It’s probably happened to most employees: they put a significant amount of work into a project, accomplish a goal, or give it their all only to find a substantial lack of recognition for their efforts on the part of management. A lack of recognition can sap employee morale, lead to employee attrition, and just spell bad news for everyone at the company. Implementing an easy-to-use employee/social recognition platform can help employees overcome work hurdles, create a sense of community, and ultimately help them learn and grow. Plus, employees like to know when they’ve done a job well. It’s just part of the process. So ensuring that they can be recognized by management and each other is critical to making the process simple. In this article, we’ll explore five ways to keep employee recognition simple and to help it become staple at your organization. Read on for more.
Communication And Praise
In the seminal business text How To Win Friends and Influence People, author Dale Carnegie repeats the simple idea of praising others often numerous times throughout the book. The bottom line here is that you can’t go wrong with praising employees at every opportunity. That doesn’t mean that you should withhold constructive criticism and feedback. The goal of the leader is to develop and train employees, not make them feel like they’re not contributing to the organization. Clear and concise communication, transparency, and a lot of encouragement will go a long way to making up your employees. But remember that communication is a two-way street and the employees need to be able to listen and engage with management as well. Implementing a feedback system and regular check-ins can definitely help in this endeavor, providing a quick line to helping employees grow.
Creating A Positive Office Culture
It should go without saying that creating a positive office culture is pretty important when it comes to employee satisfaction and productivity. Unfortunately, this is a mark that many bosses seem to miss, especially lately. With the great resignation under full swing largely due to poor work environments, the need for creating a positive environment is greater than ever. So how do you do it? It’s as simple as praising employees for a job well done. Perhaps you can offer awards or special privileges to help create a positive environment. Reinforcing office culture and company values is also a great path forward to accomplish this goal. By implementing and utilizing a robust employee recognition platform, you can boost morale and create a culture that people actually want to partake in—instead of suffering employee attrition and losing your most valuable workers due to a negative workspace.
Offer Quality Rewards
Speaking of rewards, any that you offer should be high-quality. No one wants a pizza party or a free soda as a reward for their efforts! It’s likely but it bears repeating: employees want meaningful rewards, not junk that will only serve to demotivate them. Consider offering a corner office, daycare, gift cards, time off, and working from home as possible rewards. Sometimes, the best rewards to offer are things that improve work/life balance. Work-life balance is one of the most important aspects of, so making sure employees can achieve it is key to success for everyone.
Use 360 Degree Feedback
In any endeavor, feedback is an essential tool. Without at least some measure of feedback, growth can’t happen. As we mentioned above, feedback is exceptionally critical to running any organization effectively. The concept of 360 degree feedback is interesting in that it solicits feedback from everybody who interacts with the employee at any point throughout the organization. Employees who receive 360 degree feedback often report feeling more engaged with their work. That’s a good thing! They also feel that they have a better understanding of company expectations. Better yet, the process allows for open communication and provides opportunities for growth. Managers who use 360 degree feedback are usually more confident in their ability to provide developmental feedback, identify talent within their team, and understand how team members interact with one another. Implementing it as the norm is a great way to attain better community and happier employees within a strong company culture.
Implement Cloud-based Recognition Software
Sometimes, the best means to accomplish a goal is to take the most direct route. In the case of employee recognition, establishing a robust recognition program for employees is a logical choice. Using a cloud-based system for employee recognition gives everybody in the company instant access to its features. This means that anybody, anywhere, for any reason at all can provide feedback to their peers or subordinates. This opens up a high level of communication and gratitude that helps motivate employees to do better. Furthermore, it might be tied into rewards, milestones, celebrations, and other important events that help employees achieve a better balance in their life and work. Ultimately, employee recognition is a strong addition to managing a team and should not be overlooked for any reason.
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