Why employee reward is more than a pay packet

“Neuroscience proves that employees want to achieve social goals as well as business goals,” says Aggninder Dhillon, who is International Head of Reward and Wellbeing at Twinings.

“For myself, as a leader, my social goals are a huge part of who I am and I’m grateful my employee recognises that.”

At Diversity Network’s recent Inclusion Festival, Aggninder joined Ruth Barnes, DEI Senior Manager – Global Projects at Hogan Lovells, and Luisa Monteiro Furlan, Director of Culture and Engagement at Jellyfish, for a panel discussion at the digital INCLUSION Festival moderated by Wendy Cukier, Academic Research Director, Future Skills Centre in Canada.  

As part of the session, the panellists discussed:

  • Remunerating ERGs and allies and champions on a budget
  • Reward strategies
  • Including DEI work in performance plans 

Hogan Lovells has about 5,000 employees who are asked each year to donate 25 hours of their time for voluntary work outside of their usual job requirements. Ruth Barnes says: “Working in the legal industry means billable hours. But we have an ethos of giving back because of the pro-bono element of access to justice.

“It is part of the company’s cultural identity to be giving back, and it is also important that we celebrate and recognise this, including making visible our network leaders and the work they do.  

“Twice a year we hold employee awards, which are open to everyone at the firm and colleagues are encouraged to nominate peers. We build in the DEI element because the winners are announced by email with their name, photograph and a description of what they’ve done which is celebrated by our leadership team with a note of thanks from our CEO.

“It’s a low-budget initiative but a really important recognition piece for us.”

Luisa Monteiro Furlan of Jellyfish says: “Rewards come in different shapes and sizes. People have the most diverse drivers and ideas of what being rewarded means. We want to make sure the talent that makes the difference is recognised in the sense of having a seat at the table to participate in and influence big decisions, like our Women ERG (SheUnit). We also want to make sure talent is supported with a framework they can follow to help them evolve and gain maturity. And empowered by mentoring, coaching, accelerator programs and participating in flagship events at the company – such as Culture Day.”

The session was moderated by Dr Wendy Cukier, a professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategy at the Ted Rogers School of Management, Founder and Academic Director of the Diversity Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University, Academic Director of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH) and Academic Research Director of the Future Skills Centre. She co-authored the book Innovation Nation: Canadian Leadership From Java to Jurassic Park. She has also received Canada’s Meritorious Service Cross, one of Canada’s highest civilian honours.

Click here to become a full member of Diversity Network, where you can access Aggninder’s panel discussion as part of Inclusion Festival 2024, and much, much more.

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