our fourth year and every time both the quantity and the quality of nominations gets better.
JW: What changes have you noticed since the new scheme started?
KE: I think the schemes have had two major positive impacts. First, right across the business they’ve improved the level of understanding of what other people do on a day-to-day basis. That’s a fundamental benefit that is so far-reaching you can’t really put a value on it. The other obvious benefit is how quick and easy it now is to say thank you or well done, so people are doing it! In our staff surveys, satisfaction scores have gone up and so has the overall feeling of being valued within and across teams.
JW: Do you have any learnings or top tips you'd share with other companies embarking on a similar journey?
KU: Having our Recognition Champions in place has made a huge difference. They have been our greatest advocates for the scheme and have really helped embed the CAMC Stars Awards across the Club. It sounds obvious, but having a scoring mechanism and panel in place to decide winners also helps remove any suggestion of bias or favouritism.
Then, I’d say involving the Senior Leadership team as much as possible also makes a difference. Having them at the celebratory lunch really helps build the prestige of the event. It is also a great opportunity for individuals from across the business to mix and get to know each other in person, because often they don’t otherwise get the chance to do that.
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