Employees need recognition. Studies show that employees who are regularly recognized for their effort and achievement are more productive, more loyal, happier and generally more satisfied with their work than employees who don’t feel seen or valued.
Still, not all recognition is created equal. Plenty of attempts to recognize employees fall flat, perhaps resulting in the opposite effects to those listed above. If you are noticing that your employee recognition program isn’t creating the motivated and committed workforce of your dreams, you might be making the following mistakes:
Rewards Are Too Small
When you go to the trouble to distribute rewards to high-performing workers, you need to be certain that those rewards are appropriate to the level of achievement that an employee has accomplished for your business. For example, a worker who recently completed a multi-year project resulting in extremely satisfied clients and a payout of millions to your company probably will not be satisfied by a $5 gift card to the corner coffee shop. Similarly, rewards of items that are essentially free to your company, like branded merchandise, will not leave employees feeling honored or impressed.
If you struggle to gauge the correct size for rewards, you can ask the recipient for ideas of rewards that will make them feel appreciated for their hard work. Most workers will not ask for more than they believe is appropriate, and they will feel especially valued by the opportunity to control their gift.
Recognition Is Too Infrequent
At plenty of businesses, the only opportunity employees have to receive recognition and praise is at their annual performance review. One compliment is not nearly enough to keep your workforce engaged and excited about their work year-round; infrequent recognition will lead to lower performance levels as employees feel that their management does not see or appreciate the effort they are putting into their work.
You do not need to keep up an unlimited stream of praise and rewards, but you do need to offer recognition regularly enough to signal to your workforce that you are observant and grateful. You can send out notes of appreciation every few weeks and offer larger awards to especially high-performing employees every quarter.
Recognition Is Delayed
Imagine this: You go above and beyond on your wedding anniversary to surprise your spouse with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers, an expensive dinner at their favorite restaurant, a beautiful watch and plane tickets to a luxurious vacation destination — and two months later, your spouse gives a half-hearted “thanks.” Likely, you would assume that your spouse did not pay attention to the work you did to make your shared milestone special.
Your employees do not want to wait around for you to appreciate their hard work. They want to know in the moment that their efforts are being seen and valued, and any rewards you offer need to come immediately after an achievement occurs. This helps your workforce connect the behavior with the prize, creating effective extrinsic motivation for the recipient of the reward as well as their peers.
You Never Ask Employees for Feedback
As important as material rewards are opportunities for employees to impact their work environment. You need to give your workers the ability to provide you with feedback on your performance, especially when it comes to how you supply (or deny) recognition. There are several ways you might go about collecting feedback from your workforce, to include:
Setting aside time during performance reviews. Before, during or after you review a worker’s performance, you can ask them to discuss any thoughts or concerns they may have regarding your behavior and activity.
Setting up an anonymous feedback box. Many employees will feel more comfortable offering negative feedback if they can do so anonymously. You should make time in your schedule to check your feedback box once per week.
Sending out employee surveys. Monthly, quarterly or biannually, you can send out a survey asking employees to rank their satisfaction with different elements of your business, especially your current recognition program.
Just because your workers are not currently happy with the way you manage recognition does not mean that recognition is not necessary within your organization. With an effective recognition program, you will see higher levels of performance, more favorable employee turnover rates and other positives that keep your business successful.
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