Groundhog Day
Every year, we wait in anticipation to see if the famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, will see his shadow on February 2nd. With Groundhog Day coming up next Tuesday, here are some fun facts about the holiday.
What's With The Carrot?
The age-old carrot and stick idiom refers to the use of rewards to influence behavior.
The original metaphor referred to a boy sitting on a cart being pulled by a donkey. The boy held a long stick to which a carrot had been tied, and he dangled the carrot in front of the donkey, but just out of its reach. As the donkey moved forward to get the carrot, it pulled the cart forward.
Here at Hinda, we've adopted the carrot as part of our branding strategy. While today's workforce might not be motivated by a dangling carrot, the message is the same. We're motivated by rewards. The carrot is simply a representation of a desired reward - one that is earned after an achievement.
When rewarding your employees, we suggest merchandise instead of raw carrots. Do you have an incentive plan in place? Contact us if you're looking for a way to motivate those with an influence on your business.
Employee Engagement: An Infographic
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. What about a picture with a handful of words on it?
Found this infographic via Citrix's Flickr album. Pretty cool visual representation on the state of employee engagement right now.
Would you agree with these numbers? How could they improve?
Employee Spotlight: Adam Webber
Earnest. Creative.
As the on-site designer for Hinda, Marketing Coordinator Adam Webber is responsible for clipping images and designing external communications. He also works closely with Helping Hand Rewards, assisting with design and new product rollout.
Webber started work at Hinda on October 11, 2010 and has experienced a fair share of excitement in his first few months. Occasionally clumsy in nature, he has already managed a visit to the doctor's office. While 
putting a frame together, he dropped a pane of glass on his wrist, which later resulted in six stitches. Adding insult to injury, on his second day of work, he accidentally left his car keys at McCormick Place during the Motivation Show.
Anybody who has been to McCormick Place knows that this is a terrible place to lose a set of keys.
Depsite the bad luck, Webber has proved to be a valuable addition to the marketing team, utilizing his skill set to help on a variety of different projects.
"Him being here has really helped me with sales presentations," says Benito Bustamante, Warehouse Manager. "One time I approached him at 4 p.m. and needed brochures created for a 7:30 a.m. presentation the next day. He got 'em done - and they looked great!"
Outside of working, Adam enjoys running and some triathlon training. As a fitness guru, health is a very important aspect of his life. His goal for the New Year is to compete in a Half IronMan triathlon in St. Croix. His other points of interest are the TV shows Scrubs and Seinfeld and used to love frequenting Hot Diggity Dog...until a recent food poisoning incident curbed his hot dog appetite.
Adam's recovery from a brief stint of bad luck and dedication to endurance sports has shown his tenacity as an individual. He's become a great addition to the Hinda team.
Could You Gamify the Workplace?
Not too terribly long ago I ran across this article from Fast Company about how video games are infiltrating every aspect of our lives. The article covers everything from wellness to education. What really caught my eye was the way some corporations are using video game elements into their employee's everyday lives.
Most of the examples come from technology companies. The article first talks about IBM employees. When they have conferences, instead of spending a lot of money on travel and hotels, each employee has a virtual avatar that represents them in an online conference. The employees use these characters (that are slowly being able to look very similar to the employee) as methods of engagement with other employees across different offices...and continents. This video-game like environment helps make these events more engaging while cutting overall costs simultaneously.
A second example came from Sun Microsystems. The company has actually developed video games as part of their employee training. Using titles like Dawn of the Shadow Specters and Rise of the Shadow Specters, employees engage in a fictional world whose inhabitants reflect the same values as the company. Not only does this make training more engaging, it communicates company values in a fun way.
Not every company will have the resources like the two named tech giants to create a corporate video games. Very few do. Even still, there is a takeaway for everyone.
You don't have to have video game developers at your fingertips to make everyday work more engaging. Using the same basic game mechanics used in video games, there are ways to make work more engaging and fun. Using the same sort of points-style system games do, rewarding points is one way to start.
"Level Up" Your Engagement
Even "leveling up" could be applied to a company recognition program. There is a big emphasis on "badges" when it comes to loyalty programs and location-based services. The same concept could be applied inside the office. For reaching certain milestones, point-wise or some other clearly communicated metric, an employee could earn some sort of badge or "level-up" style of recognition. Zappos uses this concept inside their offices using license plates. A rookie Zappos employee is presented with a paper copy of a license plate with their name on it. After their tenure continues and they mature in the company, they eventually get normal metal license plates. From there on out, the employee receives stickers for however many years they've been there.
The above Zappos example is used in a "Years of Service" program but the concept could be applied in other styles of programs. There's a lot we could all learn from simple game mechanics.
What do you all think? Will work eventually be gamified?
B2B Twitter of the Year....
We typically don't like to ask for favors but if you are a fan and/or Twitter follower, this may be a way to spread some Christmas cheer our way.
Our Twitter handle, @hinda_incentive, has been entered into the B2B Twitter of the Year contest as a nominee for Best National/International B2B Service. Twitter isn't about contests or who is best but who says we can't have a little fun with it while we're here? Our ranking is currently in 5th place in regards to votes and we aren't too far outside of the small few brands ahead of us.
How You Can Help
Take a visit to www.b2btoty.com or simply click here to visit our nomination page. In the top right box, complete the reason for your nomination ("I vote for @hinda_incentive for the B2BTOTY Award in category #NatlIntlB2BServicesCo because...") and hit vote. Be sure you vote in the "Natl/Intl B2B Services Co" category while you're in there. We also have a nomination in the manufacturing category but I'm not sure how (since we aren't a manfacturer).
You can only vote once per day but can vote everyday between now and Friday December 17th. Votes aren't the end game of the results though, only a factor. The voting element of the contest is only a portion of how the winner is determined. A panel of judges will decide who will be the ultimate winner based on tweet quality etc. So the burden still lies mostly on our end but your support will definitely help big time!
While You're There...
There are many other categories with awesome people up for votes. Take a moment to surf around the site and vote for users in other categories. If you want to spread the love our way, might as well help a few others out while you're there.
Thanks in advance for your support! This is all for fun but let's see what happens...
Does A Recession Inspire Innovation?
Creating new products and coming up with more cost-effective ways to deliver products are just a couple of the results of a recession. Sustainability pratices and #CSR have really come into vogue lately in the corporate world. When resources (environmental and financial) are scarce, we are forced to make what resources we have go further than before.