How to Implement Employee Recognition in Your Company's Culture

Is employee recognition a part of your company's culture? If not, it should be. According to Gallup survey, less than one-third of U.S. workers are actively engaged at work. As a result, these workers clock more ours while producing less "work" in the process, thereby hindering their company's ability to succeed. To prevent this from happening to your company, consider the following employee recognition tips.

P2P Recognition

Peer-to-peer recognition is a unique approach to traditional employee recognition. As the name suggests, it involves participation by your company's entire workforce. When a worker recognizes another worker for his or her excellent work, that worker may spread the message by recognizing someone else. This creates a chain reaction in which multiple workers recognize each other. To take advantage of this, encourage your company's workers to recognize each other.

Personalize Messages

Sending the same "Thanks for the hard work" message to all your company's workers isn't an effective form of recognition. Generic messages are often overlooked by workers, many of whom feel like they aren't honest or genuine. You can prevent this from happening by creating custom, personalized messages for your workers. Whether it's a verbal, written or digital message, personalize your recognition communications to achieve the best response.

Recognize With Rewards

You can further improve your company's employee recognition program by rewarding workers with a tangible gift. You don't have to spend a fortune on these gifts. Rather, something as simple as a free dinner or gift certificate will suffice. You can even create an employee-of-the-month program for your company, after which you can choose a single worker each month to recognize and reward with a gift.

Be Consistent

Employee recognition is an ongoing process that requires constant work. If you stop recognizing your employees, they'll become disengaged, resulting in lower productivity levels. This is why it's important to be consistent with your recognition efforts. If you struggle to remember who you recognized or when you did it, set a note or reminder on your smartphone. 

Keep It Positive

Finally, keep your company's employee recognition program positive. In other words, don't "recognize" workers by telling them what they do wrong. As an employer, it's your responsibility to teach and train workers how to do their job, but that doesn't mean you should demean them. Keeping your employee recognition program positive fosters a healthy, happy working environment.