For employee recognition to be successful and deeply embedded in the employee psyche, it should be a whole of company initiative, and it should be consistent in recognising the level of contribution.
Contribution should not be limited to full time staff. Extraordinary effort is not the total domain of employees working 40+ hours a week, and in these uncertain times many organisations have moved towards part time or temporary staff, remote workers, and contractors, to deliver on a specific project or goal. As a result, it is important to be “inclusive” to anyone who contributes to your business success.
The logic is simple. When you create a culture of recognition and positive feedback the focus is on the giving, not the receiving.
Long term, the “team” i.e. those employees who will be there long after the current pandemic or project is behind us and are working on the next project, not only want to give and receive recognition where it is due, they will also want to benefit from experiencing the “good feeling” from handing out the recognition or “high fives.”
The positive psychological feeling of giving recognition and the impact of a culture that is focused on recognising great work and giving positive feedback to colleagues will significantly outweigh any cost of having short term employees in your recognition program.
Having contract or temporary employees involved does not mean you have to increase your budget to reward them. Of course, you can reward them if you wish to do so but including them in your recognition program is often sufficient. The longer term benefit is that by doing so you will build a network of project or contract staff who know your business and are happy to come back on future projects.
Recognition programs today need to be flexible enough to give you the option to reward and recognise different employees in different ways, ultimately giving you the choice of how they are recognised, based on contribution to your business.
It is also important to look at contribution differences across an organisation and treat that contribution so that the recognition and feedback given is equal and consistent regardless of role. For example, in the hotel industry, recognising great work done by an employee in Housekeeping compared to Front Desk will more than likely have different behaviour criteria.
Corporate values are often used to recognise employees, as they define how an organisation will succeed in the marketplace, but the desirable behaviours underlying those values may change depending on local cultural or job-related needs.
We would advise on basing your employee recognition program on the organisation’s core values such that all employees, wherever they are located, are demonstrating the same values and associated behaviours that company leadership has determined are critical to organisational success.
But bear in mind, it is also true that what works well in one country does not in another because the culture and the people are different with different expectations and needs. We do not advise changing the core values on a regional or local basis, however. Instead, consider the behaviours that underlie those values.
Recognition for outstanding performance and discretionary effort is about what happens EVERY day.
It is therefore an important management function to ensure that their employees are appreciated, valued, and respected, and given positive feedback every day to ensure tomorrows performance is at least as good as todays.
At Brownie Points we are working with thought leading organisations around the world to tailor employee feedback and recognition programs that have a positive impact on the bottom line.
With our growing network of national and international alliance partners we are helping our clients deliver cost effective employee recognition programs to improve their business.
To learn how Brownie Points could make a difference to your business, call the team today on + 61 (3) 9909 7411 to discuss your plans, or for more information or to arrange a free demonstration email us at info@browniepoints.com.au
