Employee Recognition Program

Simply & Effectively

The key word is "program" ... suggesting that you have something put together for employee recognition in a coordinated way.

Who might be the best at knowing how to recognize? Well, the workforce of course. Why try to guess what they would like. Instead, let them create employee incentives.

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Successful employee recognition programs involve the employees in designing and deploying the recognition ideas and goodies.

Lessons Learned

Think about the ideal situation. An employee should find his job rewarding enough. Isn’t productivity a great feeling?

True but rare, albeit a great objective. Keep that in mind.

In the meantime, as you ponder Joe-Blo-Employee stating, “Knowing that I am doing a terrific job for my company is reward enough for me!”, think about what incentive a financial reward becomes. It is a COMPLETELY different ball game.  It can indeed work, but you will find that instead of being about


it becomes about


Money makes it into a what-did-YOU-get game right away. You will want to avoid that.

Why Individualize it?

Look at what is important to different people. We are not all driven by the same motivators. People fall into one of 4 categories. They enjoy recognition from one or more of the following:

How to interpret that list of four. Employee recognition ideas should be born from those, so read on.

Sure we may all like all 4 ways of being recognized, but we typically enjoy one more than another. That is the key. Learn the following about what turns people on:

    RESPECT
        These people thrive on being the go-to person for certain areas of expertise. It drives them to be knowledgeable about something that others need. Find them a job where they are the authority, and you will have a motivated employee.

    RECOGNITION
        The more public the recognition, the better. Reward this type of person in front of the entire department. Utilize an employee recognition pin that has a visible image of success on it. Or assign him or her to a project that is highly visible.

    RELATIONSHIPS
        The true people-person enjoys being around others. It stimulates his creativity and results in a productive, engaged employee. They are also likely to be good mediators, so leverage that where you can.

   
    RESULTS
        If the employee enjoys control and outcomes, then he is likely motivated by seeing bottom-line results.  Give him an project, task, or desired outcome and let him go.

Read, create, and contribute more creative ideas for employee recognition.

  What is the link between implementing incentives and creating loyalty? 
Define recognition versus incentives by checking out Workplace Motivation on the net.