We’re all familiar with the benefits of employee recognition. When employees feel valued, appreciated and respected, and are constantly being positively challenged or stretched in their role, they tend to be more engaged, more motivated, and are more likely to go “above and beyond” or give discretionary effort.
However, although the above statement is supported by the majority of managers and senior executives, many companies still completely fail at employee recognition.
Here in Part 2 of this two part blog are a further five ways companies consistently fail at employee recognition, and thus miss out on the benefits of increased performance, improved customer experience, or reduced employee turnover and absenteeism, along with some suggestions on how to fix the issue.
- You don’t celebrate employee recognition across the business.
Public recognition gives managers, senior executives and colleagues visibility of employees’ hard work and success. And when the entire company has visibility of that recognition (or lack thereof), employees are more likely to be motivated to work harder and achieve results. If employee recognition is kept just between a manager and employee, you miss out on that benefit.
Say it loud and say it proud. Publish the results.
- You don’t incorporate employee recognition into performance conversations.
Ignoring employee recognition in manager-employee performance appraisal conversations or reviews is a missed opportunity. Incorporating employee recognition (given and received) not only helps in performance conversations, but it solidifies the importance of employee recognition in your culture. It also gives managers the opportunity to appraise their staff in real time, thus reducing the time needed in the often dreaded annual appraisal. Real time feedback is very motivational.
Make performance reviews continuous not annual.
- You don’t ask for feedback on the performance of your recognition program.
Many organisations don’t know if they are failing at employee recognition because they don’t ask for feedback. Use your one-on-one meetings or employee surveys to find out if your employees feel valued, if they’re receiving genuine recognition in real time, and what you can do to improve your organisation’s employee recognition strategy. But having asked for feedback, make sure you act upon it if you want staff to continue to provide useful information. Doing nothing with valuable feedback will ensure lower responses in the future.
Asking for and acting upon employee feedback is crucial to keep your program fresh.
9 You are not consistent or transparent with your recognition
There is nothing more frustrating for employees than seeing their colleagues being recognised for their effort when they believe they have done at least as much and should also be acknowledged. By giving departmental managers licence to recognise and reward as they see fit, with no clear guidelines, rather than highlighting specific behaviours that the company view as valuable and important, can lead to a lack of transparency and an inconsistency of recognition which can have the opposite effect to that expected. Develop clear guidelines on what the company values as important behaviours, and recognise these.
Make recognition transparent and consistent to ensure employee buy-in and maximise ROI.
- You don’t utilise the significant benefits of employee recognition software.
It’s half way through 2017. If you’re not connecting with employees wherever they are, and leveraging user friendly technology to make every aspect of your employee recognition more efficient, more accessible, and more personable, then you’re behind the times. Recognition platforms should be able to deliver real time Kudos to your employees at their desk, on the move or at home. In addition, an employee recognition platform should deliver a dashboard of information for managers to keep a finger on the pulse of engagement. It will save time and effort, and deliver operational cost reductions and efficiency gains.
Software is an absolute MUST for success of your employee recognition program.
Brownie Points employee engagement programs deliver real time, peer, manager and customer feedback that recognises all types of employee contribution, with an easy to use, low cost of maintenance platform that helps drive employee engagement.
If you would like to know how Brownie Points can help you deliver thanks and appreciation to employees who are living your dream, call the team today on 03 9909 7411, or email us at info@browniepoints.com.au
