The Power of Employee Recognition

It’s no question that employee recognition has a positive impact on your workforce, but how important is it?

Employee recognition is the acknowledgment of people who work in your organization for their hard work and achievements. It could be done privately in a meeting with the individual, or publicly in front of coworkers. When recognizing employees, you could include a reward, but that is not required.  

Employee recognition has many benefits, including:

• Improving company culture.
• Increasing employee retention.
• Boosting employee productivity.
• And ultimately increasing profitability. 

You want to regularly acknowledge your employees both privately and publicly in order to improve in all these areas by heightening the morale in the workplace. 

Everyone likes to be acknowledged. And it turns out that people like it so much that they’re willing to leave their jobs if they don’t get it. A lack of employee recognition is the most common reason why people leave their jobs, according to Gallup.

When people feel recognized and valued, they’re more likely to be happy with their jobs and stay with their organization. This is a big opportunity for you because it’s likely that many of your employees don’t feel valued. 

About half of U.S. employees are unsatisfied with their jobs, according to a survey by The Conference Board. Just 37% of U.S. workers say they’re happy with how much they get recognized and acknowledged at work, making it one of the most disappointing factors for workers. 

How to Practice Employee Recognition

Employee recognition might sound simple, but if it were, more people would do a good job of it.

All it takes is acknowledging employees who are working hard, and doing a good job. Don’t pick favorites, don’t recognize the same people over and over, and don’t just acknowledge managers. Your workforce is a team, so you need to spread the love accordingly. 

Some simple steps you can take to practice employee recognition include company-wide emails and Slack messages, shouting people out on conference calls, and one on one meetings where you commend an employee for their hard work. Make sure you’re sincere. Don’t just commend someone just to do it. If it’s phony, people can tell, and they won’t value your acknowledgments in the future. 

By giving your employees a pat on the back, they’ll feel valued, and they’ll know they’re a contributing part of the team. This spurs employees to be more productive and engaged in their jobs.

Companies with engaged employees are 21% more profitable because their employees are 17% more productive, according to a Gallup study. 

Another way you can acknowledge employees is by encouraging internal communication. Let them know you want them to speak up and share ideas, then give them credit for when their ideas make an impact. You can do this in meetings, whether they’re one-on-one or group discussions. Allow an open conversation in meetings and be open-minded to new ideas. Maybe they have a suggestion for a business process or tool that you could implement to improve productivity.  

Employees who feel their voices are heard are 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered and perform their best work, according to Salesforce. 

Who is Responsible For Employee Recognition? 

Employee recognition is not up to one person. Sure, if you get recognized by your CEO, it’s a good feeling, but there should be many people in your organization who give credit to each other. 

Find ways to encourage this. Make employee recognition part of your company culture. People should feel comfortable giving credit and praise to their coworkers. It builds a positive work environment. 

Anyone from a manager, coworker, executive, or even someone you manage could recognize you for the great work you’ve done and how helpful you’ve been.

Boosting Employees Recognition Through Employee Advocacy

Employee advocacy is a great way for employees to get involved with the overall mission of their organization outside of their day-to-day responsibilities. It allows them to go above and beyond in a low-effort way, and it’s easy to recognize them for it.  

By being a member of an employee advocacy program, they’ll voluntarily carry out social media actions that not only promote their own social media presence but also the brand message of their organization. 

This is a very easy way for employees to get more involved, and it’s very easy for your organization to acknowledge them through gamification. When employees perform a requested action, they will earn points. You’ll be able to see a scoreboard of who has the most points, and you can share that scoreboard with your organization in a company-wide email or Slack message, acknowledging those who’ve gone above and beyond for your program.

That small effort is all it takes to make people feel appreciated. Over 65% of experienced employee advocacy program managers say recognition is the most effective incentive to motivate employees, according to Social Media Today.  

Employee recognition doesn’t have to cost you anything. Sure, monetary rewards are always appreciated and do go a long way, but people still appreciate being recognized for what they do. You can get pretty creative with gamification, rewards, and acknowledgments. 

For example, some companies reward their employees using money or gift cards, while others choose to use company-branded merchandise. You can also offer to expense dinner with your friends or family. You could offer lunch with the CEO. You could even offer extra PTO. There are many creative things you could do outside of just offering bonuses, but people appreciate that too. 

Employee recognition is an important part of any workplace. It improves morale, brings a sense of positivity and appreciation, and your employees will be more likely to stay at your organization. Every company should strive to make it a part of their company culture, and many could take advantage of the benefits. Because so many organizations don’t practice employee recognition enough, it could be a big advantage for your company.