Laura Palmer, Marketing and Business Development Director at Promotional Handling Limited (PHL), shares why mental health awareness is important in the business environment and how it can attract highly creative individuals. 

At some point in life, most of us will suffer from poor mental health, but people still find it hard to discuss the topic with employers for fear of stigmatisation. Conversely, employers shy away from tackling mental health head-on due to lack of knowledge and resources. Thankfully attitudes are changing both socially and in business. Mental health is slowly gaining awareness and recognition through the efforts of charities and key influencers.

We talk a lot about Branding in the Marketing Industry, but how are we Branding ourselves to employees? Marketing Employers need to offer a desirable working environment to attract the highly creative and dynamic individuals on which our business is so reliant. This environment must include a positive and hands-on approach to tackling mental health issues, forming an employment benefit over and above salary and remuneration. Additionally, such a climate should help nurture the potential of creative individuals, allowing them to thrive in what is a highly pressured industry. So how can we change our work culture to foster a healthy approach to mental health?

Start by knowing your audience – get to know your staff and understand the risks within your demographics. For example, according to the Office for National Statistics, UK industries with a workforce predominantly made up of men aged 45-49 will sadly have higher rates of suicide. Creative individuals tend to be more vulnerable to mental health issues such as depression and bipolar disorder. Add to that a pressured work environment and the hectic pace of modern-day life, and you can begin to put together a picture of what the dangers are for employees working in the Marketing Industry.  

The next step would be to upskill people within the business to act as go-to mentors for anyone struggling with their mental health. However, there is no need to start all employees on a psychiatry course. Teaching a small team of people with the ability to listen to and signpost colleagues to the right departments or resources, for professional help and advice, should be sufficient. Ask the mentor team to meet regularly and review policy and procedures that promote mental health awareness within the business. Many mental health charities offer on-line literature and courses that help with this type of training. For example, the charity Mind has a fantastic toolbox for businesses here https://www.mind.org.uk/workplace/.

As a team, learn the difference between anxiety, stress, depression, etc. Learn to recognise what these mental health issues might look like so that you can employ suitable management techniques and early intervention. Offering someone who is struggling the opportunity to work from home or a quiet secluded office might have a massive impact on their wellbeing. Small adjustments may stop an individual’s mental health issues escalating, without adding cost to the business. Such a strategy will hopefully result in a reduction of crucial staff being out of the company for prolonged periods. Additionally dealing with employees as individuals, accommodating their mental health needs, will help create a happier workplace.

Most importantly, encourage conversations in the workplace around mental health. Creating an environment of openness and removing the fear of talking about it can be a great way to alleviate stigma and improve employee mental health. “Time to Talk Day” is on the 6th of February this year if you are looking for a good starting point to engage staff in dialogue https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/get-involved/time-talk-day. Remember Its ok to ask employees what support they think they need and the best way to keep the conversation going is to learn to listen carefully to feedback.

A desirable working environment will attract the best staff, prevent escalation of mental health issues and reduce the impact of illness and absence on the business. Mentally healthy and engaged employees will give back to the company with passion, creativity and be a driving force that can take the business forward to a brighter and better future for both the people within it and the bottom line.

If you would like to get in touch with PHL, email Laura Palmer at Laurap@promotionalhandling.co.uk 

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Juliet Caswell, Product and Proposition Director at CR Worldwide, details the importance of incentivised learning to help create brand ambassadors out of staff.

When your brand uses a sales channel to sell its offering, it needs to stand out from the competition. But as your channel staff sometimes sell products or services for other brands which are similar to yours, this can be easier said than done.

Making sure your sales channel staff know and understand your brand and keep it front of mind is fundamental to standing out. They should also adapt the right attitude to want to do more for you, over your competitors. Behavioural change is key to your channel staff achieving these things. And this where the idea of incentivised learning can help.

Learning with incentive

Incentivised learning takes the concept of e-learning and brings it into a reward system, such as for a sales channel incentive scheme. By doing this, it builds upon the idea of online learning, as a way to help upskill your staff, but also encourages employees to behave and perform in the way you desire.

With traditional e-learning, an employer will give their employees some online training to complete in relation to an area of their job. While research shows this form of training, which is growing in popularity, can help upskill staff, the approach of just giving employees the training creates the idea that a business expects their employees to complete it. Knowing the purpose of the training is to benefit the wider business, the employee might also wonder, what’s in it for them?

Rewarding the employee for successfully completing said training can help overcome this hurdle. It takes away the idea that staff are just expected to do the training without question, and instead, shows that the employer values and appreciates them and the time and effort they have put into it. It also helps communicate the importance an employer places on completing the training successfully.

Learning that changes channel behaviours

So how does all this help your brand help your sales channel staff achieve behavioural change?

The way incentivised learning works means brands can use it to reward sales channel staff for building knowledge of everything from their latest products and core services to their company history and business objectives. Incentives could include points that staff can collect to claim a bigger reward, like a personal gift or experience. Staff can also be set goals to help put into practice what they have learnt in their training, such as using their new knowledge to sell a brand’s latest product to a new customer.

By creating sales channel staff who know your brand well, you can achieve behavioural change – that is, the ideal behaviour you want staff to embody to become an effective salesperson for your brand. For instance, how they perform, how well they can sell your products, and how they view your brand over your competitors.

There are different ways incentivised learning could be used to help achieve this behavioural change.

Building mindshare

By providing training that comes with an incentive, you can encourage staff to want to learn more. They know that there is a reward each time they complete training, so there is an incentive to keep building their knowledge. Moreover, the more learning programs they complete, the higher that knowledge can become. As a result, you can create staff with greater mindshare of your brand that can more effectively help sell your offering and convert more customers.

Keeping your brand front of mind

Using incentives to encourage staff to complete training across your business can constantly remind them of your brand, helping to increase brand awareness. For instance, they could associate the rewards they win with your brand, making it feel more prominent than your competitors and helping to keep it front of mind. In doing this, while sales channel staff will have targets to hit, selling for your brand might feel like a priority.

Creating brand ambassadors

Over time, your channel sales staff can become proud experts on your brand. This, paired with the right knowledge, mindset and attitude, will encourage employees to feel loyalty towards it, enough to become a brand ambassador – embodying your brand and everything it stands for. They will speak highly of your brand, not just in their daily job, but outside of their working hours, like in their social circles, at company events and on social media.

Ideal employees to further your brand

Adding a strong learning program to your sales channel can only be a good thing when aiming to build brand awareness and team knowledge. When an incentive is attached to that learning, it doesn’t just help create highly skilled staff, who are better equipped to sell in your sales channel. It helps those staff achieve behavioural change, becoming the ideal employees to take your brand further.

Established in 2002, CR Worldwide helps companies grow by enabling them to reward best behaviours from the people most valuable to their success – employees, customers and partners. In creating award-winning recognition, incentive and event programs, the company’s solutions help companies to engage these people and improve performance.

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Alex Agertoft, Sales & Marketing Executive at Black Tomato Agency details five ways to ensure great team performance.

It’s a challenge that faces every organisation – how do you motivate your staff and keep them striving to smash ambitious company targets?

At Black Tomato Agency we spend our days crafting experiences to motivate and inspire global audiences in far-flung parts of the world. And while there’s no denying the power an incentive can have when it comes to team performance, we know that’s only one part of the puzzle. It’s accepted that a motivated employee is a productive one, but in this age of information overload, as expert opinions flood every blog, magazine and white paper, sometimes it’s difficult to know which advice to listen to. So let us help, with a distilled run-down of five effective ways to engage and motivate your staff.

1. Managerial Recognition
Manager behaviour is often the make or break of a business’ success. As the saying goes, employees join companies, but leave managers and the stats support the bumper sticker. A Gallup poll of over one million US workers confirmed that 75% of those who left their jobs voluntarily did so because of their immediate manager. While a survey by Tjinsite found that more than 35% of employees consider lack of managerial recognition at work as the single biggest hindrance to their productivity.

Everyone responds well to a pat on the back for a job well done. It confirms that their work is valued and that they’re contributing to company goals. Whether it takes the form of a simple thank you email from a manager, a public toast at after-work drinks or an elaborate double-page ad in the FT, the effect is the same; tap into that fundamental human need for appreciation and you’ll see a positive response.

 2. Peer Recognition
Peer recognition is another vital building block in fostering a positive company culture. It generates a sense of loyalty amongst a team, improves motivation and creates a sense of working towards a shared goal. Encouraging a team to look up from their desks and appreciate the successes of those around them can mean just as much, if not more, than recognition from management themselves.

The golden rule for recognition is the earlier it happens after an event, the better it is. It’s no good thanking someone a month after the fact, so if you can successfully weave a culture of peer recognition into the fabric of your company, you’re in the best possible position to provide instant feedback. This will, in turn, encourage behaviours that you value and help align your business goals with employees’ performance goals.

 3. Rewards
Over the course of 10 years, Sirota Consulting surveyed 2.5 million employees in 237 private, public and non-profit organisations in 89 countries to reveal that only 51% of workers were satisfied with the recognition they received for a job well done… so how do you up the ante? In reality, the impact of the recognition model can only go so far, a Market Tools Inc report revealed that 77% of employees said they would be more motivated if their hard work was rewarded rather than simply recognised – people are looking for a return on their extra effort.

What this reward looks like is the big question in itself – the key is finding out what makes an employee tick. Historically, people have been motivated by money so it stands to reason that if you offer someone a financial results-based reward then they’ll work harder to achieve those objectives. Research by TED favourite Dan Ariely and his collaborators clearly demonstrates that financial rewards increase productivity. Interestingly, however, once the reward cycle had run its course, productivity actually dropped below pre-reward levels. Not exactly the long-lasting legacy – or return on investment – we’re all looking for.

So how do we avoid the competition ‘hangover’? We lose the cash. Studies show that employees respond best to well-designed reward programmes that distribute non-monetary rewards. This might seem counter-intuitive since cash is the most flexible prize, but people tend to recognise that they’re likely to spend the money on something either mundane or instantly forgettable. So, whilst it’s unlikely that anyone’s ever going to hand back that cheque from Sandra in accounts, the self-motivation and superior levels of performance you’re looking for could be a plane ticket away.

The real value of an experiential reward comes from the opportunity for winners to make emotional connections, create lasting memories and reinforce positive associations with the organisation behind it. According to a 2013 survey by SITE, 96% of employees are motivated by the prospect of a travel incentive, and of those who earn that sought-after seat on the plane, 72% feel an increased sense of loyalty as a result. These are impressive figures even before taking into account the effect on productivity.

A study by the International Society for Performance Improvement found that incentive travel programmes increased individual performance by up to 22% and of a team by 44%. Similarly, the Incentive Marketing Association’s Recognition Council notes that companies that recognise their employees in this way outperform competitors by 30-40%. We may be biased, but you really can’t argue with the stats.

4. Employee Wellness
We know that companies can benefit from increased productivity by focusing on the physical, mental and social well-being of their workforce – and that poor mental and physical health costs British companies an estimated £26-40 billion per year. That’s the equivalent of more than £1,000 per employee, a figure that doubles when we take presenteeism into account – a term used for people who are physically at work but not actually engaging with it. So how do we turn wellness into a motivator? Just make it a priority.

Employees are increasingly looking for companies that prioritise that all-important work-life balance; that’s why the likes of Asana’s nap rooms and unlimited paid time off, as well as Google’s onsite chiropractors and guitar lessons regularly see them attract the top talent (and keep them there). Look at wellness initiatives as an opportunity to take care of your bottom line as well as your employees’ health and happiness and it’s a win-win all-round.

5. Clear Roles & Progression Plans
Companies with a highly engaged and motivated workforce have 37% fewer sick days, 30% higher productivity, and up to two-and-a-half times better customer satisfaction than the average business. So what’s one final tool that is well within your managerial powers to influence? Clearly defined job roles and plans for future progression. Quite simply, talented people want to progress.

If your employees don’t have a clear idea of how they need to work or what they’re working towards, they’re unlikely to ever get there. Implementing both short and long-term development plans is one of the best ways to demonstrate your commitment to your staff. Through honest, two-way communication you can highlight achievements, pinpoint development areas, improve team effectiveness and boost retention – all ingredients that fuel an employee’s fire to succeed.

So be a fire starter. It’ll make the boat go faster.

Black Tomato Agency are specialists in delivering world-class prize promotions and reward campaigns. They create, manage and fulfil boundary-pushing prize experiences for the world’s most demanding brands. With an in-house team of travel experts, videographers and event planners, they work with the biggest brands and agencies to deliver ‘wow factor’ solutions, ranging from once in a lifetime experiences to unique and engaging prizes to brand experiences for multiple guests.

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