If you are on the fence about making employee recognition and appreciation a priority at your business in 2021 and beyond, we’ve got you covered.
Everyone loves a good checklist (tick, tick, boom!) – no seriously, scientific studies have shown that list-making can reduce anxiety and boost dopamine production for real – so we thought we’d share one for this purpose.
Below is a quick and easy quiz you can take to determine if employee recognition and appreciation is right for your business. Tally up 1 point for every YES, 0 points for NO.
Could your company do with some increased productivity?
First of all, if your answer to this question is ‘no’, we need to get in touch with you immediately – what is your secret?! If your answer is yes, we’d like to recommend a liberal sprinkling of employee recognition and appreciation in your everyday working routine. Here’s why.
It’s really simple. When employees receive regular, timeous recognition for their work, they feel valued and motivated to strive for even better performance. In fact, even just seeing their peers being recognised for their work can make a difference. After all, a little sibling rivalry never hurt nobody!
Seeing a co-worker receiving public praise for a job well done can inspire renewed efforts by the rest of their team simply because they want to get a turn in the limelight. But more than that, it shows your employees that good work = good stuff, and that they can expect to enjoy some appreciation (and perhaps a nice reward or two) when they go above and beyond the call of duty.
Would you like to keep your star players around?
Employee retention is on the mind of every HR professional, company director and operations manager of late, and with good reason – having the A-team generally puts you in the first place. That much is obvious. If you have the best people, your company is going to excel.
On the flip side of the coin, high levels of voluntary employee turnover is also something you want to avoid. Having to regularly fill newly-vacated positions costs a lot of money (up to 33% of a given employee’s annual salary in some cases), and it hurts your employer brand. When your people keep jumping ship, prospective job applicants are bound to ask themselves if there’s a hole in the boat.
Surveys have shown that there is a direct correlation between employee recognition and retention, with up to 55% of respondents indicating that they were planning to switch jobs due to a lack of recognition, and 69% saying that they would stay on if rewards and recognition were a priority at their current company. Those stats speak for themselves.
Do you want your employees to align with your company vision and mission?
Having a clear vision, mission and values is a surefire way to engage your employees. It gives them the ‘why’ that human beings need to be happy in their jobs. When you know what your purpose is in the bigger scheme of things and how the tasks you do each day contribute to the success of the whole, it becomes a lot more intrinsically rewarding to give it your all.
By tying employee recognition and appreciation to company values, you drive the message home every time you reward someone. Here’s an example:
One of company ABC’s core values is honesty and integrity. Dave, who works as a client liaison for the company, notices that one of their clients has been paying for an elective service that they did not opt in on. He immediately informs his manager and the client is reimbursed. The client shares how impressed he is on social media and renews his contract for another year.
When Dave is rewarded the next day, his manager makes a point of tying the reward to their company values of honesty and integrity.
Could you get used to working with shiny, happy people?
Happy employees are great for business. They are more successful, have a great attitude, tend to be less stressed, bring unprecedented levels of creativity to the table, and they are healthier to boot! When people get recognition for their efforts, they feel more secure in their jobs, connected to their peers and in control of their career trajectories. All this leads to much happier employees overall.
WHAT DID YOU SCORE?
0: Employee recognition and appreciation is not for you. Also, on a more serious note, your company sounds like a not-so-nice place to work. No offence. You might want to look into that…
1: You’re somewhat on the fence. Sign up for a free trial and give it a go – you might dig the results.
2: You’re leaning towards a hard YES. Find out more about what an employee recognition platform entails to see if it ticks your must-have boxes.
3: Yup. You’re ready. Assemble your team for a blue-sky meeting on how you can integrate employee recognition and appreciation in every level of your business.
4: Definitely. You’re good to go! Just do it – implement your plans and get ready to reap some major employee engagement rewards in the months and years to come. Your company is going to flourish like nobody’s business.
Read more: 5 Things you should consider before choosing an employee recognition platform
Now you know! Check back soon for more expert insight into the world of future-proof HR.
In the meantime, remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel for awesome video content on everything from addressing common barriers to employee engagement, to supporting employee recognition with meaningful rewards.