There is nothing more fulfilling than getting recognized for something good that you did. When you get recognized for your honest and hard work, it makes you really happy about yourself and your efforts. At the same time, it drives you even more to keep up with the good work. The same thing happens with the employees of any business or organization. When an employee gets recognized for their work, it brings out the best in them, which in turn becomes profitable for the business or the organization.
Employee Recognition means recognizing the hard work and effort an employee or a team puts in for your business, also recognizing their various achievements. An employee recognition program is all about engaging enthusiastically with your workforce and appreciating all the good work they do for the company. The best employee recognition strategies help the employees feel valued, regarded, and esteemed. If the morale of the employees of a workplace is high, nothing can stop the growth of that business.
Employees feel far more motivated about their job when their works get recognized by the higher-ups. The best employee recognition programs align the needs and desires of the employees with the goals and values of the company. If an employee gets recognized properly, they try to put more effort in their work. This will end up vastly benefitting your business.
Why Employee Recognition Programs are Important
Employee recognition programs can create a great and engaging workforce. If you fail to make your employees feel noticed and appreciated, they won’t deliver their best for the business. Giving recognition has numerous positive effects, according to many studies.
Positive psychology research has been carried out by Shawn Anchor, which says the sole and supreme advantage of the modern economy is a highly happy and engaging workforce. That research also says that employee happiness helps task accuracy to increase by 19%, sales to increase by 37%, and overall productivity to increase by 31%.
These days, organizations and businesses are trying their best to retain their top performers and also trying to enhance the business or organization’s growth, as well as employee productivity. For doing that, they are resorting to various strategies.
In the present time, nothing helps more than employee recognition programs in doing those. According to data, the third most common reason for employees leaving their jobs is “lack of recognition.” Also, according to 26% of employees, the highest barrier to engagement is underappreciated and undervalued.
Due to that, it is of high importance that you implement a proper employee recognition program in the workplace of your business. It won’t only keep your workforce happy, but will take your business a long way. It will keep bringing in good results, and the workplace will radiate positive vibes.
However, make sure to maintain these 4 principles while giving your employees their deserved recognition-
- Giving recognition on a regular basis. Your recognition program won’t work well if you give out recognitions once in a long while. You need to be consistent, but make sure that you are giving out recognition deservingly. Not for the sake of giving it.
- Giving Recognitions at the right time. Make no delay in recognizing your employees. The meaningfulness and impact can significantly drop if you take too much time before recognizing their accomplishments.
- Making it specific why an employee is getting recognized. Just giving a generic applaud can be disheartening. Acknowledge the qualities, activities, and abilities of an employee, and give out recognitions based on them. If anyone does a good job on a particular project, mention it.
- Giving recognition from the higher-ups. It can really be significant for employees to get recognition from the authority or their supervisors. It makes them feel noticed and valued by the company and inspires them to do even better in the future.
10 Ideas for Employee Recognition Programs
Here are 10 of the best ideas you can implement for your employee recognition program. These will help you to have an engaged workforce and have a happy and positive workplace. Your employees will have their morale boosted and feel motivated to be even more proficient in their jobs. Here goes the list-
Positive Feedback
You can try giving positive feedback to your employees on a regular basis. It can be in person, or you can give that via email. It will make your employees feel noticed and appreciated for their hard work. It is one of the most effective ways for employee recognition.
Value-Based Awards
You can offer a value-based award for your employees. Where the leadership team will select the top performer of the office in terms of doing an exceptional job in the workplace. Also, make sure to recognize the employee that is good at aligning with the values of your company while working hard. This award can be monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly. This can make all the employees highly engaged with the workplace and drive them to give their best at their job. Who doesn’t like to win an award of recognition anyway?
Going Out for Lunch
There might be some employees at the office that don’t feel comfortable about getting recognized publicly. You can take them on a lunch where you can appreciate them privately and thank them for all the hard work and effort they put in for your business. It will make them feel valued by the company and help them to do better. You can also have meaningful one-to-one conversations with them where you can share your experiences, interesting stories, goals, ambitions, thoughts about the workplace, and so much more.
Experiential Rewards
You can try providing the top performers of your company with experiential rewards. It might cost you some money, but this can be highly effective for employee recognition programs. You can give your employees the chance to choose from a number of experiences such as skydiving lessons, surfing lessons, etc. This will make them feel happy and highly appreciated for the hard work they put in the workplace.
Company Swag
Many employees love to be recognized by the higher-ups by getting company swag as rewards. You can provide your employees with mugs, electronic accessories, notebooks, hoodies, etc., that hold the brand logo. This will make them feel highly appreciated for their jobs well done, as they will feel that the higher-ups think them worthy of bearing the company logo. They will also get the chance to showcase their pride in the company they work at. Apart from being a great idea for an employee recognition program, it will also work great from a marketing perspective.
Public recognition
Many of your employees might love to get appreciated publicly for their hard work and accomplishments. You can give them the shout-outs they deserve at the company meetings where everyone is present. You can make sure that all of their accomplishments and the exceptional works they have done for the office lately get mentioned while they are getting recognition during the meeting. You can also make them feel appreciated by surprise shout-outs in the common office space. This will keep everyone updated about the brilliant works of others in the office.
Also, there are many employees that are huge fans of social media recognition. You can give them recognition and make them feel valued through various social media platforms. Here you must use company feeds for those platforms to make engaging posts about their hard work and accomplishments.
Wall of Fame
You can choose a special wall at the office where you will tack up the photos of the top performers of the office. You can nominate employees that have put in exceptional work for the company for displaying at the wall of fame. They can look up to the wall and feel highly recognized and valued by the company. At the same time, it will drive others to do better in their jobs so that they can get recognized like that too by the higher-ups.
Wellness Day
These days employee wellness has become a really hot topic regarding office culture. You can implement this for your employee recognition program. You can easily bring in self-care activities for your employees at the office to make them feel valued and appreciated for their hard work. You can organize mindfulness sessions, on-site massages, or fitness classes for the employees. This will make them feel happy and fulfilled and will make them more devoted to your office work.
Sticky Notes
You can leave sticky notes containing thoughtful words of appreciation on the desk, computer, or somewhere else for your employees. It is a really nice way to appreciate and recognize your employees for their hard work. They will feel highly motivated to do better after finding appreciative notes from you. Surprising notes like these will also make their day better immediately, and they will be able to go through the rest of the day with high morale.
Recognition and Rewards Software
You can effectively implement an employee recognition program with the help of a recognition and rewards software. These softwares can help a lot in increasing engagement, productivity, motivation, and retention of employees in the workplace.
Final Words
Employee recognition programs are really useful for any business, as these programs help to keep the employees happy and motivated. They feel the drive to keep doing better. They feel the need to learn more and grow more as the company grows. If the morale is high in a workplace, and it keeps giving off positive vibes, your business will keep booming easily. Apart from your business advantages, employee recognition programs are something beautiful all by themselves anyway. It makes working fun and enjoyable for people. Make sure to implement a proper employee recognition program in your workplace to get the best out of your workforce.