Employee recognition is a powerful tool that improves employee engagement, and fosters a culture of recognition that also helps businesses to recruit and retain the best people. When you recognise your employees, you show them that you value their work and appreciate their achievements and engagement with the business. This enables them to understand that their attitude to work greatly impacts your business success and can motivate them to perform better.
Practical ways to recognise and reward your employees
Reward your employees with team-building activities: Team building activities are an excellent and inclusive way to increase employee motivation. Offering both virtual and in-person events can increase collaboration, encourage creativity, improve communication and connect teams working remotely.
Encourage social media recognition: Social recognition has become a popular employee incentive. Social recognition, on professional platforms such as LinkedIn, can enhance the personal and professional branding of employees within the organisation and outside of the organisation, while also boosting self-esteem.
Set up peer recognition programs for staff members to recognise fellow employees: Peer recognition is described as the genuine expression of appreciation exchanged between co-workers. Peer-to-peer recognition tools can be used to build a sense of appreciation through employees recognising each other for their great work.
Offer your employees the opportunity to be heard through employee surveys: Employee surveys can give employees a voice and increase their engagement. Through surveys, staff can submit feedback anonymously and express their opinions giving insights into employee satisfaction and future orientation goals.
Give your hard-working staff reward and recognition with gift vouchers: Gift card incentives can allow your employees to really treat themselves. As well as providing immediate satisfaction, they offer employees the choice to redeem a reward from their favourite brands, whether it’s a retailer or restaurant.
Provide personal development opportunities: Professional training can ensure competency in the workplace, as well as giving employees an opportunity to develop new professional skills or explore an interest. Employees who feel empowered are more likely to meet their goals throughout the year.
Employee recognition has fast become an integral part of workplace culture. Research by The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that more than one-half of companies believed that their recognition scheme positively affected retention (68%) and recruitment (56%). From an employee perspective, recognition of their achievements at work confirms that others value their performance.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees have demonstrated the huge value they bring to their organisations. With limited face-to-face contact, more and more business leaders have realised the importance of reward and recognition, and how crucial it is to show appreciation to your workforce.”
David Callaghan, CEO at Centralus
