Employee recognition

Employee recognition can help you with employee retention, reduce turnover and improve your workplace culture.

Recognition helps employees see that you value their hard work, contribution, and success. This will help employees remain motivated to go above and beyond to achieve your company’s goals.

In this guide, we’ll explain what employee recognition is, why is it important, and various programs that you can implement in your business—like an employee recognition platform.

What is employee recognition?

Employee recognition is the acknowledgement of an individual or team’s success, effort, and accomplishments that benefit your company. Employee recognition can also be acknowledging an employee for embodying the company’s goals and values.

It can also improve employee productivity, engagement, and reduce turnover.

Recognition programs for employees can take many forms depending on the approach you choose. Employee recognition is not a one-size-fits-all.

You need to thoroughly analyse what would be appreciated by the person being recognised. Sometimes, it can be simple as asking them how they want to be recognised.

Why is employee recognition important?

Recognising outstanding behaviour can be a great motivator. Employees who are recognised are motivated to create and maintain the company culture of growth and achievement.

By investing time and resources into employee recognition, you can increase the chance of productivity and success in your workforce.

Other reasons why employee recognition is important include:

• Letting employees know that their work is valued

• Improving workplace morale

• Helping build a supportive workplace environment

• Increasing workplace motivation

• Decreasing employee turnover

Who gives employee recognition?

Employee recognition can be given amongst each other, by the business owner, a manager, or your internal HR specialist. However, the best method of giving employee recognition depends on the circumstances.

One of the most common forms of employee recognition is where an employee’s manager or supervisor recognises the contribution of an accomplishment.

This is a great method. Managers or supervisors are generally seen as leaders within your business. Moreover, acknowledgement from managers or supervisors may lead to monetary increases such as a pay rise, promotion, or bonus.

Co-workers and team members can also give employee recognition. Often, it may be difficult for managers or supervisors to keep track of every employee’s success and accomplishments.

However, employees who work closely in a team can observe their peer’s job performance on a day-to-day basis.

Everyone should recognise employee success and accomplishments. This will help your business grow and improve.

How recognition motivates employees

Recognising an employee’s work encourages a sense of purpose. Employees are motivated knowing that their work is helping others. Sometimes, managers or supervisors recognising hard work and success will help motivate employees to continue to perform at their best. Which leads to the overall success of your business.

It's easy to forget to recognise employees throughout the normal working day. However, frequent recognition will help sustain a positive work environment and help towards the company’s goals.

How to recognise employees?

Employee recognition will vary from organisation to organisation. Employee recognition can be done informally or formally. It can be in the form of a simple “thank you” or it can be through employee recognition awards.

Informal employee recognition examples may include:

• A sincere thank you for a job well done

• Tell your employees about a positive comment by a client

• Spontaneous gifts of food (e.g. morning muffins or bagels)

• Acknowledging birthdays and work anniversaries

Formal employee recognition examples may include:

• Recognising employees through company-wide emails

• Setting an “employee appreciate day”

• Celebrating project completion with a work event or party

• Giving an employee a promotion (monetary increase, title change, etc.)

Employee recognition and rewards are great programs to implement in your business. It demonstrates that you appreciate your employee’s hard work and success.

Types of recognition and awards programs

There are various employee recognition ideas and programs that you can implement in your business. Below are a few employee recognition examples that you can put in place today.

Years of Service Award

An employee award acknowledging years of service can help existing employees stay engaged with your company and may encourage new employees to stay as well.

Small awards such as gift cards to local coffee shops for completing each year of service are great ways to celebrate an employee’s tenure. Employee recognition based on years of service goes a long way in improving employee retention.

Customer Service Award

If you are a customer service-based company, you can show recognition by rewarding employees for receiving positive customer reviews and exceptional service. You can reward them with bonuses and informal praise such as a shoutout during the next team meeting.

Employee Appreciation Events

Employee appreciation events are a good way to show employee recognition. They are meant to show your appreciation to employees for their good work. These events can help motivate employees to continually reach their goals and make them feel valued.

Furthermore, implementing an informal award ceremony at these events is a fun way to make everyone feel special.

Monetary Employee Recognition Awards

The most common form of employee rewards and recognition is monetary payments such as extra paid time off, bonuses, or gift cards. They do not have to be large and cost a lot of money. It can be as simple as paying for their coffee the next morning or treating them to lunch.

Importance of rewarding employees

An employee recognition program has many positive impacts that will help you improve your business. This includes:

• Increased engagement by employees

• Decreased turnover

• Productivity

• Morale

You must ensure that you have a well-thought-out employee recognition program. A non-existent or poorly managed employee recognition program will have the opposite desired effect and may lead to high turnover, decreased morale and a negative workplace culture.

Employees that are engaged with their workplace can lead to higher performance, commitment to your company, and the desire to go above and beyond in their role. It's important to recognise employees who meet and exceed expectations.

Get an employee recognition platform from BrightHR

Managing employee success is challenging, but recognising hard work and dedication is essential for motivation and productivity.

With our employee recognition platform, that’s built into our time-saving HR software you can:

• Instantly spot top performers by checking who’s at the top of the leaderboard

• Enhance teamwork with reward schemes for reward points

• Increase motivation and productivity, making it easy for all staff to give praise

• Boost staff morale with impactful and positive recognition that all employees can see

• Watch your retention rates soar by showing your staff you care

So, take advantage of the power of employee recognition and say goodbye to the stress of an unhappy workforce. Book a free demo today!