Rewards & Recognition in the new normal, ETHRWorld

By Ruhie Pande

The year 2020 brought major upheaval for the world in two-ways: the obvious physical threat of an unknown, fast-spreading virus, and another less obvious pandemic of social identity & health issues that would emerge as a result of stress & uncertainty for humans across the world.

Goes without saying this public health crisis forayed into the workplace as well and left many organisations and their HR teams scrambling to combat the impact of Covid on both the obvious and the less obvious front. In this article though, I would like to specifically share my thoughts on how my perspective on Rewards & Recognition has undergone a tectonic shift in 2020.

In the 1990s & early 2000s, linking pay to performance was the right way to drive superlative performance—companies placed highest value on roles that contributed most to the generation of revenue and profit. People were rewarded purely for output. However, most notably, during the course of only a few months, the meaning of ‘contribution’ and ‘value’ itself has been turned over its head.

For example, ask the HR head of any organisation who they would bend backwards for to keep so that business as usual can carry on even in crisis; the likely answer would be the frontline employee. Roles that were, and still are perhaps ones with longest hours, toughest condition and sometimes don’t get enough recognition, have kept…