There’s a common saying that people quit their bosses, not their jobs. Anyone that has been in an unappreciated role or dealt with unappreciative staff or managers can probably relate to this saying. Employee recognition is the most important thing you can provide your employees. To some degree, it has more of an effect on an employee’s satisfaction than their paycheck does. Use this new year as a fresh start for approaching new employee appreciation tactics.
- Test recognition ideas by surveying your current employees
- Incentivize “extra mile” efforts
- Speak out on social media
- Allow employees to work on their passions in the office as a form of reward
- Recognize employees in the moment
- Praise achievements and completed goals as well as performance
- Show interest in their personal talents—not just those in the workplace
- Try an old school suggestion box
- Make recognition a regular occurrence rather than a sporadic one
- Implement a peer-to-peer recognition system as well
There are a variety of possibilities that may work for your team. However, there are some methods to steer away from as well. FastCompany tells us that the common recognition-by-promotion attempt is no longer the way to go. Employees are becoming aware that it is simply a half-hearted attempt at acknowledgment, with no real merit or feeling behind it. Another no-no is the unnecessary attempts to make recognition “fun.” A mock awards ceremony—such as The Office’s Dundee Awards—or joke gifts and games may seem like a good idea, but it has similar repercussions as our first example: it comes across as half-hearted and not very serious. One method that FastCompany does support is offering more independence.
Don’t forget to show your employees the appreciation they deserve and choose methods that work best for your team and workplace.
