MTN's social employee recognition programme 'Shine' is an example of HR digitisation in action.
The application encourages leaders and staff to recognise each other through the allocation of recognition points, which can be redeemed as vouchers. In 2015, the year in which it was launched, the platform recorded over 100 000 recognition messages and achieved the South African Rewards Association's "Project Of The Year” award.
MTN HR director Paul Norman says the programme was based on the company's 'Y'ello Stars' programme, which allowed employees to nominate fellow staff members, either as individuals or teams, who they believe have excelled in the categories of Star Performance - Knowledge Transfer, Customer Service, and living the MTN Values of having a can-do attitude, leadership, building relationships, innovation, and Integrity - which became a successful vehicle for recognising peers and rewarding individuals who have made significant contributions to the continued success of the group.
“We used to have an annual gala event, which was somewhat regarded as 'The Oscars' of MTN. All our CEOs would attend and it was very popular,” says Norman.
But that programme was stopped and MTN now has “Shine”, which is entirely digital and allows people to recognise others in real time. The app has attributes that drive the company's culture in that leaders can recognise people if they are a ’champion learner’; if they are ‘creating value’; ‘collaborative’; or if they exhibit ‘candour’.
Says Norman: "I can click on any of those attributes and send it to that person who is then rewarded with points, which they can redeem to either purchase actual goods, invest in a learning programme, or take extra days of leave. With data analytics, I can now see, not only who is being recognised, but also who is doing the recognising. So I see who on the exco, for example, is doing most of the recognising and who should be encouraged them to do it more often. “
