One of the keys to running a successful business is an empowered team. After all, they’re one of the company’s greatest assets. And so, taking care of them and ensuring they’re supported and appreciated can go a long way in having a motivated team of professionals under your management.
Most companies express their employee appreciation by being vocal in acknowledging their workforce’s work and efforts and telling them the value of their contribution. But to take it up a notch and give your team members the recognition they deserve and keep them engaged, below are some of the best practices for employee recognition:
1. Give Rewards To Employees.
One of the best ways you can acknowledge your employees and what they bring to the table is by giving them rewards as a token of appreciation. While saying “thank you” for their hard work would suffice, it’d be more meaningful if you could add a little touch to it by giving them something they deserve.
As a starting point, you can choose from the following rewards for your top-performing employees:
- Promotional Gifts: Giving promotional gifts would be a great gift idea for your employees. This way, you can give your employees something that still holds your company’s brand. And as you decide on a promotional gift to give, ensure that it’ll be something they can use or wear. For instance, it could be an office coffee mug, pen, notebook, tote bag, or t-shirt.
- Vouchers: One of the practical rewards you can gift your employees are vouchers. It could be for shopping for items at a popular store near your area or paying for food or drinks you know they love. Alternatively, you can even give them a hotel or spa voucher, which allows them to have a restful weekend and provide them with the relaxation they need and deserve after all the hard work and contributions.
- Work-Related Reward: Another great gift idea would be something work-related. This way, you don’t have to spend a lot of resources but still allow your employees to feel appreciated and rewarded. This could be having a free pass from being late, an additional paid leave, or extending a day for a deadline for a certain project, or giving them a work promotion, to name a few.
The ideas above are just some of the common types of rewards you can consider for your employee recognition program. To make it more engaging and inclusive, and ensure it’ll be effective, give your employees a voice. This way, you can allow them to make suggestions. For instance, you can send out surveys to determine which reward they prefer and would likely use.
2. Host A Recognition Event.
As you appreciate your employees’ hard work, it could be memorable if you could create an event to celebrate them. You could host a monthly or quarterly recognition program wherein you gather everyone in the same room and recognize your top-performing employees for a given period. In addition, you could also extend this to employees who have reached a professional milestone. It could be celebrating a work anniversary, promotion, or retirement
Essentially, giving your employees the rightful exposure can make them feel appreciated and valued for all the hard work they exerted for the company. This can be a great way to care for and look after your employees and inspire other team members in your organization.
During the recognition program, you can prepare certificates they can keep or display in their work area. This can serve as a good reminder that they’ve been doing an excellent job at their work and you appreciate all they’ve done for the company.
3. Consider Peer Recognition.
Apart from recognizing your employees’ hard work based on professional criteria or their contributions to your organization, it could also be a great approach to consider peer recognition. After all, you wouldn’t want to only appreciate an employee’s skill and expertise but also their behavior and values.
You may not have enough idea about how a certain employee has helped their colleagues and made their lives at work better. Perhaps they went out of their way to offer assistance. Or it could also be they embodied your organization’s core values. Hence, to recognize all types of employees, it can help to create a survey and ask everyone about who they’d like to acknowledge for their work and values. This way, you can appreciate all kinds of employees in your company.
Takeaway
There are plenty of ways you can show your appreciation and gratitude to your employees. With the insights above, you can allow them to feel better about themselves and motivate them further to work harder. And as you implement a good employee recognition program, you can boost employee morale. As a result, they’re likely to feel more engaged, supported, and valued by the organization they’re part of.
