The Situation

The world’s leading hospitality company, who has more than 50,000 employees, wanted to expand its footprint with the acquisition of hotels, resorts, and casinos, presenting employee relations and recognition culture challenges. Various properties had their own recognition programs, often dictated by job function, while others did not have any formal recognition or incentive programs.

This leading global hospitality company wanted to offer a unified recognition program to motivate employees and create a consistent company culture, while still maintaining the individual identity of each brand.

The Rymax Solution

Rymax created a recognition and rewards system for all employees, as well as, several specific employee programs. Each was aimed to motivate, engage and unify employees. Programs were based on points, employees earned points that could be redeemed for brand-name merchandise from a website developed specifically for the global hospitality company employees. Through MaxSite™, Rymax’s online rewards platform, a fully custom-branded multi- faceted seamless platform was created to mimic the company’s intranet.

Rymax developed a program that awarded points based on participation of educational offerings, training opportunities, surveys, sales incentives and peer-to-peer recognition tools. In addition, a standardized Service Awards program was created, that used an online catalog with various point categories based on each specific year of service.

For sales and “front-of-house” employees, Rymax developed individual programs which offered specific sales incentives, based on achieving certain financial benchmarks. Employees were able to view merchandise they could earn based on reaching targeted goals. Additional points were awarded to employees for participating in various sales training and events.

The Results

Employee engagement increased 94% with the new recognition program, while camaraderie grew as communications and recognition across departments improved. The new programs eased tensions between management and unions, as employees felt more connected and recognized for their accomplishments. The surveys provided immediate, real-time feedback and helped Human Resources in the recruitment and retention of employees. Employee job satisfaction rates increased by 97%. As the program grew, it was self-liquidating as sales growth funded the program. This resulted in increased savings for the company.