REWARDING your employees is hard. Wanting to reward them is easy. This is particularly true at our insurance agency. All Higginbotham employees own stock in the agency, and their commitment to their investment shows. Thanks to our staff, Higginbotham won the “Best Place to Work in Dallas-Fort Worth” award from the Dallas Business Journal. The votes of 90% of our 196-person workforce earned us a spot on Texas Monthly's 2006 “Best Companies to Work for in Texas” list.

I know Higginbotham is a great place to work from experience–I've been an employee at the agency's Fort Worth location for 16 years. Until recently, the only part of my responsibilities as personal-lines manager that I didn't like was rewarding my workers. It's not that they didn't deserve accolades. The problem was with me. Each year, I strived to come up with creative, meaningful, yet budget-conscious ways to say “thank you.” But no matter what I devised, it seemed, some employees ended up feeling slighted.

This year, I finally got it right. I devised an agencywide rewards program that didn't break the budget or bruise any egos, and that I'm convinced will work for any company. I call it “Three Wishes.”

I fashioned the program after the NBC series “Three Wishes.” On the show, host Amy Grant traveled around the country fulfilling the dreams of unsuspecting do-gooders. While watching the show and pondering what Higginbotham management could give its employees for Christmas, it came to me: We could grant three wishes.

Shortly before Thanksgiving, I e-mailed the idea to our agency's president, Rusty Reid, and my fellow 12 managing directors, our title for the agency's department heads and $1 million producers. Their response was instantaneous and unanimous: “Yes!” They dubbed me Higginbotham's “little cheerleader” and pledged to help however they could.

Now, all we had to do was tell the agency's 196 employees in six offices across Texas the good news. I enlisted the help of my office's marketing employee, Christina, who decided using the company Intranet was the best way to spread the word.

Christina designed the “Three Wishes” Intranet Web page. At the top of the page was an explanation of the program. Each employee could make one wish. The wish could be for the employee, for a family member or for another Higginbotham employee. I wanted “Three Wishes” to benefit Higginbotham employees, and I knew that without this provision, our selfless workers would make wishes for friends, acquaintances, or even strangers, if they could.

On the Web page, we posted a Dec. 2 deadline for the receipt of all wishes. The winners would be announced at the company Christmas party a week later.

Underneath the explanation appeared the “Three Wishes” logo, an angel blowing a clarion, and below that, a wish request form. In it, we asked for a description of the wish, the name and Higginbotham branch of the person making the request and the name of the person for whom the wish was made. (If the wish was made for a Higginbotham employee, we asked for that person's branch as well.) Applicants needed only to click the “Grant My Wish” button at the bottom of the page for their request to be considered.

On Nov. 27 we anonymously e-mailed each employee a link to the “Three Wishes” Web page and an invitation to make a wish. All employees, no matter how long they had worked at Higginbotham, were eligible to participate.

To encourage response by ensuring all employees felt their requests would be considered on their merits only, I didn't want any of the employees to know who had sent the email or who would be choosing the winners. Employees couldn't reply to the “Three Wishes” e-mail, and their requests were forwarded to a password-protected e-mail queue. Even Christina did not know who would grant the wishes.

I received responses right away. Some requested flat screen TVs and payments on student loans, but by and large, the wishes were for the fulfillment of urgent needs.

One of the winning wishes read:

“My daughter recently enlisted in the Navy, so this might be the last Christmas we get to spend together for who knows how long. She wants a digital camera for Christmas so that she can e-mail pictures to me on a regular basis to keep me updated on her new life in the military. I have been pricing digital cameras and a decent one will run approximately $200.”

Two hundred dollars for a daughter in the Navy?! I was going to grant this wish if I had to do so with money from my own pocket.

Other e-mails pulled at my heartstrings and reminded me why our employees deserved to have their wishes granted. A new hire from our Fort Worth branch, Corrine, asked for financial help with her impending wedding:

“As you may know, I am getting married on Jan. 22. My fianc? has been out of a job for the last four months and was just recently offered a position. We have paid for most everything for our wedding. It has been very hard and is getting even more difficult with Christmas coming up! We had everything set to go to Cozumel for our honeymoon, but when Hurricane Wilma hit, we had to move it to Colorado. My wish is that we would be able to have an awesome honeymoon. We still need about $500 to pay for some things and worry we will not have much extra to spend on activities and such. It would be such a blessing if Higginbotham would grant this wish!”

Unbeknownst to Corrine, her boss had made a request as well:

“Corrine has been an invaluable help to us since joining last spring. We would not have been able to grow like we have this year without her. She is getting married in January and is strapped for cash and has a lot of wedding expenses. I would like her to be able to get herself or her fianc? something unexpected for Christmas, so I wish for Higginbotham to give her a Christmas bonus–$250 to $500? Thanks.”

To grant this wish, I would need help. I approached the three managing directors of Corrine's department, with her request and a proposal. “I will personally pay $100 towards her honeymoon if you would each contribute $100.” I collected the $400 and Higginbotham donated the rest.

Only one of the wishes Higginbotham granted was made by an employee for herself, but I would hardly call the request selfish:

“I would like to have a hearing aid. I have an old one (15 years old), but I have been told that there are new models out that allow you to talk on the phone and be in crowds without a lot of background noise. This would help me in my work environment and at home. I am unsure of the expense, but I know it's not covered under our insurance policy, and I would imagine it would be at least $1,000, possibly more. Thank you.”

Higginbotham granted this request with no problem.

After selecting the three winning wishes, I felt we still had an e-mail queue full of worthy solicitations. A couple of employees in my department, for example, had asked for financial help on the behalf of ill family members who could not work and consequently weren't going to have much of a Christmas. I granted these wishes myself. I bought each family a $100 Wal-Mart gift card, which, I reasoned, could provide at least a little assistance with a gamut of needs: groceries, prescriptions, clothes, toys–almost anything of the families' choosing.

To my surprise, even Christina, who designed the “Three Wishes” Web page, had a wish. She had a medical condition that required regular doctor visits. For years, she wrote, her parents had footed the bill, but recently she had assumed responsibility for the bulk of her debts. She realized she still needed her parents' help, but wanted to relieve their burden in the coming year, and requested $1,300 to $2,600 toward that effort.

Higginbotham has an employee benefits department that sells multiple lines of insurance: property, casualty, benefits, personal lines–everything. I went to our employee benefits managing director, Jim, with Christina's request. Like me, Jim started at Higginbotham 16 years ago, loves working at the agency and supporting its employees. “We sell employee benefits and by-gosh, we need to take care of our own. I'll take that one and we'll grant it,” he said.

By the evening of Dec. 9, as Higginbotham employees gathered under a party tent on the roof of the agency's downtown Fort Worth headquarters, six wishes had been granted. The office had buzzed all week about the Christmas party and the “Three Wishes,” so when I took the microphone to announce the winners, everyone huddled close.

We awarded the digital camera first. For each recipient, I'd printed a certificate with the “Three Wishes” logo on it. “Wish Granted” appeared at the top the certificate, followed by the words “this certificate entitles,” the recipient's name and a description of the wish. The winner of the camera, a member of our Austin office, didn't attend the party, but I read her “Three Wishes” certificate to the crowd anyway. “Danielle, we've granted your wish. I've purchased some American Express gift checks for $200,” I said. “Go to any store of your choice and purchase the camera.”

We handed out the other awards in a similar manner. I read the certificates and presented them to the winners. Instead of distributing checks, however, I explained to the employees that I would meet with them after the party to make arrangements for granting their wish. In the case of the “Three Wishes” winner with the new hearing aid, she had a choice to make. She could take the payment or she could visit an agency-appointed doctor, one of our carriers' clients, who had offered the hearing aid and his medical services at cost. She and her husband balled when they heard the news.

And they weren't the only ones. By the time we'd presented the six wishes, there wasn't a dry eye in the house–and we weren't through yet. We had one more wish to grant, but to do so we needed help from the audience. I read the final wish request out loud:

I wish for an additional two to three weeks vacation (I currently have two weeks) so that I may be able to spend time with my mother while she has surgery for both knee replacements (at the same time). Due to the extensive damage from an auto accident and her weight, the recovery time will be very lengthy. My dad is in poor health himself and will be unable to help her much without endangering his own health. If I could even just have half of my pay for the time off, it would help tremendously.

I asked if anyone would offer a day or two of their time off, sort of like a vacation savings bank, so that their coworker could tend to her family. I didn't have to ask twice. Hands went up and tears came down. Another wish granted.

We granted a total of seven wishes out of 58 requests. After the party, I didn't hear one complaint, only praise, from the receptionist to the agency president.

“Three Wishes” was so successful that a Fort Worth newspaper featured our story. A businesswoman from Arkansas read the piece and sent me a letter asking how our agency pulled off such a feat and if her public relations company could do the same. My advice to her is the same advice I would give to any agency:

1) Let the employees tell you what they want. I'm convinced this was the key to “Three Wishes.” There are a variety of ways to motivate and congratulate employees, and no one way will work for everyone. When offering a reward, you may have the best intentions; but in the end, only your employees know what they will respond to. Give them the opportunity to tell you what this is.

2) Use the resources at your disposal. Higginbotham is a healthy business with approximately $30 million in revenue, but money isn't our only resource, and it isn't yours either. We have almost 200 employees who would support any effort to reward their co-workers. Several of them did just that by offering their vacation time at the Christmas party. Our employees, like most members of the insurance industry, are incredibly well connected and work with clients in every profession and with carriers in every market. These people are usually eager to help if approached with a legitimate request. Higginbotham's connections in the health-care industry, after all, afforded one of our employees a hearing aid.

Yes, in addition to networking, to do “Three Wishes” your agency will probably have to spend some money as well. But remember, I didn't put a price on Higginbotham's wish requests; yet to do a program like “Three Wishes” our agency only spent $4,000 on making our employees' dreams come true. How did we do it? By using our resources.

3) Make “Three Wishes” public. All agencies have employees with unspoken needs. “Three Wishes” is an opportunity for your agency to relieve these silent tensions by taking care of its own. Knowing the needs of their co-workers united our employees. It also humbled them. The usual strife that follows the distribution of rewards didn't happen after “Three Wishes.” Since I'd read the winning wishes aloud, our employees knew the circumstances that merited the prize, and those who weren't selected understood why their requests were given a lower priority.

We plan to make “Three Wishes” an annual part of Higginbotham's calendar. Thanks to the program, instead of dreading giving my employees rewards, I anticipate the opportunity. Now I can praise my workers with ease, knowing that the impact of my reward is as great as the gratitude that prompted me to give it.

Mary Russell is the managing director of Higginbotham & Associates' personal insurance department. She oversees the brokerage and servicing of approximately 9,000 customers. Mary is involved in the Society of Certified Insurance Counselors and is a Certified Insurance Service Representative as well as a member of the Chubb and Fireman's Fund Agency councils. In addition, Mary is one of seven executives on Higginbotam's board of directors. She joined the agency in 1990.

Special Reports /

To Reward Our Employees, We Asked Them to Make a Wish

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