What if you’re told that a magical potion can reduce employee turnover and motivate them to excel at their work?

You’re probably not going to believe it because low motivation and high employee turnover are two problems companies find difficult to deal with. But not anymore!

By implementing employee recognition programs, you can get the best of your staff, reduce employee turnover, and increase motivation. 

According to a study, 40% of employees who don’t feel meaningfully recognized will never go beyond their job responsibilities. While rewards and recognition programs are designed to motivate your employee, they may backfire if you put one employee high on the pedestal and leave others on the ground. 

So, it’s time to implement recognition programs that work and deliver the intended results. 

In this article, we discuss seven recognition examples to get the best of your employees. 

1. Take advantage of a reward and recognition platform

With 79% of employees experiencing some level of burnout at work, it’s probably the right time to invest in a leading reward and recognition platform. 

Apart from increasing the happiness index of your employees, recognition platforms can improve performance, quality of work and result in professional development. 

One good example of such a platform is Perkbox, an employee reward and recognition platform that manages perks and corporate benefit schemes to build a company’s culture and enhance employee retention.

Using this platform, you allow peers and colleagues to share meaningful praises, send shout-outs, and encourage a culture of recognition, ensuring that no employee is left out and all employees receive recognition from their peers or managers. 

Using Perkbox, you or your team members can create a poll, compete with colleagues to win the award, and foster an environment of healthy competition. You can create polls for choosing ‘Employee of the Month’ or ‘Most Valuable employee.’ Interestingly, this platform eliminates the age-old saga of rewarding a manager’s favorite employee.

2. Give one-off rewards

The adage, “There is no use crying over the spilled milk,” rings true for employee recognition. 

There is no point appreciating a staff’s performance months after they completed their work. If you wait for the annual performance review to praise or reward them, there is a low probability that your employee will continue that behavior. Why?

There is no reward or recognition for continuing their performance. You missed the chance of getting the best out of your staff by delaying your one-off rewards. So, it’s smart to implement a reward that helps you recognize performance the moment it happens. 

Sending an appreciation note, recognizing the employee’s action on social media profiles, recognizing employees’ efforts publicly, and giving recommendations on LinkedIn are a few exciting examples of one-off rewards. 

3. Encourage peer-to-peer recognition

Fostering a culture of peer-to-peer recognition is another great way to engage employees and increase their morale. When one colleague appreciates and praises the efforts of others, it can improve employee performance by 14%. Such a culture builds employee engagement and establishes a positive work environment.

To foster a peer-to-peer recognition culture, ensure all employees’ involvement and participation in your recognition program. Whether it’s a birthday celebration or professional achievement, encourage everyone on your team to comment and be a part of the event. 

If you work with a remote team, send digital celebration cards signed by every team member and customize them with a special appreciation message. 

4. Provide a gift of acceptance

Today, employees expect more than just their monthly paycheck. That’s where employee recognition comes in. As recognition is all about creating an emotional connection with your employees, look for unique ways of motivating and retaining employees. 

One such way of doing it is by providing a gift of acceptance. 

A gift of acceptance is when you wholeheartedly accept your employees as a part of your organization. Practices like providing business cards and putting their names on your website and social media handles can make your employees feel motivated and accepted. 

Initially, you may be apprehensive about the success of this employee recognition example, but it can prove beneficial in the long run. 

5. Applaud a work anniversary

Recognize employees not only for job-related achievements and accomplishments but also for their glorious achievement of reaching different work milestones, mainly work anniversaries. 

Try to create thoughtful new employee announcements and work anniversaries messages. To include a fun element and make your employees remember your wishes for a long time, become a part of a meme fest, and handpick memes for the occasion. 

When you create such social recognition, employees know you care for them, and they will leave no stone unturned in outperforming themselves. 

6. Create a point-based recognition system

Use a point-based system to make your employees feel valued and provide them the freedom to choose rewards that matter to them. 

By allowing employees to accumulate points, you can build a zeal to collect more points. When employees accumulate significant points, they can always redeem their points for the rewards they want. 

Your employees are likely to prefer a point-based system because it prevents them from receiving generic gifts like a photo frame or mug or awards that may not be useful.

When employees receive meaningful rewards, they will connect this recognition and reward with their personal contribution and value of the company. 

CoreCentive provides a point-based recognition program that works as a driver for accelerating corecentive.com/point-based-recognition employee engagement and recognition. 

7. Celebrate Employee Appreciation Day

Just like Father’s Day or Mother’s Day, you have an Employee Appreciation Day. This day is celebrated every year on the first Friday of March. It could be the opportunity to showcase what your employees mean to you and how much you value their presence. 

It’s a perfect day to recognize employees for their years of service and major accomplishments during the year. 

To make employees feel valuable, organize fun activities for the entire week and give employees a chance to relax and enjoy their workday. 

Hiring a food truck, organizing team-building activities, and providing discounted services are activities you can try to engage employees. 

In 2019, Walmart organized Associate Week and Shareholder’s Celebration. The company invited a famous musician to entertain their employees and provided a mini expo comprising golf and free haircuts. Employees were invited based on their work performance, and they arrived in coordinated costumes. 

Companies like this value their employees and don’t hesitate to be vocal about them. 

Taking employee recognition to another level

Employee appreciation shouldn’t be reserved for a single day. Instead, make it an integral part of your culture. Your employees are the biggest asset of your organization. Yet, some companies prefer to care about other things instead of telling employees about their worth and value.

While some of these seven strategies may not yield immediate results, employee recognition strategies’ consistent flow and variety will yield results. 

So, try out different employee recognition examples and take input from your employees to create programs that keep your workforce happily engaged. 

Which of these employee recognition strategies are you planning to implement?

Do share your views with us!

About the Author: Daniel Quintero is an International business professional and a content partner specialist from Valencia, Venezuela. He's been working with international partners for marketing and sales since 2016