Employees want to feel appreciated. They’re working hard day in, day out, and fostering a feeling of being valued is critical for management. Alas, it really is not as easy as it seems. Here are 7 tips from Human Resources Online to leading the cheers for your employees.
Make it tangible: Recognition, through praise or thanks in front of peers, is a powerful emotional motivator for staff, but that feeling can be made more memorable with a certificate.
Make it timely:Waiting to recognize behavior once a month or even once a year may lead to a missed chance to provide instant gratification.
Focus on values, not just performance: Values can be brought to life by being turned into recognizable and repeatable behaviors, and rewarding the good behaviors.
Be completely transparent: It’s only fair to ensure all staff, in all departments and locations, can access the same program, not just to have everyone working towards the same values, but to keep costs and management time to a minimum.
Build advocacy at all levels:If senior executives fail to see the value in the program, it will become very difficult to build a recognition culture. Middle management, with direct responsibilities for the teams being rewarded, will also have a major impact on whether the program is effective, especially if they lead by example.
Make it fun:Gamification tools can tap into different types of human motivation – competition, sense of achievement, or instant gratification.
Measure and manage: Key performance data must be captured through monthly reports, which could be around the number of points redeemed, the number of peer-to-peer nominations, and the number of people logging in to the program.