In today’s hypercompetitive market, where thousands of other businesses are biting your heels. You have to leave no stone unturned for solidifying your business. Apart from marketing and promotion strategies, retaining talented employees and recognizing their utmost efforts is crucial to creating an effective and productive workplace environment. If the environment is productive your businesses will reap many extra benefits.
Therefore, a solid employee recognition program leads to higher engagement, improved customer service, and lower turnover. Recognizing the efforts and achievements of your employees can lead to significant ROI, an immense boost in productivity, and trigger business expansion opportunities.
Seems like a no-brainer? But it’s not always as simple as it appears. It is very crucial to choose the right employee recognition program. However, before we hop into the most beneficial employee recognition ideas, it’s important to understand the basics of employee recognition and how it works.
What is Employee Recognition?
Recognizing employees is all about acknowledging their hard work and achievements. Employee recognition is about building an emotional connection between your employees and your company. It also supports the work of your employees while staying true to your company’s values.
Many things motivate employees. Some want remuneration while others want to be challenged, some want their work to make an impact and some prefer flexibility when it comes to working hours and location. Employees, regardless of their motivations, want recognition and acknowledgment for the work that they do.
Everybody loves to feel appreciated. A businessman with great business management skills will always go for an effective employee recognition program. With the right leadership, this can become a powerful motivator for employees to feel valued and motivated to do their best work and stay with the company.
Explore Employee Recognition Ideas That Work Wonders for Your Business
The most meaningful recognition ideas are associated with emotions personality and memories. Meaningful recognition can increase employee retention, build exceptional team spirit, and boost morale if it is delivered with care and thoughtful ideas. Here are some of the ways to recognize employees.
1. Say Thanks More Often
A simple thank you can often be underestimated. How many times have we held the door open for someone only to be surprised if they noticed? According to research, your staff will feel more appreciated if you say thanks to them more often for their efforts and accomplishments. So, just make it a routine. Although it may feel forced at first glance, don’t be discouraged. It will become second nature if you repeat it enough.
2. Give Employees a Shorter Workday
Offering extra breaks may not be enough to motivate employees to finish work on time. This incentive allows employees to be more productive and meet their goals. With approval from the manager, many companies offer summer hours that allow employees to leave a little earlier on Fridays between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
3. Host an Employee Appreciation Day
National Employee Appreciation Day is the first Friday in March. This day, or any other day of the month, can be used to organize an appreciation day for your team to show them you care. You could organize an experiential day trip that includes team-building activities, or an awards ceremony to recognize significant accomplishments or years of dedication. Ask your employees for ideas on how they would feel appreciated.
4. Experiential Rewards
You might consider offering an experiential reward to your top performers if you are willing to spend more on employee recognition. You can allow employees to choose from a variety of experiences, from skydiving and singing lessons, as a reward.
You can arrange a small ceremony of experiential reward every month and give the employee of the month positive feedback along with a souvenir. This will boost the morale of everyone and push them to try hard to get this reward next month.
5. Recognize Your Best Employees on Social Media
To recognize your employees publicly, go to the Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages of your company. Social recognition is a great way for you to show your appreciation for your employees. You can also choose digital employee recognition platforms to celebrate the talent your company has.
Recognized employees are more likely to share recognition posts on social media with their followers. This creates brand ambassadors that represent your company well. Highlight who the employee is, their job role, and what they have done to merit recognition.
Cloud-based employee recognition platforms are very well designed to do this task with more ease and impact. Make sure your employees know what you are going to share with them and feel comfortable being acknowledged publicly. Some people don’t want to be in the spotlight. Some people prefer to be praised behind closed doors.
6. Offer Employees the Opportunity to Volunteer for a Day
Many companies offer employees the opportunity to volunteer with nonprofit organizations each year, either in place of or alongside a company-wide day of service. You should work with HR to make sure there are ways to effectively manage days off. For example, ask employees to list the charity or activity that they will be participating in. Consider making a financial or in-kind contribution to recognize the employee’s efforts.
7. To Highlight Peer-to-peer Recognition, Host a Lunch Drawing
Remember that not all recognition has to come from the top. Peer-to-peer recognition has a 35% higher chance of having a positive effect on employee experience than just recognition from a boss. Employee recognition increases employee engagement, retention, and employee happiness. Draw two names from the hat at the end of each week and invite them to a company meal.
8. Celebrate Employee Birthdays
Allow employees to take the day off to celebrate their birthdays. Even if this policy isn’t currently in place for your company, you still have the opportunity to celebrate. Do not miss this great chance to acknowledge how important your team’s presence and hard work are to their success!
Personalize a birthday party by decorating the desk of an employee with a theme that is their favorite TV show, sports team, or country. Make sure to include the card in your celebration! Each member of your team should write a thank you note for the person they’re celebrating. Personal touches can make employees feel valued and recognized. For remote employees, you can record a video and send a gift and cake to them.
9. Recognize Special Efforts With a Surprise Treat
Everybody loves to be amazed by some form of gratitude. Sometimes gratitude can be expressed through food. Stick a candy bar or other favorite snack in the employee’s desk drawer after they have left for the day. After finding their delicious surprise, they will be eager to get started on their day.
There are many great places to find unique ways to express thanks through food. Printouts and sayings that you can use to say “You’re an Angel” are available. Have fun and be creative. It will be appreciated by your employees.
10. Send Them an Employee Care Package
You can reward employees with a variety of items that show your care. These include handwritten notes, gift vouchers, healthy snacks, toys, and games. These items are carefully chosen and thoughtfully packaged together to make a bigger impact than just one gift.
Employee care companies can send care packages to multiple locations. They also allow you to personalize the gifts according to your company’s needs. It’s much easier to focus on the important things and less about how they will impact your employees.
Final Words:
These are just a few ideas for recognizing employees’ efforts. However, there is a gamut of other ideas that are also beneficial in many ways. You can also choose some ideas to boost the morale of your employee if they got an injury at the workplace. At the time of post-recovery, they need a boost and you can do it to retain the talent. The best thing is, that employee recognition always works wonders for your business until it is done with proper care and planning.