Employee Hiring
- Recognition helps you to attract and hire better employees: A study conducted by the Gallup organization identified the top factors that describe the best companies to work for. High on the list of desirable factors was having a culture of Employee Recognition, possibly giving you a significant competitive advantage.
- Recognition helps boost your reputation: The quality of your job applicants will have a lot to do with your company's reputation. Your employee recognition programs will produce happier, more satisfied employees, and they will talk on Social Media about their good experiences with your company, helping to boost your organization's reputation.
- Today, most people desire working for organizations with a strong company culture. When they see a company with a strong Culture of Employee Recognition, it can be the deciding factor on whether they choose to work for one company over another.
Employee Retention
- Recognition helps to retain your best employees: The number one challenge for Human Resource professionals is retention, and most said their company’s recognition practices had a positive effect on retention. An article from the FORBES site, states that companies with a recognition-rich culture, had an almost 30% lower voluntary turnover rate!
- An Employee Recognition program that is linked to your core values produce better results: Employees will perceive a better return on their investment in your company when recognition is used to reinforce desired outcomes and behaviors aligned with the company's values.
- Recognized Employees Feel Appreciated: There is a strong relationship between recognition and how an employees feels at work. If an employee feels appreciated and valued, they will be more satisfied and productive. According to Qualtrics Global Employee Pulse, Employees who have managers that consistently acknowledge them for their good work are 5 times more likely to stay with the company.
- Recognition Improves Relationships: An interesting fact with recognition - it's contagious! When management receives high levels of recognition, it can cause a ripple effect to the rest of the organization. These recognized managers are much more likely to recognize their staff. Subsequently, their employees will want to recognize their peers. When someone feels valued, they are more likely to want to recognize others - spreading goodwill throughout the company.
Improving Employee Morale
Great companies to work for are the result of the actions and attitudes of management. When management provides employees more opportunities to grow personally, to be more involved, and continually shows its appreciation, employees will feel valued as they will see the company sincerely believes its employees are primarily responsible for the organization's success. The result: Employees who feel valued will always perform at higher levels.
Consider these different ways to improve employee morale and motivation on the job: Encourage social gatherings, such as company picnics or parties; provide continuing education opportunities, such as individual or group educational meetings, workshops, conferences, or classes; hold employee brainstorming sessions to get ideas to improve your business or work environment; and always include employee recognition at as many public events as practical.
Some of the benefits of employee recognition:
- Recognition Improves Morale: The easiest way to improve an employee's morale is to praise and show your appreciation for their extra efforts.
- Recognition Motivates: Most employees say they would put more effort into their work if management recognized them more often.
- Recognition shows their actions matter: When you recognize an employee's special efforts, it shows that you value their contributions to the business, and you think it's so important it's worth rewarding.
Employee Engagement
Engagement is everything! Employee Engagement is defined and measured by a person's attitude, enthusiasm, commitment and performance at work: how they feel about their work, their desire to put in that extra effort to meet goals, and their commitment to stay with the company. Organizations with a more engaged workforce will outperform their competition.
- Recognition helps improve engagement: That is most effective when recognition is tied to actual business results. Getting recognition for these achievements creates a sense of ownership of the organization's goals, and will motivate employees to improve their job performance.
- Motivate employees to be engaged: There is a strong relationship between the amount of recognition an employee gets and how they feel about their work. If an employee feels appreciated and valued, they will be more satisfied and more willing to work harder. How can you expect employees to stay and be more productive if they don't feel appreciated?
- Recognition Ideas to Improve Engagement: Recognition and Awards should be tied to many different goals, such as: hitting safety targets, completing specific training, meeting or exceeding Sales or Revenue targets, reduced products failures, increased customer satisfaction, and many more.
- Create a Culture of Engagement: By incorporating Recognition that motivates and rewards, plus other strategies that Empowers, Challenges and Respects Employees, you will create a Culture of Engagement.
Best Practices for Employee Recognition Programs
Every organization is unique and has its own culture, so what may work the best for one, may not work as well for another. But, there are some things you can do, regarding employee recognition, that works for everyone:
- Timely: For the biggest impact, be sure to give recognition as soon as possible. For example: When employees are "caught in the act" of doing something you appreciate, quickly provide a spot recognition packet, including a personal, hand written note of thanks. When recognising Service Milestones, present the packet as close to their years of anniversary date as possible.
- Frequent: If employees only get recognized on the service anniversary dates, they could go for years without any recognition. Each employee should be thanked and recognized often throughout the year. Remember, every acknowledgement doesn’t have to cost a lot, or even take much time. Often, a simple, personal thank you is all that is needed to recognize a job well done.
- For a Specific Purpose: All recognition should be for actions or accomplishments that are aligned to your organization's core values, goals and principals. Did their efforts or achievement make a difference to the company, team, or customer? Point out the specifics of what the employee did when saying thanks.
- Present to the Employee: When possible, present the Recognition to the employee directly. Preferably by their direct manager, along with their personal comments and/or note. The small amount of time it takes for leaders to show their appreciation can yield long lasting impressions on employees.
- Present in Public: Presenting formal recognition in a public setting, such as an office or group meeting, provides positive reinforcement for both the employee being recognized and others around them. You are showing everyone the behaviors that are valued in your organization, and inspiring them to do the same.
Creative Ideas for your employee recognition committee:
Management should include recognition into everything they do. To help managers continually recognize their employees, managers need many different ways to provide that recognition - all working together to boost morale and make employees feel appreciated. Consider these employee recognition ideas and opportunities for inclusion in your comprehensive strategy:
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Holiday Gifts for Employees - show appreciation for their hard work all year with a Christmas gift they'll love and remember. Our Gift-of-Choice Holiday Packets, start as low as $20 so they'll fit every budget. To make gift giving easy and memorable, these packets can be prepared with your company's Christmas message and logo. (details)
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Employee Appreciation Day - National Employee Appreciation Day is observed annually on the first Friday in March. This day was designated as a way to show your appreciation to ALL employees, celebrating their contributions to the organization's success. A few ideas for this day: Have a meeting and talk about all the recent accomplishments; Bring in a Sundae Bar for the entire office; Have a Pizza Party; Give everyone a small gift.
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Service Anniversary Recognition - Recognizing years of service milestones are perfect ways to show employees you appreciate and value their loyalty and dedication, plus their significant contributions. Include recognition for Early Service (1, 2 and 3 years), at 5 year-increments, and for Retirement. (details)
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Recognize New Hires – Human Resources can provide for special recognition of New Hires at the completion of your Onboarding Process. Having a detailed and effective onboarding strategy will reduce employee turnover, and is the best way to welcome your new talent. It will help them understand their role, give the employee experience in their new job, familiarize them with your culture, and help them feel confident in their new position. (details)
Spot Recognition - Reward desired actions as they occur. This type of recognition has a positive impact when given On-the-Spot! Give each manager a supply of these to give out. Many themes are available, with price levels to fit every budget. Each includes a note card and a gift of their choice. (details)- Peer-to-Peer Recognition - Employees value praise and recognition from their peers. Peers know what others are doing, so when a co-worker acknowledges someone for their efforts, the impact is very meaningful. A feature is available within the Comprehensive Points Platform that allows employees to nominate their peers to get points. (see point programs below)
Points-Based Recognition - Point-programs are powerful motivators, and are the best recognition solution when employees have multiple opportunities to earn points for various achievements. You can manage all your rewards and recognition initiatives in one online points-based platform. (details)- Safety Incentives Programs - Recognize employees, or teams, for their safety record, or for completing safety training. Successful safety programs can actually pay for itself by reducing amounts paid for injury claims. (details)
Sales Incentives - Create Sales Contests for defined periods of time. These are great tools to motivate your sales team, but will only work if designed correctly. Design your contests to give all employees an incentive to increase their own personal sales, and reward them when each person reaches their predetermined goals. (details)
Suggestion Program - This type of recognition program encourages employees to come up with solutions for specific problems or improvement opportunities. (details)- Team Recognition – Recognising the entire team for an accomplishment encourages everyone on the team, and creates a sense they're all in it together.
Reward Ideas - What to give for Recognition
When deciding what to give employees as awards, remember the role of recognition is about Motivation! When planning your awards, some might suggest Cash is a good reward. So, let's see what the research says about using cash for recognition.
Studies repeatedly show that cash is a very poor motivator to get employees to do something different. That's because cash lacks trophy, or memory value. It will be quickly spent and forgotten! When cash is given to recognize great work, it's often perceived to be part of their compensation package. Employees will quickly forget the cash was given as part of the company's recognition of their accomplishments.
Unlike cash, Merchandise Recognition Awards are memorable and have a certain Trophy Value, providing long lasting reminders of the employee's accomplishment, their efforts to achieve it, and of the company that gave the award to them.
"If you want your Employee Recognition Program
to have a positive and lasting effect as a motivator,
merchandise will always be better than cash."
See the following three
Easy-to-Use Recognition Award Solutions:
Option-1: Employee Recognition Packets - gives each recipient a Gift of their Choice:
Everything is included with each employee recognition packet: The presentation materials include themed stationery for your recognition certificate, a large gift catalog, the selected gift, and the gift shipped directly to the recipient (within lower 48 US). All this is included for one package-price for each tier level. Designed to fit every recognition budget with packages starting as low as $20.
Option-2: SPOT Recognition - to Instantly Reward Employees for great work, or for going that extra mile:
The best way to provide SPOT Recognition is to use ready-to-go, instant, gift-of-choice packets. These are perfect because they are tier-level based and everything is included. An envelope, a card with everything needed so the employee can instantly redeem their award, and a note card for your handwritten congratulations message.
With Spot Recognition cards, recipients can immediately redeem their award from a large online gift catalog. Choose the tier level for your awards, and one or more of our pre-designed themes. We can also create a unique spot recognition theme design, just for you.
Order a supply for each manager to keep on-hand to reward employees when needed, immediately - when it happens!
Option-3: Points Based Incentive Programs & Recognition Software:
For a comprehensive incentive and recognition solution, consider our Points-Based Platform. A Points Program is the best solution when employees may participate in multiple recognition initiatives within your organization, and have many opportunities to earn points.
Features Include: With this one complete platform, you can manage all your recognition programs with these easy to use features:
- Corporate Hierarchy
- Budget manager
- Peer-to-Peer Nomination
- automated Service Awards and Birthdays
- Reports Center
A communication feature is also included for administrators to provide employees with updates and status information for each incentive/recognition initiative.
Earned points accrue in each employee's point-bank. Redeemable from a large, online selection of great life-style awards.
Get Management and Employees excited about Employee Recognition
The difference between the success or failure of your Employee Recognition Strategy, is the organization's Executive Leadership, and their support for a Culture of Recognition. The most effective programs are only possible when senior management participates and strongly supports a continual recognition strategy.
See this article on the difference between Employee Incentives and Recognition.
Good Communication is also key to your success. When announcing your recognition plans, have Leadership help communicate what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Get employees inspired and excited about your new recognition programs, making sure they understand its purpose, and are aware of their many recognition opportunities.
Ongoing Training for managers will help them understand the importance of employee recognition and how to do it effectively. When managers get excited about your employee recognition goals and benefits, and are given the tools needed, they will be able to create an environment where people will feel valued and motivated.
To get Managers and Employees excited about Recognition, please see this article:
How to Get Started with Employee Recognition
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