It’s no longer enough to just pay salaries. Now, employees want a work environment where they feel seen, heard, and valued.
When this happens, they naturally feel an increased sense of security, motivation, and productivity.
So, employee recognition is a workplace culture you should definitely adopt.
However, employee recognition programs may be a hassle if you’re just getting started.
That’s why in this guide, we’ll provide you with actionable tips on designing, implementing, and managing effective employee recognition programs.
Ready to learn? Let’s get right in.
Table of Contents
What Is an Employee Recognition Program?
Benefits of Employee Recognition Programs
Creating an Employee Recognition Program: Best Practices
How to Measure the Impact of Your Employee Recognition Program
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What Is an Employee Recognition Program?
An employee recognition program is a set of actions to acknowledge the hard work, dedication, and commitment of team members within an organization.
People naturally want to do more when they’re appreciated for what they’ve already done, and this is the simple logic behind employee recognition programs.
They range from employee rewards, birthday shoutouts, incentives, public recognition on social media, work anniversaries, and many more.
The main objective of this type of program is to promote wellness and improve:
- Employee productivity.
- Employee retention.
- Employee morale.
Let’s explore some of these perks in more depth.
Benefits of Employee Recognition Programs
So why should you start an employee recognition program?
Besides its ability to boost an employee’s morale, an employee recognition program also has the following benefits.
Encourages engagement
Employee engagement is the enthusiasm an employee feels toward their job.
Do they feel excited about going to work? Do they enjoy the work environment?
For many employees, the answer is no, but for those whose companies recognize and reward them, the answer is yes.
Here are some statistics to show how recognition programs encourage employee engagement:
- 86% of employees at Southwest Airlines say they felt appreciated and respected as a result of the company’s recognition program.
- 79% of employees said the program had a positive impact on their engagement and motivation.
Reduces turnover rates
An employee turnover rate is the number of employees who leave a company within a given period.
It’s usually calculated by dividing the number of employees who left by the average number of employees in the company within a given period, and then multiplying the result by 100.
When your company’s turnover rate is high, it means that many of your employees are leaving your company and this gives a negative image of your brand.
So how can employee recognition programs prevent this from happening?
Aon Hewitt found out that turnover was 31% lower in companies with a strong employee recognition culture than in those with weaker recognition programs.
Improves company culture
When company leaders acknowledge and celebrate employee experiences and hard work, they significantly help to improve the core values, attitudes, behavior, and standards within the company.
For instance, when you offer employees lunch with the CEO or management team, it provides a unique opportunity to interact with company leaders.
Doing this creates a sense of belonging and encourages the cultivation of connections between employees and their employers.
Attracts the right talent
The bottom line is that everyone loves to work where they’re appreciated.
So, when news of your employee recognition program goes out to the public, you’ll attract many people whenever you’re hiring.
People want to work in a healthy environment that encourages social recognition and appreciates staff members for their great work and their years of service.
If you want to attract the right talent, keep reading for ideas on how to start your employee recognition program.
6 Employee Recognition Ideas
There are various forms of recognition programs.
Some are spontaneous and unplanned. Others, however, require proper planning and structure.
Below are some examples of employee recognition ideas you should try.
Employee appreciation events
Employers create employee appreciation events and initiatives to celebrate employees’ achievements and show gratitude for employees’ work.
The major aim is to enhance employee motivation and satisfaction.
Here are some ideas for an employee appreciation event:
Employee of the month
An employee of the month award recognizes team members for their exceptional performance at work within a particular month.
The human resources department, a manager, or supervisors makes this award after careful consideration of top performers.
To determine the most qualified employee for this award, certain criteria should be considered, such as:
- Relationships with others.
- Achievements.
- Reliability.
- Ability to learn.
- Co-operation.
Work anniversaries
Another idea you could also implement is work anniversaries.
Work anniversaries are annual celebrations that mark an employee’s length of service.
For instance, if an employee joins your organization on the 24th of September their work anniversary would occur every 24th of September for as long as they remain in your organization.
Company swag
Branded merchandise, otherwise known as company swag, involves custom items that you give out to your employees or clients.
These packaged gifts may include gift cards, pens, t-shirts, coffee mugs, key chains, etc.
Wanna get company swag for your employees?
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SwagDrop offers corporate gifting services to businesses.
Here are some things SwagDrop can help you with:
- Custom swag packs.
- Unlimited drop shipments.
- Bulk swag.
- Pop-up shops that allow employees to pick gifts and apparel sizes.
- Holiday gift sets.
Public acknowledgment and applause
Posting acknowledgment pictures or videos of your employees on social media tells people that you’re supportive of your staff.
Doing this type of social recognition helps you attract the right talent.
It gives the impression that you want the best for your employees and you value their well-being even after they stop working for you.
An example of public acknowledgment is seen below.
The image shows a picture of a Flutterwave staff member on the brand’s Instagram page.
The caption describes Timothy’s position in the organization and acknowledges him for successfully transitioning from being a graduate trainee to a full-time employee.
Peer-to-peer recognition
Peer-to-peer recognition occurs when an employee gives positive feedback about a colleague.
Because this is strictly employee feedback within peers, there’s no hierarchy.
Employees are free to speak about how they feel toward their colleagues without consulting management and this helps promote a positive company culture.
If you’re considering setting up a peer-to-peer recognition program, consider doing the following to make it enjoyable and healthy:
- Add rewards and achievement levels to gamify the program.
- Motivate your employees to engage with each other and ensure that they’re comfortable talking day-to-day with each other.
- Make recognition a ritual.
Leadership breakfast or lunch
Leadership breakfasts or lunches are created as a means to show appreciation to a dedicated employee.
It’s the perfect opportunity for employees to open up conversations with CEOs or stakeholders.
It’s among the many types of employee recognition programs that are targeted at gaining trust, improving communication, and bridging the hierarchy between employees and their CEOs.
When creating a leadership breakfast or lunch, you might want to consider:
- The number of people to attend.
- The tone and structure of the breakfast/lunch.
- Topics the CEO would like to discuss.
- The CEO’s schedule and the frequency of the breakfast/lunch.
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Employee awards
Employers give employee awards to employees for their good work.
Such awards may be categorized into various types depending on the industry.
An example of such an award has been previously mentioned – the employee of the month award.
Some other categories include:
- Most improved team member award.
- Employees’ choice award.
- Most creative employee award.
- Best in teamwork award.
- Excellent feedback giver/receiver award.
- Exceptional listener award.
Bear in mind that in doing this, brands need to ensure that the award categories align with their company culture and company values.
Keep reading to discover best practices for creating an employee recognition program.
Creating an Employee Recognition Program: Best Practices
To get the most out of your employee recognition program there are some practices you need to implement.
Below is a list of some of these practices.
Make it an integral part of your company culture
First things first, recognition should be as frequent and consistent as possible. It may be monthly, bimonthly, biweekly, etc.
Maintaining this type of regular and timely appreciation helps to reinforce the behaviors that drive productivity within your organization.
Some of the ways you can embed recognition in your daily operations are:
- Including recognition as an agenda item in your team’s weekly meetings.
- Seeking the opinions of your employees when onboarding them.
Create a variety of recognition channels
We’re all unique, and it’s quite natural that what works for one person may not work for another.
By offering multiple company-wide channels for recognizing employees, you increase your chances of ensuring that everyone feels appreciated.
To effectively manage these channels:
- Appoint a recognition team to facilitate the nomination and recognition process.
- Use an employee recognition software to streamline the workload.
- Celebrate the milestones and success of your recognition efforts.
- Automate employee award programs using Google Calendar.
Be specific about what is being recognized
Giving out vague or generic praise can feel like empty words.
Your employees need to know precisely what they’re being recognized for.
When it’s specific, it reinforces the behaviors and achievements you want to see more of.
Here are specific actions that warrant recognition:
- Project completion.
- Excellent customer service.
- In-person team collaboration.
- Client acquisition.
Ensure fairness and inclusivity at all levels
It’s very easy to fall prey to bias and favoritism, but recognition shouldn’t be exclusive to only a select few.
It should be open to all employees regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, etc.
When you ensure fairness, consistency, and inclusivity, it sends a strong message about your positive company culture and diversity.
Below are some strategies for preventing bias and favoritism in your recognition efforts and rewards program:
- Create a recognition committee that includes all major and minor groups in your organization.
- Rotate the responsibility for managing your recognition committees.
- Seek the feedback of your employees regarding the management of the program.
- Use quantifiable data to measure the success of your program.
Let’s find out more about how to measure the impact of employee recognition programs.
How to Measure the Impact of Your Employee Recognition Program
Measuring the success of your program helps you link it to the performance evaluation and career advancement of your employees.
Additionally, it provides you with a clear picture of the fairness and inclusivity of your program.
Here are a few ways you can measure the impact of your program.
Method #1. Conduct employee engagement surveys
You can create a pulse survey that helps you obtain constructive feedback from your employees.
A pulse survey is a short set of questions regularly sent to employees.
The objective of this type of survey is to continuously gather feedback and measure the level of sentiment within an organization.
Method #2. Measure employee retention rates
An employee retention rate is the number of people who remain in your organization over a certain period.
You can calculate this by dividing the total number of employees who stayed with your company within a specific time by the number of people you started with on the first day.
Then, multiply the result by 100 to get your employee retention rate.
To analyze retention data in relation to employee recognition consider conducting surveys, interviews, sentiment analysis, and so on.
Method #3. Measure recognition participation rates
The participation rate for your recognition program is the percentage of your team who use an employee recognition platform to send either gifts or nominations.
Ideally, a recognition participation rate of at least 80% shows that you have a very strong recognition culture in your organization.
You can measure the rate by calculating:
- The average number of gifts sent out.
- The number of team members regularly using the employee recognition platform.
- The percentage of claimed and unclaimed gifts.
- The percentage of team members who receive gifts and nominations.
Method #4. Closely follow productivity metrics
Tracking the productivity rate of your employees helps you assess the effectiveness of your recognition programs.
You can track productivity using metrics such as:
- Output: The measurable products or services your employee delivers.
- Efficiency: A measure of an employee’s ability to make the best use of resources to achieve a desired objective.
- Quality: A measure of an employee’s willingness to learn and contribute to an organization.
Before we wrap up in the next section, remember that these practices can be tweaked based on the needs of your workplace.
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Learn More About Employee Recognition, Appreciation, and Retention
If you’ve gotten here, you understand how employee recognition works, ideas to implement, and how to measure its impact.
But there’s always more to learn when it comes to creating an effective workplace environment.
To keep in touch with the latest trends, learn more about employee retention and other HR topics.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Below are some amazing answers to your frequently asked questions.
Q1. What is an example of an employee recognition program?
An example of an employee recognition program is the “Employee of the Month” event where the best-performing employee is celebrated.
Q2. What is the difference between a recognition program and a rewards program?
A recognition program involves giving personal acknowledgment and appreciating an employee’s hard work. This may or may not include gifts.
A rewards program on the other hand is fixed and determined by the performance of an individual and expected returns. It must include gifts which may be non-monetary or monetary rewards.
Q3. Is an employee recognition program necessary?
Yes, it not only helps improve your employee retention rate but it also helps with improving your company culture and attracting the right talent.