4 Things You Need to Know About Employees Recognition
Recognizing employees is the key to an engaged workplace. It’s a powerful motivator that inspires individuals to continue positive behaviors that contribute to an organization’s success.
Never undermine the potential of employee appreciation. You might think that simple gestures of gratitude do not make a huge impact on your staff but actually they do. The sad part is that a lot of employees feel less valued for the important work they’ve contributed to a company for years.
Study shows that only 14% of organizations provide employee motivational tools. The fact is that there’s no need for you to spend much to keep your team happy. A simple thank you note or a free healthy snack immediately following a job well done goes a long way.
If you want to be successful at employee recognition, here are 4 important facts you need to know about rewarding your employees accordingly.
Being inconsistent with your recognition approach helps prevent entitlements.
Sure, consistency matters in implementing employee rewards programs. However, you need to be extra careful that employees do not feel a sense of entitlement in receiving rewards. This defeats the purpose of keeping them productive.
Here’s an interesting story of a company whose employee recognition strategy failed to work:
As a way to strengthen co-worker relationships, a company owner offered free lunch to his employees during Fridays. One day, some employees approached him to ask for reimbursement for the days they weren’t able to join the free lunches.
This example demonstrates the value of inconsistency when the situation calls for it.
Money isn’t everything when it comes to motivating people to work harder.
Hardworking employees appreciate cash bonuses. But you should understand that money can’t buy the values you want to instill in your employees such as loyalty, engagement, creativity, and happiness.
According to Association for Talent Development, millenials are intrinsically motivated. They value work-life balance, competency, and would love to become experts in their field. Millenials want to work for something that revolves around their passion.
So instead of making money a sole employee motivator, offer alternative incentives that bring lasting results. Give your best team members opportunities to lead. Offer flexible working hours. Send a personal thank you email. Provide regular, timely feedback.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to rewarding your employees.
Many businesses fail at keeping their employees engaged for the reason that they assume that one employee reward program appeals to everyone in the organization. Instead of trying to make everyone feel special, you’ll end up creating jealous and dissatisfied team members.
The most priceless thing you can do for your employee is to know his or her personal interests and tailor the reward according to those interests. For example, if your employee has expressed an interest in art, surprise him or her a lovely painting or some art materials.
Doing this makes your staff understand that you truly value their individual happiness. Better yet, give your staff members the freedom of choice to pick the rewards that they like best.
Being specific about your recognition reinforces desired behaviors.
Do you specify the exact reasons why an employee gets rewarded? One of the best ways to create satisfied employees is to let your entire staff know why a member of the team got an incentive.
If you have a recognition board in your workplace, make sure to add the details of your employee’s accomplishment and the specific results of his efforts. If you recognized one of your staff members for successfully leading the group in completing a difficult project, everyone has to know.
When you pay attention to details, you send out the message that every staff member is important. And each has something great to contribute to your company’s success. And these positive actions won’t go unnoticed.
Employees or not, we can all agree that as humans, one of the things that bring us joy is being acknowledged for doing something good. Most especially if we’ve put our best attitude forward to make something we believe in happen.
Recognizing or rewarding employees even becomes more powerful if the word comes from top management. You can build trust and strengthen your relationship with your staff if you create a culture of appreciation.
From encouraging productivity to retaining top talent, gratitude in the workplace has immense benefits for meeting overall business goals. Hopefully, you’ll be able to establish more employee recognition opportunities this time!
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