Staff attrition rates in hospitality are among the highest of any industry sector.
But many other businesses experience a high turnover of staff, and yet employee engagement is often neglected as a significant way to improve retention.
The importance of employee recognition in today’s modern workplace has been proven in numerous studies. Employee recognition has evolved and gone are the days of “reward and recognition” where “you do this, you get that.”
It has also evolved beyond focusing on tenure of service and recognising people who meet employment milestones, although there is still a place for this. Contribution to the business and discretionary effort, rather than recognition for “surviving” should be something to consider.
The impact of employee-designed and employee-led recognition programs where the recognition is timely, frequent, specific, sincere and authentic, is getting a lot of attention because it represents a great investment, with peer to peer recognition being a key factor in successful recognition programs.
Employees who are recognised, appreciated and valued are proven to be more engaged, and engaged employees equate to higher retention rates and reduced absenteeism, greater productivity and regularly deliver a higher levels of customer experience.
Great work relationships are fostered by positive environments and a ‘culture of recognition’ creates workplaces where employees want to be at work and want to do their best work, and deliver discretionary effort
Recognition reinforces the behaviours you want to see more of in your organisation to help align all your people to your corporate goals and vision.
So consider the following:
Recognition is a great investment. It costs nothing to give and delivers many benefits.
Recognition boosts employee engagement. Improved engagement leads to bottom line benefits.
Peer to peer recognition is extremely powerful. It is proven to be a key motivator.
Recognition highlights behaviours you want to see. Recognising those behaviours is likely to see them repeated.
When creating an employee recognition program it is important to understand what it “is” and what it “isn’t.”
Recognition is not:
Recognition is not compensation, nor ‘at risk compensation’ – it is not 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.
Recognition is:
Acknowledgement of contribution and the impact that employee contribution is having. Recognition is about reinforcing the right behaviours with the positive experience of saying thank you for a job well done, and supporting this through a real time recognition platform that all employees can see. The more frequently someone is recognised for the impact of their contribution, the more connected they are likely feel with the vision and goals of your organisation.
Recognition can be peer to peer, top down, manager to team member, or customer or guest feedback.
It can be automatically generated for anniversaries, length of service, or key dates. It can be for teams, individuals, group or companywide. It can even be self-nominated – such as recognition for innovation suggestions or kicking goals.
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 employee networks, reinforcing your employer brand positively from the inside out.
Remember:
Recognition is not compensation.
Recognition is about reinforcing the right behaviours.
It can be peer to peer, top down or manager to team member.
It can be for teams, individuals, groups or companywide.
Recognition should be consistent and transparent to maximise employee engagement.
Brownie Points is 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 alliance partners, we are able to offer cost effective solutions for any business.
To learn how Brownie Points could make a difference in your business, call the team today on + 61 (3) 9909 7411 and book a free demonstration, or for more information email us at info@browniepoints.com.au
