Finding time to recognize an employee breeds camaraderie throughout the workforce, and thoughtful, genuine recognition can positively impact the workplace. Most heartfelt and well-considered actions will have productive results if carried out proactively.
How Does Employee Recognition Affect Work?
Many businesses’ primary objective is to improve staff engagement. This forms a sense of community within a professional setting, improves the connection between staff and supervisors, and enhances workplace productivity through a sense of togetherness.
Employee recognition boosts authentic collaboration through understanding and encourages buy-in. It grows employees’ appreciation of how you treat them individually, both in the professional environment and in their lives beyond work.
How to Proactively Recognize Employees
Employee recognition increases staff morale and togetherness. It also builds a team culture that decreases stress and improves attitudes among your staff. Your recognition can incentivize your employees to be their best. Here are some ways to achieve that incentivizing through employee recognition:
Onboarding
Onboarding programs set an immediate tone for new employees. Recognition can even be integrated into interviewing processes. For instance, the interviewer can ask open-ended questions that might make a prospective employer feel more motivated to secure the position.
- How do you like getting recognition?
- When was the last time an employer praised you at work?
- How were you recognized at that time?
- What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
- What does a healthy work-life balance look like to you?
These questions indirectly provide the candidate with essential information about your company culture and portray appreciation for their needs. They also supply crucial information about the candidate’s character and motivations to your business.
Boot Camps
Individual boot camps under a skilled supervisor or manager’s mentorship can also assist a new employee in learning your company’s processes and policies. Before the recent hire meets anybody else, this supervisor represents your business with patient, warm and targeted mentoring and offers relevant praise after each boot camp course’s completion. Introductions to other employees during onboarding allow a new person to immediately feel like part of the team.
Regular Individual Meetings
Regular one-on-one performance meetings to discuss an employee’s workload, pain points, achievements, goals and wins is an excellent and productive way to give recognition. Asking questions and giving praise or constructive criticism when due personifies a staff member. Advice or praise motivates your employee to improve before the next meeting. Hold these meetings monthly to give staff enough time to apply any suggestions and use recent feedback as an opportunity for growth and learning.
Consistent Team Meetings
One-on-one meetings are phenomenal for building individual employee morale, whereas frequent staff meetings build a company’s team spirit. Hold a monthly meeting to discuss company targets and suggest new processes and combined improvements. These meetings allow your teams to understand and assess collaborative tasks, give feedback and offer suggestions. You can address everyone on pressing matters and encourage employee buy-in, solidifying the importance of staff in your enterprise’s success and growth. Every team member will appreciate your efforts to involve them.
Quarterly Get-Togethers
Consider holding a quarterly social get-together with your management and team. Perhaps have an in-office function one time and organize a group outing the next — it is entirely your choice. By covering the costs, you show your employees they’re valued and appreciated and encourage them to interact socially with co-workers and leadership. Besides being a form of stress relief, you’ll build team morale. You can also use these get-togethers to present quarterly achievement awards to your best performers, providing extra motivation for success.
An Open Door Policy
Encouraging your staff members to approach you or your management without restriction alleviates the stress that comes from a traditional business’s hierarchical structure and portrays you in a more personable light. This will earn you respect and trust amongst your employees. Being accessible to your teams shows you recognize them as essential individuals within your organization’s working family.
Adjustable Workloads
Always place yourself in your employees’ shoes by actively listening and finding ways to remedy their workplace concerns. Stringent, non-adaptable workloads and key performance indicators can cause workplace burnout stemming from underlying anxiety and depression. No matter how much you recognize employee efforts, they’ll likely still suffer from motivation problems or leave the organization. Your staff will appreciate the proactive efforts to address task allocation and implement less taxing deadlines in recognition of their sustained efforts.
Other Ways to Recognize Employees
While the above ideas recognize your staff’s efforts and identify them as valued individuals within your company, there are many other ways to acknowledge your employees.
- Identify a way to praise a different employee every day.
- Send weekly emails highlighting staff members’ work, personal achievements or milestones.
- Introduce a system where employees can award their peers for exceptional contributions that made their work easier or more fun.
- Allow managers and supervisors to recognize team members’ efforts similarly.
- Reward employees with days off for exceptional performance.
- Hold biannual reviews to provide constructive staff feedback and recognition.
Proactive Employee Recognition Positively Impacts the Workplace
Consistently and proactively recognizing, involving and rewarding your staff members for their contributions will result in positive outcomes for your efforts. People generally enjoy praise and appreciation, and providing these will motivate dedicated employees in collaborative environments that encourage camaraderie and open communication.
Jack Shaw, editor of Modded and author of numerous articles on business success and self-improvement, seeks to inspire readers with his practical tips and strategies for growth. His writings can be found on Innovation News Network, EETimes and more.
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