Countless management studies have proved how employee satisfaction and motivation plays a key role in the overall productivity and performance of a business organization. Motivated and appreciated employees tend to work with greater energy and dedication compared to their non-motivated and non-appreciated counterparts. As such, many businesses are nowadays adopting employee recognition programs to make their employees feel motivated and validated for the efforts they put into their work. These programs involve initiatives by an employer to reward the employees for their achievements, milestones, anniversaries, and good work. These programs are mostly associated with rewards and hence are popularly called Rewards and Recognition programs.
How do employee recognition programs benefit businesses?
In the early days, employee recognition programs were quite informal and remained mostly a peer to peer affair with the employee of the month, and thank you programs being the only formal programs. The introduction of new technology has helped employers to formulate a proper recognition/appreciation program and execute it without hassles. These programs benefit the businesses in numerous ways such as-
Employees feel more connected with their work and get a sense of belonging.
Boost employee productivity as an employee tends to put more effort when appreciated.
Employee turnover is significantly reduced thus minimizing the losses of businesses.
Greater customer satisfaction, improved employee health, and healthy organizational work culture.
Types of Employee Recognition Programs
Employee recognition programs can be monetary as well as non-monetary. Monetary recognition rewards include salary increase, commissions, bonuses, gift cards, stock options, profit-sharing plans, etc. Monetary rewards alone are not enough to keep employees engaged and motivated, hence companies roll many non-monetary rewards like job promotions, more responsibilities, free health checks, achievement certificates, new office spaces, paid leaves, and flexible work hours. Public recognition of employees through blogs highlighting the achievements of employees, social media posts, and internal newsletters are also some effective ways to motivate employees. Besides recognition of professional achievements, employees can also be rewarded for personal achievements like engagement, marriage, birthdays, and wedding anniversary. Such rewards given on occasions of personal achievement tend to create strong emotional bonding between an employer and an employee.
All About Setting Up Employee Recognition Programs
Setting up employee recognition programs requires meticulous planning and hence care should be taken to make well-defined goals, understanding infrastructure requirements, drafting clear policies and operating methods, and choosing the right technology.
A workplace should be an interactive place where an employee should not just have a feeling of being a mere cog in a machine but an individual with a sense of belonging. Humans are emotional beings and as such tend to respond positively to appreciation and recognition of their hard work. A wise leader tends to acknowledge this fact and invests properly to keep up the morale of his organization through such recognition programs.
