CEOs are increasingly starting to return to the dock-like style of doing business and are surprised to find out how the mindset of their team has changed. No wonder: after a year and a half of insecurity, stress, burnout and isolation, people want to return to comfortable working conditions and feel needed and protected. Let us see how to do this.
10 Great Examples of Employee Recognition for 2022
Why is it important to motivate employees
It is not easy to take care of the level of happiness of employees in an endless string of burning deadlines and senior management responsibilities. However, it is very important to pay attention to the spirit of your team members, to celebrate their achievement and reward them with bonuses. And here is why.
It helps to keep the team.
Finding good employees is difficult and losing those who already know the specifics of working in a company is an absolutely unacceptable waste.
It encourages employees to try harder.
Even the best work gets boring over time and an unsatisfied team is an unproductive team. If your employees feel confident that recognition and rewards are earned for doing good work, they will work harder to get them.
It boosts the morale of the valuable workforce
Experienced employees are more valuable than newbies. But along with professional competence, burnout in half with fatigue also comes to them and, as a result, morale drops.
It gives workers a new purpose.
When a person works only for the sake of money and hates what they do, this affects the results greatly. Almost always, the situation can be changed simply by demonstrating to the employee new goals that are worth fighting for – professional recognition and gratitude, financial bonuses, non-material incentives, etc.
Read more: How to Start a Car Rental Business
What statistics say about the important need to recognize and reward your employees
Lack of recognition and appropriate rewards from the employer is one of the most common reasons for employees to switch to another company. It is easy to guess that the more talented the employee, the faster they quit.
Do you want statistical confirmation? Here they are:
- More than 90% of companies have employee incentive programs, according to The Conference Board of Canada. The problem is that it is often held “for show” – for example, only 41% of respondents say that they are satisfied with how employers celebrate their achievements and reward them for a job well done. Meanwhile, the result of MillMax, a market research company, says that if you systematically and correctly reward your team, its productivity will increase by an average of 11.1%.
- Workhuman (formerly known as Globoforce), a pioneer in work ethics, found that only 34% of those surveyed reported that bosses regularly thank them for a job well done, contributing to the fact that they are half as likely to look for a new job (26% versus 49%).
- 64% of respondents have experienced professional burnout, while 41% of them have experienced this in the past few months.
- 88% of people believe that employers should reward their employees for a job well done.
- A study by the Academy of Management found that a simple but regular “thank you” helps employees feel needed and encourages them to work harder for the good of the company.
How to show your employees that you value them
Here are some great ways to make someone feel special:
Personalize your gratitude
“I thank my wonderful team without which I would not have achieved anything!” – good, but with personalization, it would be even better. By expressing personal gratitude to each employee, you show that you value precisely their contribution to the common cause. And do not confuse them with anyone else.
Provide opportunities
Many employees would like to do much more for the company than it was originally planned but they run up against the “development peak” inherent in the vacancy for which they came. Not everyone has the courage to directly initiate a conversation and ask for a promotion or transfer to another position. As a result, you lose ambitious people who can bring significant benefits to the company. To avoid this, provide your employees with development opportunities. To do this, try to organize an atmosphere in which it will be clear that you support the self-development of your team and that any of its members can contact you directly with their ideas without any problems.
Offer non-working bonuses
This may sound shocking to some entrepreneurs, but the fact remains that work is not everything. It is good to offer your employees refresher courses, but everyone understands that it is as profitable for you as it is for an employee. However, investing in a person’s personal development is a completely different story. This is financially costly, but it significantly increases loyalty.
Motivate with financial incentives
The classic, but no less effective, way of retention and recognition of merits.
Make unexpected gifts
Everyone loves pleasant surprises: the day immediately becomes brighter, the work is more pleasant and the company is more beloved.
Promote stronger team relationships
The quality and speed of work largely depends on how harmonious the relationships within the team are. You can help your employees to make friends in different ways, including such standard methods as corporate events and teambuilding. But there are more interesting methods: for example, Bonusly, a platform through which colleagues send each other bonus points in recognition of a job well done. At the same time, points are not just a virtual board of honor, but real advantages – they are exchanged for quite real goods and services from Uber, Nike, Starbucks and many others.
Acknowledge people’s passions
It is quite clear that coming up with unique gifts for each holiday is difficult, troublesome and unnecessary. But certain events (for example, a birthday) need to be celebrated in a special way. Ask your manager to find out what each member of your team really likes. This will allow you to organize personalized gifts that will greatly strengthen your emotional attachment to your company.
Show that you love your team and not only its direct participants
Recognition within the organization is definitely a good thing. But it could be even better, right? People love to talk big about their accomplishments, so if you are active on the company’s social media, feel free to share your team there. For example, every week make a post dedicated to a specific employee of your company and describe all their best qualities.
Conclusions
We hope you have learned some helpful tips and are ready to take action. Building loyalty and emotional attachment is not the easiest or fastest thing to do. But the results are worth it.