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Employee Recognition: What is it?

Employee Recognition: What is it?
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Last Updated: October 8, 2024

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Everyone has the right to be seen and heard in a meaningful way. You unlock a shared aspiration and an unstoppable team when you accomplish it in ways that are as distinctive as your people and culture.

 

When you honour your employees, you recognize their positive attitudes, behaviours, and contributions that positively impact your business. Recognition can take a long time. Depending on your culture, resources, and beneficiaries, recognition can take many various forms. Most importantly, effective recognition is a genuine statement of gratitude consistent with your organizations goal, vision, and values. The most successful firms understand that the greater a companys appreciation, the better it performs. Over and over again, the statistics prove it.

 

One of the essential aspects in boosting workplace engagement, productivity, and retention is employee recognition. Employee recognition, also referred to as social recognition publicly praises your employees for who they are and what they do. Employee recognition allows employees to recognize one another, making the workplace feel more inclusive and personal.

 

Important Points to Remember

Lets look at some significant employee recognition takeaways:-

• Employee recognition programs help to keep employees on the job.

• By utilizing various types of employee recognition programs, the organization will honour more people based on several criterion levels such as generation, culture, responsibility, and experience.

Employee recognition programs can also aid in communicating talent strategy, company values, or specific expectations to achieve the greatest outcomes.

• Obtaining frequent feedback and reaching out to assist employees in achieving their target performance level will recognize their accomplishments and help them in their professional progress and success.

 

Why is Employee Recognition important?

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Employee recognition is the act of recognizing a persons or a groups actions, performance, effort, and accomplishments that support the organizations aims and values. Employees who are praised for their efforts are more likely to do it again. As important as employee recognition is, it can be draining for any leader. The majority of the tiredness is from wasting a lot of time, money, and effort on recognizing employees and not seeing any results. Many leaders are still confused about the difference between recognition and incentives, which causes this.

 

You will create a positive, productive, and inventive workplace climate if you provide employee appreciation as a thank you. Employees value heartfelt, sincere, and specific communication. People who feel recognized have a higher sense of self-worth, which boosts their ability to contribute to the firm. You'll notice a happier and more productive employee as a result. Boosting workplace morale through appreciation is one of the best ways to improve performance, too! Why is employee recognition so jealously guarded in many firms, despite the fact that employers widely hold these attitudes about employee recognition?

 

Non-monetary rewards are known as recognition. As a result, money has no bearing on it. It simply refers to seeing, approving, and recognizing positive contributions from employees, letting them know that their efforts are acknowledged. Gone are the days when an employer could bribe staff to complete any assignment by offering monetary incentives. The majority of todays employees prefer praise to gifts, which has been empirically demonstrated. Appreciation is an essential human requirement. Employees respond positively to praise for their hard work since it confirms that others value their efforts. Employees are more satisfied and productive when their work is appreciated, and they are inspired to keep it up. 

According to Gallup surveys, employee recognition is the most critical element driving employee engagement and, as a result, organizational performance. The idea of social proof in action, coined by social psychology professor Robert Cialdini, is employee recognition. "We regard a behaviour as correct in a given context to the degree that we perceive others performing it," he explained.  Employee appreciation exemplifies the principle by demonstrating to others that a persons efforts have been exceptional.

 

According to a survey released in Dr Donald Cliftons book, How Full is Your Bucket, employees most common reason for leaving their jobs is a lack of appreciation. In addition, it is widely proven in social psychology that adding monetary incentives to an activity reduces motivation. When a task is extrinsically rewarded, employees may feel driven for a limited period or until the task is completed. However, when the reward is reduced or eliminated, employees interest in the activity decreases, and intrinsic motivation is lost. There is a demand for the extrinsic benefits that must be supplied regularly to keep even simple tasks going, which can be costly to the firm.

 

As a result, employers must recognize the value of recognition. A list of the importance of employee recognition is provided below:

• Employees who are praised/valued are more likely to exceed expectations.

• They are the ones who have the highest level of education

Employees become more loyal when they are recognized.

• Employee retention is improved through recognition. Employees that feel valued are more likely to remain with the company in the long run.

• Employer-employee communication improves when employees are recognized.

• Recognizing employees improves the employee-organization relationship. Employees develop a sense of ownership as a result of it.

Recognizing employees improves the employee-organization relationship. Employees develop a sense of ownership as a result of it.

• Colleagues become more engaged when they are recognized. Employees who are valued are more confident, whilst those who are not regarded are more restrained.

• In the workplace, recognition adds humanity.

• Individuals and teams can receive direct feedback through recognition.

• Employees job satisfaction and stress levels are reduced when they are recognized.

• Employees who are recognized and valued believe they have prospects for progress.

• Employees who feel appreciated would promote their company to others as an excellent place to work.

While employee appreciation is beneficial to enhancing employees intrinsic motivation, the organization is the ultimate beneficiary. Employees that are happy in their jobs are more likely to stay with the company for a more extendedperiod, lowering the expenses of interviewing, screening, recruiting, and training. It also aids the firm in developing a more robust employment brand.

 

Benefits of employee recognition

Start by mapping out the programs goals, how it will affect your organization, and the problems and opportunities for your firm while establishing an employee appreciation program. Here's a list of advantages to consider when you create your strategy.

• Hiring: Companies that recognize their employees contributions are frequently found to be peoples first pick. Sharing information about your company's recognition programs with potential workers should be a key component of your overall talent strategy.

• Productivity: Employees are more ready to go above and beyond when they realize that their efforts matter to the company and are worthy of praise. Employees are also rewarded for maintaining high levels of productivity through recognition programs, such as service awards program.

• Excellence: Employee recognition programs encourage employees to perform at their best. This strategy can also be used to foster a competitive spirit.

• Employee Engagement: According to a survey, more than half of employees are dissatisfied with their jobs and employers. Even more concerning is the fact that 13% of workers intentionally withdraw and disseminate their grief. Employee appreciation programs tailored to their needs can boost employee engagement and make them feel more valued and loved.

Retention: When an excellent person leaves, a company has many issues, including replacement, retraining, and recruiting expenditures. Employee appreciation programs have been proved in numerous studies to assist reduce employee turnover.

• Values: Choosing one employee who exemplifies all of your companys values, such as learning, diligence, or obedience, for recognition might help to foster the development of such qualities in other employees as well.

• Morale: When employees efforts are recognized, they feel valued and respected. As a result, morale and recognition are inextricably linked.

• Trust: There cant be simply one source of trust. Employees are supposed to have faith in the firm, and they should have confidence in the firm in return. Employee recognition programs assist the organization in establishing and expressing trust with its employees, which keeps them more engaged and less inclined to leave.

• Team culture: Creating employee appreciation programs that are based on teamwork can be a great way to reinforce team culture.

Workplaces with a strong team culture have higher morale and higher levels of productivity.

• Employee Engagement and Performance: Employee appreciation can be linked with a performance goal to increase employee engagement. Every industry has a distinctive performance aim, but the ultimate goal is to enhance and achieve great growth in the organization. Customer feedback and input will push employees to achieve their objectives and keep them engaged.

 

Common Employee Recognition Program Misunderstandings

For some businesses, the advantages of acknowledgement are self-evident. Recognition programs and practices are at risk of being phased out in other firms and industries. Among them are the following:

• Recognition is costly.

Executives may be concerned that public recognition will cost them much money. But this is not true; while incentive schemes necessitate a significant, and sometimes substantial, financial investment, recognition does not. Recognition is not only free to offer, but it also has a long-term influence rather than serving as a one-time incentive for employees. Non-monetary recognition, such as gratitude voiced by a manager, is more effective than the three highest-rated financial incentives: cash bonuses, a rise in base salary, and stock options, according to the Incentive Research Foundations Trends report.

• Recognizing someone takes time. The first decisions on how a company would approach recognition and its tools, especially if there isn't already a program in place, might take time. However, once a strategy has been developed and implemented, the system requires very little time and effort to operate.

When employees aren't recognized, do they become demotivated? • Employees are demotivated by recognition. Its possible that the chicken came before the egg in this scenario or vice versa.

• Only top performers are recognized. Everyone deserves to be recognized, not only high-performing staff. Most employees want to be recognized for their achievements and to be praised frequently.

• Those who do not receive a bonus are given recognition. Employees who are new to your company and those who have been with you for a long time should be recognized. Employees of all generations, levels, and departments enjoy being acknowledged.

Some bosses and executives believe that employees should be grateful for a job and a salary. • Receiving a paycheck is a form of recognition. Simple gestures of gratitude and recognition when an employee does well or goes above and beyond what is required might accomplish far more than those leaders understand. People who receive a paycheck may get disengaged to the point where they lack the incentive to go above and beyond their everyday responsibilities.

• Recognition is a thing of the past. Many (justifiable) reasons have been made in favour of eliminating "Employee of the Month" and service anniversary awards, two of the most conventional forms of employee appreciation. However, acknowledgement isn't obsolete in and of itself—just its how you go about doing it, that is! Its time to upgrade your program if this is the case.  Consider using an internet platform to share and celebrate the moments you want to remember, and don't limit it to the employees who charm their bosses the most or who have worked for the company the longest.


How do you appreciate a job well done?

A company's success is determined by its accomplishments, which are made possible by the dedicated team members who support the brand. While a simple thank you can go a long way, recognizing and thanking your staff with team-building events and enjoyable benefits can help boost morale even further after a win and pave the path for future success. First, managers must learn what their employees value most and use that information to improve the employee-manager relationship. The second stage is to figure out what motivates the employee and then tailor recognition to that person. For example, at IPC, we participate in social activities on Fridays to recognize the hard work that each department puts in daily.


These are some examples of how progressive work can be identified.

• Create a tie for team kudos.

after a tremendous win, give back

• Finish your Fridays with a party

• listen to the theme music

• Host quarterly core value awards ceremonies • Invest in their professional growth • Promote peer recognition

• Team lunch with a theme


Employee Recognition: What Are The Different Types?

When it comes to employee recognition, the most important thing to remember is that everyone deserves to be recognized, regardless of their experience, level of responsibility, age, or other factors. Here are a few examples of the various types:

• Micro-recognition: Micro-recognition is a type of recognition that is frequently unplanned and informal. Small tokens of appreciation, such as prizes, gift cards, genuine gifts, or simply a simple card or letter of appreciation, are given to the employee by the firm. • Informal recognition: Informal recognitions usually do not come with expensive presents or prizes, but they come with more respect. It might be anything from a free supper to an email of congratulations.

• Formal recognition: Formal recognition is a high-value service that is more career-centric and beneficial to an employees career. These are held in the form of public events when the employee(s) receive a souvenir that is recorded as an achievement on their work record.

• Peer vs superior recognition: Peer recognition fosters team spirit and cohesiveness. Superior acknowledgement or acknowledgement from managers, on the other hand, aids in the development of a career.

• Attributed vs. anonymous: Anonymous appreciation is also possible with employee recognition initiatives. Its a direct means of observing and recognizing an employee who is working extremely hard and going above and beyond. The accolade is given anonymously and is not connected to any individual supervisors, colleagues, or leaders.

• Social vs private reward events: A physical gift, such as a luncheon or a reward trip, is frequently given. The prizes are handed personally at private gatherings. Thisassist to develop a solid relationship between the employees and their leaders or supervisors. Other colleagues are present at social occasions, allowing the employee to bask in the spotlight.

• Behaviour vs achievement: Recognizing good behaviour and the organizations basic values encourage more of the same. Employee appreciation for accomplishments, on the other hand, inspires employees and strengthens the competitive environment.


Remember these key points to keep your employees motivated for years to come:

Over the last few years, the situation of the workforce has shifted considerably. Employees are increasingly taking control of a sector that was once dominated by employers, with the worlds bosses wielding absolute power. Companies are reading into the analytics on why employees stay with a company and constantly adapt to their needs to retain them. Attracting top talent is a highly competitive space, and as a result, companies are reading into the analytics on why employees stay with a company and constantly adapting to their needs to retain them.


Employees that are happy and engaged are more likely to stay with the company. In any competitive market, keeping top talent is crucial. Continue reading for a few essential pointers on how to keep your employees happy and engaged. Here are a few tips on how to keep your employees happy and engaged. You might reduce staff turnover at your company if you make a conscious effort to create a functioning, "pleasant" work environment.

• Give Employees Raises (and Promotions) When They Deserve Them.

• Don't Forget About Your Employees

• Maintain open lines of communication

• Take the initiative

• Provide opportunities for them to learn. (for example, article writing done at IPC)

 

This isn't the end of your employee engagement research. We must continuously come up with new strategies to keep your employees motivated.


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Cindy Baker
Trish Makiwa
Author
I completed my Bachelor Honors in Psychology at the University of Zimbabwe. I have been working at Industrial Psychology Consultants as the front office administrator and PA to the managing consultant. It is my dream in life to continue learning and pursuing in the Human Resource and administration field and be a big asset/value to any institution which will use my services.
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