Recognizing and rewarding employees for their hard work is a key factor in boosting employee engagement at your organization. Despite the importance of employee recognition, 45% of U.S. workers reported that they haven’t been recognized at work in at least six months, according to a Deloitte survey.
Implementing an ongoing employee recognition program at your
workplace can boost your employee engagement and assist with attraction and
retention efforts. Read on to learn more about what these programs are and how
you can implement one at your organization.
What are employee recognition programs?
As the name suggests, employee recognition programs are
formal programs designed to recognize and reward employees for doing a good
job. Often, each organization has its own unique version of an employee
recognition program. Common programs include:
· Years of
service recognition
· Exemplary
achievement recognition
· Noteworthy
performance recognition
· Peer
recognition
· Innovation
recognition
· Core value
recognition
Recognition in these programs can include formal written
thank-you cards, paid time off, gift cards, company merchandise,
all-expenses-paid vacations, cash bonuses and trophies. Some organizations
choose to host companywide staff appreciation events to thank their employees
for their hard work too.
Regardless of how you structure your employee recognition
program, the most important component of a successful one is that it recognizes
employees for their contributions.
Benefits of Employee Recognition Programs
In addition to boosting employee engagement at your
organization, employee recognition programs can raise morale, increase
productivity, and improve attraction and retention efforts. In fact, according
to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management and Globoforce, 68% of
HR professionals believe that these programs positively affect employee
retention.
Moreover, these programs have the potential to reduce
stress, absenteeism and turnover. In short, when employees feel valued by their
company, they’re happier and more productive. Happy employees are also more
likely to tell prospective employees that your organization is a great place to
work. Finally, employee recognition programs can motivate employees to continue
working hard even if opportunities for advancement are unavailable and the
budget doesn’t allow for compensation increases.
In today’s tight labor market, having a reputation as a
company that treats its employees well and rewards them for working hard is a
key way to attract and retain top talent.
Getting Started
If you’re considering implementing a formal employee
recognition program at your organization, it can be difficult to know where you
should start. To get started, you should create clear, written policies and
guidelines explaining the program. Things to cover in these guidelines include:
· Eligibility
requirements
· Award approval
process
· Variety of
awards/recognition available
· Limits on
recognition (frequency)
· Award
thresholds
Once you’ve developed these guidelines, you should
communicate the new program and its stipulations to managers and employees.
Your communications should include the program’s criteria as well as examples
of the types of behavior that would warrant recognition or an award. This way,
employees and managers are clear on the program’s guidelines. Doing so also
promotes transparency and understanding of what an employee must do in order to
receive recognition.
Considerations
Like many other work-sponsored programs, there are
considerations you should be aware of before you implement an employee
recognition program at your workplace. One of the most prominent considerations
is that all employees are different, and it’s unlikely that they’ll all be
motivated by the same recognition rewards. As such, you’ll need to offer
variety in the types of recognition rewards you endorse.
Additionally, you’ll need to implement an employee
recognition program that can easily be adjusted as circumstances require. For
example, a new project may pop up that requires employees to work harder. To
reward their hard work, you may want to add a recognition program in response
to the new project’s demands.
Successful Employee Recognition Program Example
In the vast majority of cases, you’ll need to take a
multifaceted approach to employee recognition programs in order for them to be
successful. Many successful programs include peer-to-peer recognition programs,
core value recognition, years of service recognition and year-round excellence
recognition. Here are some ways to recognize employees for each type of
recognition program:
· Peer-to-peer
recognition—Create communications that employees can send each other to
recognize a job well done. If possible, allow supervisors or managers to be
automatically copied on the communication so they can acknowledge the peer
recognition.
§ To incentivize participation, consider entering
employees into a monthly or quarterly prize drawing. Each time they send or
receive a “job-well-done communication,” their name will be entered into the
drawing.
· Core
value recognition—Create a form that managers can use to nominate their
direct reports who exemplify your company’s core values to win an award. These
awards can be distributed on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis.
§ To maximize the sentimental value of receiving these
awards and recognition, consider giving award recipients a trophy or gift card.
· Years of
service recognition—What better way to promote employee retention than to
thank your employees for another year of service on their work anniversary.
§ Rewards could include a catered lunch, gift card,
thank-you note or public announcement.
· Year-round
excellence recognition—A perfect way to recognize high performers is to
present them with a larger-than-normal reward to thank them for their
commitment to a full year of operational excellence.
§ Rewards could include a cash bonus or an
all-expenses-paid vacation, if your budget allows.