Are Rewards, Incentives and Recognition Programs Employee Benefits?

Ever since the economy began hiccuping a few (heck more than a few now) months back the number of posts, articles and studies about employee engagement, recognition and incentives has spiked like Ron's blood sugar on Biggest Loser after a Mucho Grande Platter.  Kidding of course - he's done well on the program and I really hope his son Max gets into the groove with Ron's other son Mike.

But I digress... 

All this talk about engaging and recognizing employees has me thinking.  

Are the rewards, recognition and incentive programs offered by companies "benefits?"  Should these initiatives fall into the same category as 401Ks (200.5Ks today), health insurance (should that even be in there?), parking, gym memberships, etc., etc.  I'm not sure where I stand on this.

One point of view I hold in my head is that these programs and initiatives are specific to each company and are part of the overall employee "investment" the company makes.  When companies put together their total rewards grid they typically include these expenses as part of the "rewards" of being employed, along with the normal benefits.  I can see someone selling a potential employee on the "benefits" of working at their company  "... and the company has an all employee program where you can earn additional awards based on working hard and contributing.  It's listed right under the 2-weeks of vacation after 6 months."

From an employee point of view I can see them thinking that if they have an opportunity at one company that they don't at another that would be a "benefit."

But... on the other hand...

Benefits to me are what you get for showing up.  Benefits are the "staples" if you will, of working at a company.  Benefits are the things that most companies work very hard to achieve parity with other companies.  Only a few forward thinking and typically, highly profitable companies, create a benefit package that far and exceeds their competition.  Most companies study, benchmark and document what an industry or business sector does in order to make sure they DON'T exceed the "average."  (Full disclosure - I have no data to back that up but that's what my gut tells me - anyone who knows different let me know.)

Rewards, recognition and incentives to me aren't benefits as much as they are the things I have to earn and strive for - and therefore, are not available to me if I just "show up."

Can a benefit be something that not everyone gets?  I know some Executives get special treatment - golf memberships, cars, life insurance, etc. - but those again, are typically provided regardless of performance.  Can a benefit be something you earn?  Can a benefit be something that is "available" but not taken advantage of?

If you were looking for an answer to my original question it's not in here...  I leave that to you in the poll below and in the comments.  What do you think?  Are recognition, rewards and incentives benefits.

Comments

[Ann Bares]

Paul:

Having taught a few college level compensation courses and seen how the textbooks categorize stuff, I wonder if some of the "confusion" here stems from the age-old groupings of direct and indirect compensation. Traditionally, cash elements fell into direct (base salary, cash incentives) and everything else fell into indirect, along with benefits (and often included non-cash recognition and even, gasp, stock plans). This reflects a grouping by delivery mechanism, not by purpose and use. As you point out, if we think about the role that cash and non-cash compensation elements play in the overall reward package, it seems clear that their purpose is very different than benefits. So I vote "no" on recognition and incentives being categorized as benefits, because we use them to accomplish very different things.

[Paul Hebert]

I like the comment - grouping by delivery mechanism. How many other things end up in a category based on process and not purpose?