Are you a Recruitment Manager, a Rewards Operations Manager or a HR Assistant looking to develop your company recognition program?
Well you’ve come to the right place! These are just a few of the current jobs in employee recognition in the UK but there’s several other roles that need people-centric and forward thinking individuals who believe that people are a businesses greatest asset. If you are working in that role you’re probably always looking for ways to support your growing business.
But what’s the key to a building a great company culture with increased productivity? Well, we’re glad you asked! Read on for the answer…
If you’ve read our blog post on the power of workplace gratitude, you might already know the answer to this question!
Gratitude is the quality of being thankful and is extremely important for our health and happiness. It can all help us feel more positive emotions, seek rewarding experiences, build strong relationships and most importantly, improve our wellbeing! Within the workplace, gratitude has been linked to higher productivity, better job satisfaction, less stress and fewer sick days – but not on its own!
This is where recognition comes in 🗣
Recognition is a special acknowledgement, notice or attention. When you pair gratitude with acts of recognition you are contributing a positive impact to a person’s mental health, self-esteem, and wellbeing. In the workplace, this is the perfect strategy to help create and maintain a fantastic company culture!
Let’s dig a little deeper…
What is employee recognition?
Employee recognition is the act of acknowledging your staff for their efforts and business achievements in order to encourage, support and value their work within a team. Regular recognition has been recognised as one of the most important factors in driving workplace engagement, productivity and employee retention.
When a company starts to recognise its employees, studies have shown that it can lead to greater success and more positive outcomes for the whole business, including increased employee morale, lower turnover and a boost in employee engagement.
Why is employee recognition important and how can it impact employee wellbeing?
Very few employees will feel truly appreciated and recognised for their hard work through their salaries alone. Don’t get us wrong, pay day is still going to make them feel good, but for them to feel valued it’s vital that their work also gets appreciation for their hard work through an adequate reward and recognition program as well as any other kind of support within their role. If you’re a business owner or management in charge of a team who needs some recognition, the good news is- it doesn’t take much to do this and make a positive impact!
The importance of employee recognition is in the data that has proved time and time again that appreciation and recognition are integral to help create a positive work experience. Based on a study of more than 23,000 workers, results showed that when employees receive recognition for doing good work, 83% report a more positive employee experience. This dropped to only 38% when they didn’t receive employee recognition. The results speak for themselves!
Let’s take a look at some more statistics.
· 44% of employees switch jobs because they didn’t get adequate recognition for their efforts
· 63% of employees who feel recognised are unlikely to look for a new job
· 53% of employees say they would stay longer in a company if they feel appreciated.
What we learn from these results is that recognition plays a huge part in the overall happiness and job satisfaction of an employee!
Employee recognition will also motivate your employees to perform at a higher level and keep them engaged with the company goals.
So, what’s the next step to helping your employees and supporting their mental health in the workplace? It’s time for employers to up your recognition game!
5 Best Practices to create a successful employee recognition program:
1. Recognise the big and the small
One of the biggest mistakes you could make when rolling out an employee recognition program is only rewarding your staff for their major accomplishments. Show your employees you recognise their hard work by praising their work effectively for small accomplishments as well as support for their big exciting projects. Employees will appreciate the support and it will encourage them to stay motivated. A company that reinforces this kind of positive culture will see rewards and benefits for the whole team.
2. Be specific
How will an employee remember that they’ve done something well if you aren’t specific about what you’re praising them for?
Employee recognition should be given for behaviours, efforts and accomplishments, so make sure the employee knows what they were. This way they’re encouraged to keep up the good work as well as giving their co-workers a positive role model that’s showing good behaviour. Employee recognition should never come in a vague form if you want employee engagement to actually improve. If employees start receiving recognition in the workplace for specific tasks and jobs they will be able to lead by example and guide their colleagues in the right direction too, as well as boosting their confidence!
3. Make sure employee recognition is well-timed
Being timely with employee recognition is another way to make it as meaningful as possible.
When employees are recognised for their work immediately, it helps them assess the recognition as authentic. If something they did months ago is brought up it might result in them believing their work went unnoticed. Make sure you put a system in place that helps you stay on track with the progress and accomplishments of your employees, so they never feel left out. If you still have teams that work remotely, make sure they you follow up with their recognition in a timely manor too so they don’t miss out on the employee experience.
4. Get everyone involved
Encouraging employees to share recognition amongst themselves is a great way to unite a team in some company wide recognition.
Being responsible for sharing out their own appreciation, and praise to peers and colleagues builds a great foundation for a successful employee recognition culture. Peer recognition helps create stronger bonds amongst employees as well as their superiors. This could be done by getting employees to nominate a winner for selected tasks and accomplishments. This kind of company wide recognition will really boost engagement amongst employees
Check out our blog post on peer recognition if you’re looking for more advice!
5. Connect to the company values
The whole point of employee recognition at work is to help them see how they contribute to the success of the company overall.
.png)
Making sure that employees know how their involvement and efforts support the long-term success of the company won’t just benefit them, it will benefit the entire organisation. Regularly share company updates with staff so that they can focus on the same business goals that earn them appreciation and recognition for their work.
A final note…
The best employee recognition programs don’t take a lot of effort, just time and preparation that could transfer the whole company! At HappyCo. we specialise in helping you give recognition to your staff through thoughtful gifts, and it’s never been easier. Just head over to our gifting marketplace to find an answer to your appreciation and recognition needs.