Whether intrinsic or external, recognition is a fundamental need of every human being. The corporate world has an important place in modern societies, and the recognition of employees has become the building block of solid institutions. Besides being a human resource management tool, recognition is a real lever for motivation and improvement with largely untapped potential.
A business with a strong recognition structure can quickly scale up in the short and long term. This discussion explores how to scale up your business through employee recognition. Keep reading.
What is Employee Recognition?
Employee recognition or social recognition comprises expressing gratitude for work done by employees by valuing their efforts and achievements. Simple acts of acknowledging employees through gifts, rewards programs, awards, anniversary shout-outs, bonuses, personal appreciation, and team celebration calls can positively impact your business in a big way.
Staff Motivation
Employee recognition helps them acknowledge the company values and their efforts towards target achievement and company success. It’s vital when you want to scale up your business because it enables your staff to develop a sense of assurance in their value to the business, which motivates them to perform even better.
A 2013 research by Glassdoor reveals that 80% of employees perform better when their employer appreciates their effort. Many other studies point to an improved outcome and better physical and mental health.
Praising your employees is a powerful act, and industry experts acknowledge it’s one of the most robust human resource strategies companies can implement.
Reduces Employee Turnover
Businesses spend a lot of dollars looking for ways to improve output and reduce operating expenses. A study by Gallup and Workhuman revealed that employee recognition could reduce burnout and improve performance. Subsequently, lack of recognition is detrimental to companies and can lead to a whopping $322 billion in industry losses.
Employees who are not recognized are likely to feel demotivated and out of place. Generally, there’s this feeling that the management does not appreciate their efforts at work, leading to career stagnation and low engagement with the management.
The office may become a toxic environment to work in, leading to high employee turnover. If employees are well motivated through recognition, they will perform well and have low intentions of quitting their jobs.
Employee turnover consequences include high recruitment costs, decreased productivity, and more time spent on training new staff. Eventually, the business suffers lost sales which can hamper its scaling goals.
Boosts Organizational Efficiency
Motivators such as promotions and recognition can improve the company’s work culture. With better rewards, your employees will look forward to achieving their goals which can lead to increased work efficiency. Your company can implement a recognition scheme where the best performers are rewarded, and those who don’t reach their goals are put on Performance Improvement programs (PIPs).
Ways To Recognize Your Employees
Simple Thank You
Without a doubt, one of the most obvious forms of employee recognition that can work wonders is a simple “Thank You.” Thanking your employees is a sign of politeness that makes them feel you are paying attention to their work and performance.
Valuing Your Employees
Valuing employees involves noting and highlighting their qualities to the management and external parties. When you value them, employees will feel that you think about them and their contribution to their efforts.
Whereas a compliment like “Good job James’ ‘may remain a private aspect of your one-on-one interaction. On the contrary, it can give an impression of being forced or impulsive. However, publicly appreciating the employee with statements like “As the Director, I would like to above all appreciate James for the work done on Project A” is a sign that you take note of an individual’s efforts.
Bonuses and Rewards
Other than ‘thank you’ phrases, it’s essential to have a culture of recognition at the workplace where the best employee is rewarded with in-kind or informal rewards such as vouchers and gifts. Employees will look forward to receiving rewards every year or season and may outcompete each other in their respective teams.
All work deserves a bonus, especially if your business is scaling up. A financial reward is a clear and immediate form of recognition. Fair warning! It can be a double-edged sword, as employees who don’t receive yearly or quarterly bonuses may feel like their efforts are wasted or not appreciated.
Employee recognition software can be handy because it allows businesses to reward their employees systematically. In that sense, every employee can be rewarded for their accomplishment, big or small.
Small Gestures of Kindness
Buying lunch for the team, organizing tea parties, or releasing the staff early to celebrate small or big wins are small gestures that may seem small but are crucial in expressing gratitude.
Conclusion
Even though the concept of recognition may appear easy to implement, putting it into practice can be complicated. Every manager may choose to recognize members of the team uniquely, and each employee may expect to be recognized in a particular way. One of the ways to have a solid recognition system in place is to know how to vary and manage different expectations.
