Employee recognition is more important than ever in today's remote work environment. Recognition is all about giving positive feedback based on results or performance. When employees are rewarded for their contributions, they feel pride and they will be willing to work hard for their next project.
Successful recognition program could create a positive workplace culture, employee engagement and retention. Recognition determines that how much employees are concerned with the type of work they do than the perks and benefits that come with it.
According to Workstars, 66% of employees are likely to leave their jobs because they don't feel appreciated [1], eight out of 10 individuals looking for a new job if they don't feel appreciated by their peers or leaders.
What is Employee Recognition?
Employee recognition is one type of gratitude to an employee for their efforts and contributions to the organization. When employees are recognized for their contributions, they would feel more connected to their work and the organization. Further, recognition program increases employee productivity and the quality of their work.
Significance of Employee Retention
Creating a great workplace culture has become critical in the current scenario of the Great Resignation.
Employee Recognition helps you in
1. Employee Satisfaction
When employees are recognized, they would feel that that their achievement and efforts make a difference.
2. Stronger Values
Employee appreciation highlights company values and align employees work with the company.
3. Building Positive Workplace
Employees feel satisfied when both company values and individual values are aligned together thus improving culture.
Here are the other ways to recognize your employees:
- Have the employee's supervisor or manager appreciate their contributions.
- Managers and co-workers should be encouraged to recognize and reward the contributions of their peers.
- Celebrating work anniversaries and their achievements is an excellent way to increase employee engagement and bonding.
How to Align a Recognition Program with your Values
Core values are considered to be a building block to an organization's culture, and they are great guidelines for how your company interacts on all fronts. To ensure a cultural fit employees must align with your company values to ensure a cultural fit.
Best practices for creating an effective recognition program include the following:
1. Involve leaders in the program
Leaders are key drivers of company culture and strong examples of behaviour in the workplace. The CEOs who empower their teams through strategic recognition, and who hold managers accountable for using it, have the most successful employee recognition plans.
2. Train managers about the importance of recognition
When introducing an employee recognition program, you may receive push back from managers – like, “Why should I recognize people for doing their jobs?”
To prevent this, you must educate the managers about benefits of strategic recognition and the importance of it.
3. Recognize your people publicly to increase engagement
By making employee recognition publicly during uncertain times, the employees could feel more connected to the organization than ever before.
Last but not the least, it is critical to express gratitude to employees. With these tips, you should be well on your way to building or buying such a program for your own business.