How To Make Employee Recognition Work For You

Employees like to be recognized for their achievements and have the efforts they put into their work acknowledged on a regular basis. It’s part of what makes a company run smoothly. Improving productivity and increasing employee engagement are two of the most vital things to help a company find success. Using this technique to foster communication among employees and rewarding them when they do something well is a tried and true method of enhancing the employee experience. Team-building is a critical component of any company, and employee recognition makes an organization a better place to work overall. But what does employee recognition look like and how can you use it to improve your company culture? In this article, we’ll tell you how to make employee recognition work for you. Keep reading to learn more.

What Is Employee Recognition?

Employee recognition is a process wherein employees and managers take part in recognizing each other for their hard work. In more specific terms, that means employees thanking each other for help, posting a message recognizing another worker, engaging in rewards programs, and finding ways to improve morale for everybody. Recognition can be as simple as a quick “thank you,” as a reward, or even as promotion. Recognition can be formal or informal, but it should be timely and genuine. Recognition is essential for productivity and improving retention/happiness at your company by showing your you care about employee well-being across the organization

How Do You Use It?

The easiest way to use an employee recognition program is to set it up for your staff, instruct them on how to use it properly, and ensure it’s based on powerful, streamlined technology. Using cloud-based employee recognition programs makes for a seamless way for employees to recognize each other. These platforms offer plenty of interconnected functions that facilitate interaction, engagement, and handing out rewards. Using a platform is only part of the process, as it also requires making sure recognition is prompt, specific, and tailored to individual employees. Employee recognition is an essential part of any organization, so staying on top of ensuring it’s being observed at your company—and people know how to use it—is integral to keeping your team engaged.

Recognizing Achievements and Milestones

Recognition is an ongoing process, not a “do it once and leave it at that” event. It doesn’t make any sense to only recognize an employee once! That’s not conducive to creating engagement or helping employees at all. The best way to utilize employee recognition effectively is to build relationships with your employees, build trust, and cultivate an environment of respect. Recognition is a way to build loyalty within your workforce, because making your company feel more like a family will encourage employees to stick around. Recognizing achievements is important for motivation. It can be as simple as a thank you or a reward, or sending a simple message recognizing a job well done. In addition to achievements, you should also go out of your way to recognize important milestones, anniversaries, and other occasions that are relevant to your employees.

Opening Communication

It is important to remember that recognition is a great way to open communication among your teams. Communication and transparency make the workplace more collaborative and healthy. A good manager and quality leader should be able to communicate effectively and be willing to listen to what employees have to say. Feedback is critical to making a workplace better and more productive (not to mention significantly improving morale). When it comes to communication, management should be interested in hearing about the problems their employees are having, how they can be fixed, and what new ideas they may have for improvement or change. Employing recognition programs can make it easier to create that high level of communication and do what it takes to ensure consistently high performance at the office.

Rewarding Employees

Another critical part of employee recognition is to reward employees. You should be rewarding your employees as often as possible and recognizing accomplishments appropriately. The best way to do this is by providing public recognition, a bonus, paid time off, gift cards, a free lunch, or something else that they will value and enjoy. It’s also a fun idea to hand out special gifts like flowers or chocolates when they do something wonderful for you or the company. And don’t forget to thank them in person (or through a personal email) when they achieve something that helps the company reach its goals. You don’t have to go overboard, but you need to ensure the rewards are meaningful while showing your appreciation for their dedication and hard work at the office.

 

 

Disclosure: This is a collaborative post and the author’s views here do not necessarily reflect those of the blog owner.