It’s easy for employees to feel like their contributions are unimportant and unappreciated. However, if you are running a high-performing organization, there’s no shortage of employee recognition examples available for employees who go above and beyond their day-to-day responsibilities. Some companies even go as far as recognizing their employees with gifts or rewards that are given regularly—like monthly prizes.
Unify your employee recognition program across all group levels
Employees probably don’t want to be singled out for recognition by the CEO one day and then have their director ignore you the next. This can be disconcerting and may even make them feel like their efforts are being ignored. So, to keep everyone on track with their goals, employee recognition programs must be consistent across all levels of the organization.
Personalize your employee recognition
One way to do personalize employee recongition is by celebrating what makes each person unique. Let’s say you have a sales rep who has reached his or her goal for the year, or maybe even multiple years. Instead of simply sending out a note from HR, or even from management (although that can be effective), why not send a handwritten letter from the CEO? This shows that you care about the individual and their achievements, which can go a long way toward fostering motivation and engagement within your company’s workforce.
If you’re planning on recognizing an entire team for their hard work, consider hosting an event where everyone gets together for lunch or coffee—and make sure there are plenty of snacks. This provides opportunities for employees from different departments who may not often see each other outside of meetings or presentations to get acquainted with one another on a personal level outside of work hours. In addition to providing team bonding opportunities, this shows employees they matter as people too.
Make sure everyone’s on the same page with clear goal-setting and policies
The third thing you can do to help your employees feel recognized is to make sure everyone’s on the same page with clear goal-setting and policies. Policies are a great way for employees to understand their role within the company, feel invested in it, and feel more secure about their jobs.
For example: If you want people to know what they need to do daily, provide them with job descriptions that clearly define what each employee will be responsible for during his or her day-to-day work life. This can help reduce confusion and unnecessary meetings between employees who might have different expectations as it relates to their responsibilities at work.
Allocate resources to maintain your employee recognition program
The fourth element of this employee recognition example is to ensure that you have the resources necessary to maintain your program. This means having the budget, time, and staff to keep it running smoothly:
Budget: You can’t expect to run an effective employee recognition program without having a budget in place for it—and one that’s realistic and sustainable over time.
Time: Maintaining an effective employee recognition program requires time and effort from both you and other managers throughout your organization who are responsible for recognizing employees.
Staff: While some of these responsibilities may fall on your shoulders as the leader or manager of the company, others will fall on other management levels.
Measure your success with ongoing plans for improvement
By now, you should have a pretty good idea of how to recognize your employees and what elements you need in place for employee recognition to be successful. But there’s one more thing to consider: measuring your success. If you’re going to invest in this type of program, then you must know how your efforts are paying off for the company and its employees.
Measurement is an ongoing process that helps provide context for the work being done by employees who receive awards and recognition. It also allows organizations like yours to improve their programs over time based on data from previous years’ awards programs.
Conclusion
Employee recognition is a powerful tool for companies that want to build a positive and productive culture. By being clear about the goals of your program, you can ensure that it’s successful and sustainable. The first step to measuring employee recognition is to understand what you’re trying to measure. This can be anything from the number of employees who receive awards and recognition during a given period, to how many employees leave your company as a result of poor performance or lack of engagement. After that, it’s time to decide which metrics are most important for your organization.