2020 has been marked as a year of change. The event industry is one of the major entities that have been severely affected by the wrath of the global pandemic. But, the quickest one to adapt to the changing trends and going virtual. Organisations around the world leveraged virtual event technology to keep going in the challenging times of pandemic. Right from recurring meetings and conferences to every important industry event has been transformed into a visually rich virtual format.
Rewards and recognition ceremony is an important event for every industry to appreciate the employees for their hard work. Managing active rewards and recognition ceremony during the challenging times of pandemic is a challenging task. A large percentage of employees are working remotely around the world. The percentage of remote workers has increased exponentially with the advent of COVID-19.
At this point of time, offering workstation accessories to employees is not enough. The wave of COVID-19 pandemic brought uncertainty in the minds of many employees. It offers a chance for employers to recognise the hard work put in by employees by tweaking the rewards ceremony. Many organisations have opted to host virtual rewards and recognition events to recognise and appreciate the hard work of employees virtually. Virtual r&r ceremony keeps the attendees engaged with the organisation amid the fear of uncertainty during the pandemic.
Understanding the value of connection, social interaction, and boosting the morale of remote employees should be the basics of employers. Once you decide to go virtual with your rewards and recognition events, make sure your technology works smoothly. It helps in ensuring successful virtual r&r events.
Recently, ET Femina Women in Tech Virtual Summit & Awards was hosted on Dreamcast Virtual Event Platform, and was a great success. below is the video you can watch to gain more insights about the show & how virtual awards shows can be hosted:
Tips to Host Virtual R&R Ceremony or Award Shows
Boosting the morale and motivating your remote workers should be the basics of any organisation. Motivating your employees for the dedicated hard work through rewards and recognition constantly is the key. As work formats have changed and virtual workplace have become a new normal, reward and recognition ceremony needs change too. Thus, leverage the right technology and create an effective strategy to host virtual r&r events.
We have listed a few virtual rewards and recognition ideas that you can implement while transforming your traditional r&r ceremony. Modify your rewards and reorganisation events to best fit the virtual work environment during the challenging times of pandemic.
1. Encourage face-to-face interactions during virtual r&r events
Face-to-face interactions play an important role in employee engagements. Our virtual event platform allows you to organise virtual conferences, meetings, AGMs, award shows, R&R, trade shows, networking events, virtual fairs and many more. The live video chat functionality offered by the platform enables employees to interact in real-time. It helps in celebrating the significant achievements of employees with the much-needed applause by other attendees same as in-person workplaces.
The virtual event platform that offers live video conferencing enables employees to socialize virtually from anywhere in the world. It helps in escalating the feeling of isolation that sometimes strikes while working from home. You can even opt to initiate a conversation among employees where they can discuss their interests and hobbies. It helps in boosting employee engagement by bringing people out of their shells.
2. Utilise Recognition Tools
Recognising the most promising employees for the hard work they put in is essential ever since. During the challenging times of pandemic, employee recognition becomes even more important. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has been a catalyst that made organisations acknowledge the importance of digital events. Hence, many organisations were motivated to organise virtual r&r ceremony on virtual rewards and recognition platforms. With the advancements in technology, cloud-based tools are available. It helps organisations to recognise and reward employees from anywhere in the world.
During regular in-person office hours, recognition or appreciation was given to employees on a monthly or quarterly basis. The challenging times of pandemic call for understanding the importance of frequent recognition. Ensure that your remote workforce is being appreciated regularly by utilising real-time recognition tools and applications. As a majority of employees are working from home, it becomes even more important to boost their morale. Recognize their efforts to yield high productivity.
3. Offer a bonus to your employees
Offering a bonus to your attendees and encouraging them to spend on charity is one of the brilliant virtual rewards and recognition ideas. With the advent of COVID-19, hardships have been created in the lives of many. As a part of social responsibility, step up your game and take a little effort to help others to come out. Give your employees a bonus while recognising them and encourage them to help needy people during this health crisis. Moreover, thank and appreciate the employees who did the same and encourage them to inspire other employees as well.
4. Step up to create an impressive virtual workplace
Create an immersive virtual work culture the same as in-person workplaces. Introduce interesting concepts to virtual workplaces to build interactivity and team building. Additionally, bring concepts like live virtual team lunches, virtual fun Friday and more to the table to break the monotony and bring the lighthearted break. You can even ask your remote employees to showcase their kids or pets during virtual team lunches.
5. Offer gift cards to your employees
Everyone loves gift cards so do your employees. To appreciate your employees during the times of pandemic offer them a digital gift card. You can send them gift cards via email which can be redeemed later on. It helps in making your attendees feel appreciated and motivated.
6. Meet virtually for workout classes
During this pandemic, help your employees to stay healthy and fit. Organise virtual workout classes for your employees. Give them meditation tips to sail through the pandemic with better health mentally as well as physically. Moreover, you can even opt to host virtual happy hours to add more fun to virtual meetups.
7. Offer opportunities to employees for professional growth
Offering opportunities for professional growth to employees is one of the innovative virtual rewards and recognition ideas. Offer discounted or free professional development courses for your remote workforce. It will help them to learn and adapt new skills that will help them to perform better in their assigned tasks.
8. Social media integration for public recognition
Ensure that your virtual event platform has social media integration. It helps in acknowledging the accomplishments of employees in public. You can leverage social media channels like Linkedin, Twitter, etc. to share your corporate feeds. It enables everyone to know what’s going on within the organisation. You can even share employee stories on social media channels thus making employees feel connected.
Are you planning to host an Award Show or R&R Event?
