Wondering how to create an employee recognition program that resonates with your team and delivers measurable positive impact?
A strong employee recognition program is imperative for any forward-thinking business, as these programs drive real ROI and engagement. Frequent employee recognition has a proven impact on employee engagement, motivation, and performance.
Not quite sure where to start? Here are 11 employee recognition program ideas to help you shape an effective recognition program at your organization.
- Align recognition with company values
- Make it inclusive
- Provide specific feedback
- Make the recognition meaningful
- Offer timely acknowledgment
- Give employees meaningful reward options
- Integrate various recognition types
- Leverage technology to lighten the load
- Measure the impact of your recognition program over time
- Enable leaders and managers
- Evolve your program over time
1. Align recognition with company values
All employee recognition should serve as a reflection of your company’s core values. By aligning recognition with core values, you reinforce the importance of those values in your workplace. Remember: what gets recognized, gets repeated.
2. Make it inclusive
Everyone in the organization should have access to (and the opportunity to receive) recognition. This is true no matter their role or level. An inclusive program ensures that all employees feel valued and appreciated. Incorporating peer-to-peer recognition empowers individuals at all levels to acknowledge their colleagues’ contributions. It also fosters a workplace culture of mutual respect and appreciation. Equitable, inclusive recognition also strengthens interpersonal relationships and teamwork across the organization.
➡️ Use the SMT Formula
3. Provide specific feedback
What did the employee who you’d like to recognize do? Note the specific actions, behaviors, or achievements that warrant recognition. Giving details within a written or spoken recognition acknowledges the effort. It also shows others who may read the recognition why the recognition is deserved.
4. Make the recognition meaningful
Note the significance of your boss or coworker’s accomplishment. Did their work embody the organization’s core values? Did it enhance a customer’s experience or yield a substantial, positive business impact? Recognizing an achievement’s meaning reinforces the tie between individual efforts and contributions and broader strategic organizational goals.
5. Offer timely acknowledgment
Recognition is better when given immediately after an employee takes a worthy action. Timely recognitions celebrate an accomplishment in the moment, rather than arriving weeks later when everyone has already moved on to the “next thing.”
6. Give employees meaningful reward options
Don’t guess what matters most to individual employees. Let them choose from a variety of rewards, so that they are able to select options that are meaningful (and motivational) for them.
7. Integrate various recognition types
A strong employee recognition program celebrates all wins–big or small. Diversity of recognition enhances its effectiveness. Try mixing formal and informal recognition by celebrating employee everyday efforts even more frequently than you celebrate ongoing employee anniversaries and birthdays.
8. Leverage technology to lighten the load
Using technology platforms can play a key role in facilitating continuous recognition. Employee recognition software greatly streamlines the process of fulfilling rewards, remembering employee milestones, and other manual tasks. Technology solutions offer an equitable, automated and global way to ensure every employee gets recognized – while still saving even small teams time.
9. Measure the impact of your recognition program over time
Chances are, you are setting up an employee recognition program to accomplish a particular goal. Are you trying to reduce voluntary turnover? Are you hoping to improve employee engagement scores? Whatever your desired metric is, start by taking a baseline of where you are today. Once you implement your new program, keep track of how that metric is evolving over time to quantify the impact of employee recognition to senior stakeholders.
10. Enable leaders and managers
Leaders and managers play a crucial role in the success of any organization. A strong employee recognition program needs to make it easy for managers and leaders to participate. Providing access to insights about engagement by team and by department will also support manager success and growth as well. Data shows that if managers aren’t participating in sending recognition, their direct reports won’t either. So lean in and empower the people leaders at your company to get involved if you want to maximize participation at your org.
11. Evolve your program over time
Your recognition program should not be set in stone. Regularly gather feedback from employees to understand what’s working and what’s not, and be prepared to evolve your recognition program accordingly. Are employees dissatisfied with reward options? Partner with a vendor or platform to broaden their choices. Are managers not participating? Run a contest or create an Incentive to encourage executives and their departments to lean in.
By implementing one or more of these 11 employee recognition program ideas, you can create a program that truly celebrates the contributions and achievements of your employees. Building a recognition program is the first step in creating a culture of continuous appreciation that will ultimately drive additional ROI for your organization.
