The importance of employee recognition in today’s workplace has been highlighted and written about in numerous studies over the past two or three years.
We all want to feel appreciated and valued, but as with all business management initiatives and strategies, employee recognition, or its predecessor, reward and recognition, has evolved and moved on.
No longer is it sufficient to focus on tenure of employment and recognising people who meet employment milestones. That is old hat.
The impact of employee-designed and employee-led recognition programs where the recognition is frequent and authentic, consistent and transparent is getting a lot of attention because it represents an investment where the business benefits can be measured.
Employees who are recognised for their efforts and are more likely to be engaged, and engaged employees can be seen to equate to higher retention rates and reduced absenteeism, with discretionary effort at higher levels than seen in disengaged employees.
Great work relationships are fostered by positive environments and a ‘culture of recognition’ helps to develop workplaces where employees want to be at work, and want to do their best work.
Positive recognition can reinforce those behaviours you want to see more of in your organisation, to help align all your people to your goals and vision.
It is worth remembering that:
Positive behaviour recognition can be a great investment.
Recognition can have a part to play in boosting employee engagement.
Peer to peer recognition is extremely powerful. In fact studies show it to be the most powerful form of recognition
Recognition can help you target and highlight behaviours you want to see, and to reinforce those behaviours.
When creating an employee recognition program it is important to understand what it ‘is’ and what it ‘is not.’
What recognition is not: –
Recognition is not compensation, and it is not necessarily about incentives or bonuses tied to performance goals. If your base salaries are below average and your people don’t believe they are paid fairly for their contribution, recognition won’t change that.
What recognition is:-
It is an acknowledgement of employee contribution and discretionary effort, and the impact that contribution is having on the business.
Recognition is about positively reinforcing the behaviours that reflect your corporate values and mission, with the positive experience of saying thank you for a job well done. The more frequently someone is recognised for their contribution, the more likely they are to feel connected with the vision and goals of your organisation.
Recognition can take many forms, whether it is peer to peer, top down, manager to team member or customer or guest feedback.
It can be automatically generated for birthdays and anniversaries, length of service, or key dates, which does not necessarily relate to contribution, but shows appreciation for someone who is celebrating a special event. It can be for individuals, teams, departments or companywide. It can be recognition for innovation suggestions or kicking goals, cost saving initiatives or reduced absenteeism.
When the concept of reward is added to recognition it introduces the feel good factor, validating that impact as something worth celebrating. Great rewards create stories within your organisation and amongst your employees networks, reinforcing your employer brand positively from the inside out, so think carefully about rewards. Many studies have shown that if a company pays its staff fairly, money is not a key motivator. Experiences and carefully thought about rewards that are memorable have been shown to have a far greater impact.
It is important to remember:
Recognition is not compensation.
Recognition is about reinforcing the right behaviours.
If implemented correctly, a culture of recognition will deliver positive benefits to your business which could include higher productivity or product quality, reduced staff turnover or absenteeism and increased customer experience, making you more likely to be an employer of choice.
Brownie Points engagement programs are helping businesses around the world to drive positive behaviour recognition with measurable results.
To learn how we could help your business, call us today on 03 9909 7411 or email us at info@browniepoints.com.au
