PFI First to Offer Transparent Metrics Process for Incentives, Rewards, Recognition
In a bid to demonstrate the impact of effective incentive, recognition, and loyalty programs, this 92-year incentive company now offers an independent, low-cost impact analysis process based on transparent, international standards. An Independent, Transparent, Flexible Approach Based on Standards
Past, Current, and Future Analytics
Will Impact Measurement Catch on?
“In the late 1990s, we were among the industry’s very first to offer online incentive and recognition technology,” says Mary Anne Comotto, CEO of Cleveland-based Partners for Incentives (PFI). “I believe we may be the first to offer our clients a transparent, independent means of measuring the impact of their programs.”
PFI has a history of firsts, Comotto points out. It created one of the first retail loyalty and trading stamp companies in the 1930s. In the 1950s, it launched a sales incentive firm and became the first known company in the field to commit itself to a third-party distribution program in the 1989, a commitment it continues to this day. To Comotto, it just makes sense that her’s would be the first IRR company to formally embrace an independent, transparent process for measuring the impact of any type of engagement process.
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Developed by the International Center for Enterprise Engagement, Brainerd, MN, the process draws upon already established international standards and best practices in measurement known as the Master Measurement Model developed by the American Productivity and Quality Center for the Incentive Research Foundation in 2002 to transparently evaluate the impact of almost any type of engagement process, according to the research group. Organizations that wish to learn the process on their own can do so through membership in the Enterprise Engagement Alliance Academy.
An Independent, Transparent, Flexible Approach Based on Standards
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“I have heard one company in our field claim that it measures the impact of its recognition programs and will guarantee results, but there is no mention of how it does so,” explains Comotto. “What I like about the ICEE and EEA approach is that it is completely transparent, independent, and draws upon international standards and practices long established in total quality management and ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standards, while providing organizations the flexibility to select the measures most relevant to their business. By using internationally accepted standardized metrics, we not only offer a credible analytics platform but gain the possibility to help clients benchmark performance over time without having to worry about paying for independent audits.”Darwin Hanson, President of ICEE, elaborates. “Based on the Master Measurement Model, the process utilizes the same principles successfully applied for decades in total quality management. We help companies quickly and easily correlate available results and activity data that they already have on hand to evaluate the impact of activities on the desired outcomes.” The platform, he adds, specifically helps organizations align their practices to support the Irrational Capital’s Human Capital Factor, independently verified by the Morgan Stanley quantitative analytics division as most likely to contribute to future equity value creation.
Past, Current, and Future Analytics
The ICEE says its process has multiple applications, including:
- Establishing a benchmark of metrics before launching a new program;
- Evaluating the impact of past investments or lack thereof;
- Forecasting the impact of future investments;
- Benchmarking efforts against others.
The report provides an analysis of:
- The actual impact of the effort on the desired purpose, goals, objectives, and values of the organization or the specific program.
- The dollar value if appropriate of the impact.
- Graphical expressions of the correlations between outcomes and activities—based on the Master Measurement Model.
- Possible sources of causation and correlation—i.e., activities that directly affected outcomes and outcomes that happen sometimes inexplicably parallel to one another.
- Opportunities for improvement.
Will Impact Measurement Catch on?
Comotto, a member of the Enterprise Engagement Alliance Impact Council advisory board, agrees that many traditional IRR clients do not make big demands for impact measurement and often don’t have access or won’t share the data with an incentive or recognition company. “I agree with the ROI experts at the ROI Institute that impact measurement in our field remains early stage. It was early stage in the 1990s when we embraced the Internet and look what has happened over time. I don’t see any risk in offering independent evaluation processes to our clients, even if they are not ready yet.”
Working with the ICEE, she adds, offers other advantages. “Using an independent third party makes the analysis more credible, even though the process is highly transparent based on the data provided. This also addresses security concerns. ICEE holds all the data on its platform with no organization identification, so the clients never have to fear giving vital data to any third-party in the industry.”
Enterprise Engagement Alliance Services
Celebrating our 16th year, the Enterprise Engagement Alliance helps organizations enhance performance through:
1. Information and marketing opportunities on stakeholder management and total rewards:
ESM Weekly on stakeholder management since 2009; click here for a media kit.
RRN Weekly on total rewards since 1996; click here for a EEA YouTube channel on enterprise engagement, human capital, and total rewards insights and how-to information since 2020.
2. Learning: Purpose Leadership and Stakeholder
Management Academy to enhance future equity value and performance for your organization.3. Books on implementation: Enterprise Engagement for CEOs and Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap.
4. Advisory services and research: Strategic guidance, learning and certification on stakeholder management, measurement, metrics, and corporate sustainability reporting.
5. Permission-based targeted business development to identify and build relationships with the people most likely to buy.
6. Public speaking and meeting facilitation on stakeholder management. The world’s leading speakers on all aspects of stakeholder management across the enterprise.
