Monetary award without any guidelines - Compensation

[tatiana_caraima]

Hello community,

Anyone knows or tried and managed to set up a monetary award in Compensation (SPOT award) that would work without any guidelines? The client doesn't want to have any guidelines but they want to allow the initiators to give any amount they want to the employees, meaning when they reach to the section where the amount is selected, it should be empty and editable. Or maybe even better, can we set up conditions so that for example the amount of the SPOT award isn't higher than 3 monthly salaries of the employee?

I had similar request few years ago and back then if think it wasn't possible, guidelines were mandatory. But maybe anything changed in the meantime?

Thank you.

[xavierlegarrec]

Hi @tatiana_caraima 

Not sure about guidelines being mandatory before and not anymore but I did check internally and @AndresCarter who is our spot awards workarounds expert confirmed that if you don't add any guidelines to the program then it wont give you anything. similar to what we have in compensation guidelines.

He also thinks that the validation on employee's monthly salary should be possible with an onSave business rule on the spotAward object with a message definition for error when the attempted save amount is > than curSal * 3.

I would recommend looking at Andres' blogs linked on his community profile for inspiration on building these rules (the blog about preventing 2 awards within the same month or year especially).

Best,

Xavier

[tatiana_caraima]

Thank you, @Xavier, I'll try that.

[Andre_Depaula]

Implementing a monetary award system such as a SPOT award without any guidelines can be risky, as the lack of structure may lead to inconsistency, potential biases, and perceptions of unfairness. However, if you still wish to proceed, here are some considerations to ensure it works as effectively as possible:

1. Clear Objectives: Define what behaviors or achievements the SPOT award is intended to recognize, even if they are broad. This helps employees understand the purpose of the awards.

2. Transparency: Communicate openly about the existence of the award and its purpose. This can help manage expectations and reduce misunderstandings.

3. Managerial Discretion: Empower managers to use their discretion to nominate employees for the award based on outstanding contributions. However, encourage them to document reasons for their choices to maintain some level of accountability.

4. Simple Process: Keep the nomination and approval process as simple as possible. This can encourage frequent use of the award system without overburdening employees or managers.

5. Feedback and Adjustment: Regularly gather feedback from employees and managers about the award's impact and adjust the approach as necessary. This can help ensure the awards remain relevant and appreciated.

6. Recognize and Celebrate: Publicly acknowledge award recipients to reinforce positive behavior and motivate others.

7. Trial Period: Consider implementing the award system on a trial basis, even without guidelines, to assess its effectiveness and make improvements.

While it's feasible to start without set guidelines, it's generally advisable to develop some framework over time to ensure the SPOT award system is fair, motivating, and aligned with organizational goals.