Employee recognition plays a huge part in making sure your employees feel appreciated, which can in turn generate significant improvements to employee productivity and performance. In order to successfully build a culture of total recognition, there are five main elements that should be considered. Read along as we discuss how they can be used to improve your employee recognition program. 

1. Human Interaction

It’s easy to underestimate the role human interaction has played within the workforce, especially during COVID-19 when most in-person workplace interaction has come to a halt. Human nature is driven by emotional connections and feelings. Positive social interactions can affect emotional wellbeing, with a lack of this causing consequences in relation to social support and an increase in health risks.

When working to improve your recognition program, encouraging management to add a personal touch to the awards program is often a start. Hosting a Zoom special event or awards presentation can ensure that years of service and recognition awards are not forgotten.

2. Peer Recognition

Social interaction with coworkers can have many effects on the productivity and collaboration of your teams. Having strong “group ties” with co-workers can provide more opportunities to facilitate innovative thinking and promote feelings of inspiration, sponsorship, and support. 

Peer recognition is when colleagues in the same team or department praise each other for their work. It could be for a job well done or to motivate each other by providing genuine feedback. This, in turn, encourages employees to do even better for the next task or project assigned. 

Gratitude can take many forms and it does not always have to be formal. By offering more channels for peers to recognize others or utilizing an all-encompassing engagement platform such as PAE, you can find unique ways to improve recognition and foster employee relationships. 

3. Useful & Desirable Awards 

Recognition programs aim to inspire employees and ensure they feel appreciated aside from compensation and other benefits. Every employee is different, meaning you should offer different and personalized awards that cater to their unique and individual interests. Offering the same award to everyone can also show your lack of commitment to building relationships with your employees. 

These awards should also be modern enough that they are constantly inspiring employees to reach new goals. No one wants to receive an award that is going to be thrown in a drawer or or worse yet, in the trash. Innovative gift solutions through online catalogs can keep awards fresh, easily drive recognition, and promote employee engagement. 

4. Family Involvement

For many employees, family is a big part of their lives, often with a spouse or kids at home. Your awards should not be limited to focusing on just the employee and should offer unique opportunities for families to share these benefits at home. 

Providing flexible gift solutions can allow parents to buy exciting toys or gadgets for their kids or tickets to a wine tasting for a cozy date night with their significant other. With modern gifting solutions the opportunities are endless, allowing parents and spouses to share unique experiences and recognize their accomplishments outside of the workplace.

5. Immediate Gratification

The key to any successful behavior program is to recognize positive behaviors in a timely manner. It is important that your awards respond to the behavior they are intending to reinforce. If you let too much time pass the award may be devalued and credibility eroded. By recognizing positive behaviors as soon as possible, employees will better understand what went right and pass this information along to other coworkers encouraging change organization wide. 

By constantly recognizing your employees you can showcase your appreciation for their work and their commitment to your company. At C.A. Short Company, we have over 75 years of experience helping organizations build specialized employee recognition programs that foster engagement, productivity, and employee retention. By utilizing key technology such as our People Are Everything™ platform, we can help you provide unique, modern, and affordable gifts for engagement programs, years of service, and holiday gift solutions. Discover how we can help your business today! 

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