Are you looking for ways to increase employee engagement and retention? The solution may be simpler than you think. According to May 2024 research from Gallup, over half of employees are looking for another job. At the same time, employees who receive high-quality recognition are 45% less likely to follow through on those intentions.
When employees are recognized for their hard work, they feel that their contributions to the company truly matter. Research shows that this makes them 2.7 times more likely to be highly engaged. They are often more connected to the mission, which can increase engagement by four times and significantly decrease attrition.
Clearly, employee recognition can be a critical tool for HR managers looking to improve the employee experience. Consider the following methods for making recognition meaningful for your employees as you express appreciation for all they bring to the workplace.
How to Build Meaningful Recognition and Appreciation Programs
Meaningful employee appreciation is all about making sure your recognition programs are personal and authentic. Here are three ideas you can implement to design a program that meets these criteria.
Peer Recognition Platforms
An employee’s colleagues are often profoundly impacted by their hard work. For example, one employee may take on extra work to help another meet a deadline or mentor other employees to help them grow their skills.
You can empower your employees to recognize each other with a peer recognition platform. This solution allows co-workers to give each other shout-outs or even points they can use toward tangible rewards like gift cards, free lunches, or company swag. This shows employees how much their work makes a difference to those around them.
Experiential Rewards
Experiential rewards are those that provide employees with a fun, relaxing, or engaging experience at no cost to them. This can include:
- Sending them to an out-of-state conference
- Paying for a course to increase their skills
- Offering a wellness stipend for things like childcare, healthy food, or a gym membership
These rewards are not only tangible but can also be personalized for each employee.
Visible (or Audible) Recognition
Not all employees wish to be publicly recognized. For those who do, giving shout-outs in company-wide meetings can be a powerful way to show them what they mean to the organization.
For a start, this gives senior leadership and their peers a chance to recognize them. Additionally, it can be a great reminder to others that upholding company culture and performance standards doesn’t go unnoticed.
For employees who aren’t into shout-outs, commemorating their contributions in a newsletter, email, or social media post can have the same effect. The employee gets something tangible to keep as a reminder and share with family and friends.
How to Make Employee Appreciation Part of Your Company Culture
Employee recognition shouldn’t be another box you check off your to-do list. Instead, it should be an integral part of the culture in your workplace. Consider the following solutions to help you build an appreciation program your employees will love.
Survey Your Employees
Every employee has different preferences regarding reward types. Employee questionnaires and surveys can gauge employee sentiment regarding your organization’s current recognition programs and determine what employees would like to see in the future.
Asking open-ended qualitative questions is a great way to get honest feedback and gain insight into underlying feelings about employee recognition. However, you can also benefit from quantitative questions, such as rating how valued they feel at work or selecting specific types of recognition. This can help you track trends over time.
Tie Recognition to Company Values
Every employee should know the company’s values and be committed to displaying them at work. Rewarding employees for these displays reinforces the idea that you take company values seriously. It also allows you to highlight the achievements that lead to recognition rather than just handing out general praise, making it feel more authentic.
Use a Dedicated Recognition Platform
High-tech recognition platforms make employee appreciation easy for everyone to implement. These automated solutions often allow managers and peers to give employees virtual points that they can then redeem for prizes of their choice. This can increase program adoption rates and ensure that employees get just what they want.
Ensure Regular Feedback
One of the best ways to integrate employee recognition into your workplace culture is by doing it routinely. If employees can’t remember the last time they received recognition for their hard work, you’re definitely waiting too long to show your appreciation.
With that in mind, make sure to regularly remind them of what they mean to the team. Doing so makes employees feel valuable and increases the likelihood that they’ll stick around.
