How does a company judge its own success? If Razor Suleman had his way, the first question any employer would ask is, How happy are the employees? As CEO and founder of I Love Rewards, a company that’s won numerous accolades for successfully engaging its workforce, Suleman can’t stress enough the importance of happy employees.
“Every company has financial statements and so many [companies] rely on these to see how a company is doing,” he explains. “But the reality is, it’s not how they are doing that’s important, but how it’s done. Our philosophy is that you have to start with making employees happy, even before customers. Just think about it, would you rather go to a restaurant with a smiling host who gives excellent service or one where there’s a miserable host and a big kerfuffle to get your table, even though you’ve made a reservation?”
Considering that I Love Rewards is a leader in providing results-driven rewards and recognition solutions for other organizations, it’s not surprising that the company thrives on the belief that engaged and motivated employees drive positive results. “When I meet with potential customers, I tell them we can only offer them the second-best program because we offer our own employees the world’s best recognition and rewards program,” he boasts.
At I Love Rewards, all employees have the opportunity to earn reward points on a weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly basis—points that are automatically uploaded to their account where they can be redeemed online for everything from trendy products such as iPads to gift certificates, travel or even charitable donations. Reward and recognition lunches are held monthly to acknowledge employees that have “gone above and beyond.” As well, at the end of every successful financial quarter, the whole company goes out to celebrate. “If we didn’t make our quarter we wouldn’t go out,” Suleman says. “We set very aggressive sales targets, but we haven’t missed a goal yet.”
But rewards and celebrations are only part of why people like working at I Love Rewards. Communication, leadership and culture are also key. And, not surprisingly, hiring the right people in the first place. With an average of 211 applicants for every job that becomes available, the company goes through several steps to ensure that each new hire is the right fit. “Someone may be a rock star in sales but isn’t suitable for our culture,” Suleman explains. “One bad apple can bring down the morale of the whole group, so it’s really important to do a first screening before we go through the training process and then find out they aren’t really engaged.”
Even with a whole team of great people—about 100 or so currently work at I Love Rewards—the company doesn’t take workplace happiness for granted. Twice a year, each employee is asked, “How happy are you at work?” The results help the company to implement new initiatives to continuously improve engagement scores.
Regularly scheduled meetings between senior management and employees ensure that everyone has a voice in the direction of the company, and weekly one-on-ones with department leaders give employees a chance to discuss issues and concerns and to receive immediate two-way feedback. That’s also the time instant recognition points for good performance are provided and discussion about areas that need improvement happens.
“We can’t change financial results once they are out, but we can boost happiness,” says Suleman. “Our philosophy certainly works for us.”
Get a PDF version of this article