Implementing recognition programs can tremendously impact employee performance, helping boost motivation, morale, job satisfaction, productivity, and more. If you’re interested in ensuring that your employees are always ready and willing to go above and beyond, a rewards program can be the perfect thing to meet that end.
While there are many different incentive programs, one stands above and apart from the others: the President’s Club. A long-standing tradition in many organizations, particularly popular among sales teams, this award program helps companies encourage friendly competition, increase individual and team performance, attract and retain top talent, and develop a positive work environment.
What sets the President’s Club incentive apart, though? Why is this type of program so well-known for its ability to improve employee performance?
Let’s look at everything you need to know about President’s Club programs and what makes them different from other companies’ incentives.
What Is the “President’s Club” Incentive?
The President’s Club incentive is a recognition program often implemented by companies to reward and honor their highest performers. Designed to showcase and celebrate the outstanding achievements of top-performing employees, this is a way to highlight the outstanding performance of individuals who go above and beyond.
Even the name of the President’s Club incentive strives to set itself apart from other recognition programs– the name itself conveys a strong sense of prestige and the highest honor an individual can receive within an organization. Becoming a member of the President’s Club is limited to only the highest of achievers and is exclusive to those that have met or exceeded specific criteria such as sales targets or performance goals.
Depending on the company, the specific benefits and rewards that an individual receives when inducted into the President’s Club vary quite a bit. One thing all President’s Clubs have in common is that the perks are typically much more luxurious and significant than those received via other incentive programs the organization offers.
The award packages in these clubs reflect the tremendous success of salespeople or other employees and, therefore, can include things like all-expenses-paid trips or other valuable prizes.
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Sometimes these programs are known as a Winner’s Circle or the Achievers Club, but the desire to reward the best-performing employees is the same. This is a concept that is more than a century old, with the first Achievers Club being held in 1907 by NCR Corp (once known as National Cash Register) in Dayton, Ohio.
This model has become quite popular among organizations across industries to help incentivize salespeople and other employees to hit and exceed their targets and performance goals. Beyond that, it offers a way to give something meaningful and significant to these employees that go above and beyond, along with giving them peer recognition that provides motivation and inspiration to everyone in the company.
12 Things That Set the President’s Club Apart
So, what makes the President’s Club incentives different from other incentive programs? Let’s take a look at twelve things that set it apart.
1. Exclusivity
There are no set rules for how many employees should be selected to receive the rewards and recognition that come along with President’s Club membership, but an important aspect of the incentive is its exclusivity.
Only the top-performing individuals should receive this honor, as it helps to maintain the prestige of the award. After all, if everyone gets an incentive, it significantly reduces the motivation of each employee to put in their all.
Some companies might only include the top 5% in their President’s Club, while others might include as much as 20% or even 25%. The percentage your organization chooses to include should be directly related to your intentions and goals.
2. Elite Recognition
Offering a President’s Club incentive gives employees something to strive for– the highest level of recognition available in their position. Creating a culture of recognition can have many benefits, including improving morale, increasing engagement, boosting productivity, reducing the turnover rate, and improving the bottom line. At the same time, there needs to be some hierarchy when it comes to recognition; otherwise, the meaning and significance are taken away.
The President’s Club is a way to give your employees a star to reach for– it is a high aim that can motivate them to put their all into their work. By providing the opportunity for a small group to receive the most elite form of recognition, you offer a way for everyone to tap into a genuine and long-lasting motivational force.
3. Symbolic Status
There is a symbolic status that comes along with being a part of an organization’s President Club that is highly meaningful.
When a person achieves this status, it means that they are now known for their dedication, exceptional performance, and excellence. This doesn’t just make them feel good (which, for the record, it does) but also helps to enhance their professional reputation and helps to open doors for future opportunities.
4. High-Level Rewards
Of course, one thing that really sets the President’s Club incentive programs apart from other incentive structures is the high-level reward that members stand to receive.
Whether you invite your President’s Club recipients to special, exclusive events, give them valuable prizes, or send them on a lavish trip, the significant reward employees receive when they are selected for this incentive is surely a strong motivational force.
Are you looking for ways to show appreciation for your employees’ hard work and contributions? Check out our recent post about employee points programs.
5. Networking Opportunities
Another excellent aspect of President’s Club incentives is that it tends to bring together the top performers in a company across departments or regions. Not only does this create potentially enriching networking opportunities for the employees themselves, but it also greatly benefits the organization as it puts some of the brightest and most promising minds together in one place.
These individuals can have the opportunity to share ideas, learn from each other, and connect in a way that otherwise might not happen organically.
6. Formal Event to Mark the Occasion
Though induction into the President’s Club typically comes with an incentivizing gift or experience, it’s important not to overlook the value of the ceremony itself as a motivational force for employees. People are naturally drawn to ceremonies as they help provide a sense of significance, recognition and validation, symbolism and meaning, and more. They also offer an emotional connection between people and social cohesion, helping foster a sense of unity and belonging.
Holding a ceremony to highlight the top achievers in your company further reinforces the significance of their achievements and allows leadership to publicly recognize their contributions to the organization. Recognition ceremonies have a number of benefits for companies, including:
- Helping to boost motivation and morale
- Improving employee loyalty and retention
- Providing a platform for leaders to communicate the goals, values, and expectations of the company
- Helping to reinforce desired behaviors and outcomes by employees
- Bringing employees together, giving them a chance to connect, build a sense of camaraderie, and celebrate each other’s successes
Are you interested in starting to incentivize your employees right from the get-go? Learn more about incentivized training in this recent post.
7. Professional Development
Some President’s Clubs incentives will also offer recipients professional development opportunities that are otherwise not available to employees. This might mean having access to industry experts or getting to participate in specialized training or workshops.
For high-achievers, the chance to further enhance their skills and knowledge can be very meaningful. This is a win-win, as it is beneficial to the individual in their career development and the organization.
Curious to learn about other ways to reward high-achievers? Take a look at our recent post about creating an employee VIP program at your company.
8. Improve Motivation Across the Company
Employee performance and satisfaction are closely correlated with motivation, and the overall success of an organization can, in some ways, ultimately be boiled down to how motivated employees are to achieve goals and perform at their best.
There are many things that leaders can do to foster motivation within an organization, including establishing clear goals and expectations, designing and implementing an empowering environment, and providing opportunities for development and growth.
Of course, recognition and rewards can also be very strong motivators for employees. The President’s Club, with its prestigious and exclusive reputation and high-value gifts, is the cream of the crop when it comes to employee motivational programs.
The possibility of being included in the President’s Club is something that your employees will likely strive for, helping to motivate them and boost their performance. Implementing this type of program can transform employees who were once fairly apathetic into highly motivated individuals willing to push their limits to achieve excellent results.
9. Embracing the Competitive Spirit
Being competitive can get a bad rap, but the truth is that the competitive spirit can bring a number of key benefits to a company’s overall performance and culture.
Employees with a healthy dose of competitive spirit can drive them to work more efficiently and put their all into every task. Aiming for excellence is something that often results from the motivation to outperform one’s peers, which can ultimately increase productivity across the company.
Healthy competition has a long list of advantages, including boosting innovation and creativity, encouraging continuous improvement, fostering collaboration and teamwork, increasing employee engagement, and attracting high-performing individuals. It can also lead to improved customer satisfaction, as employees will go above and beyond to serve their customers when they are motivated by the spirit of competition.
The President’s Club incentive is a great way to foster a healthy competitive spirit in your company. While there are many benefits to competition in the workplace, excessive competition can lead to decidedly negative outcomes. Setting up a President’s Club can be a wonderful way to give employees something meaningful to strive for while maintaining a sense of fairness and friendly competition.
10. Helping to Align Employee and Organizational Goals
When you set up the parameters for inclusion in the President’s Club, you’ll do so based on the goals and objectives of the company as a whole.
This can help reinforce employees’ desired behaviors and outcomes, as you’re offering recognition and rewards to top performers for their work that supports the company’s mission.
11. Far-Reaching Impact
While there are many smaller incentive programs that companies can implement in a short-term way, there is a long-lasting impact of recognition through the President’s Club.
An individual’s career can be forever changed by this form of recognition, enjoying increased morale, greater job satisfaction, and even a competitive advantage in their future professional opportunities.
12. Ongoing Improvement
Finally, another thing that sets the President’s Club apart from other incentives is that it can be designed as a dynamic program that evolves over time.
Depending on the particular goals and objectives of the company, the criteria can change from year to year, at times more challenging and at others more lax. With a team of seasoned employees, for example, you might choose to continue raising the bar year after year to help encourage them to surpass their previous achievements.
Turn-Key Incentive Programs For All Types of Businesses and Teams
Of course, while there are many benefits to offering President’s Club incentives at your company, these aren’t necessarily cheap programs to set up. Designing and implementing such an incentive requires careful balancing of costs and benefits; otherwise, you can end up paying more for improved performance in a way that doesn’t leave you with an ROI you’re happy with.
For this reason, it’s always a good idea to turn to the pros when it comes to offering an optimized, effective incentive program at your organization.
At Level 6, we specialize in offering customized, turn-key incentive programs for teams and businesses of all kinds. No matter what your goals are– whether you want to reward loyal customers, help give your sales team a much-needed boost, or provide recognition to your employees for a job well done, we can design the perfect program for your company.
We’re here to meet your needs to help your organization thrive and grow. If you’re ready to get started, schedule a call today!
Claudine is the Chief Relationship Officer at Level 6. She holds a master’s degree in industrial/organizational psychology. Her experience includes working as a certified conflict mediator for the United States Postal Service, a human performance analyst for Accenture, an Academic Dean, and a College Director. She is currently an adjunct Professor of Psychology at Southern New Hampshire University. With over 20 years of experience, she joined Level 6 to guide clients seeking effective ways to change behavior and, ultimately, their bottom line.
