Your employees are far more likely to stay with your company if they feel their efforts and contributions are valued and appreciated. Recognizing employees for stellar work is also vital to maintaining morale and boosting productivity. Here's how to show high-performing team members that their dedication and hard work is making a difference:
Employee recognition strategies
- Say it like you mean it. There is no better way to inspire employees than by offering your sincere gratitude for their efforts. But don't give praise just for the sake of giving praise. Your attempts at employee recognition will backfire if an employee doesn't consider your communication heartfelt.
- Publicize achievements. One of the best ways to recognize employees is to spread the word about noteworthy individual and team accomplishments during meetings or in emails to your entire company. Again, it's all about communication.
- Explain the bigger picture. People tend to work harder when they know that their work matters. To help your staff feel more personally invested in the success of the organization, share information about the business and how standout efforts contribute to the company's bottom line and overall goals.
- Support employee goals. Consider offering to pay a portion of an employee’s education costs or organizing training and development opportunities for staffers.
- Foster connections and leverage expertise. Formal and informal mentoring programs can make senior staff feel that their experience is valued, while helping more junior employees get their footing.
- Offer flexibility when feasible. If it works for your business, consider allowing trusted employees to work more flexible schedules or telecommute part of the time. Flextime and telecommuting can be among the best employee benefits with the lowest costs for employers.
- Think about your workplace environment. Do you promote appreciation within the workplace? Office culture has a big effect on employees’ morale and performance. Managers can set the style for a culture of mutual appreciation that brings out the best in everyone.
- Treat everybody once in a while. Employee recognition doesn’t have to be about singling someone out for superior performance. Did everyone on the team pitch in to land an important client or meet a big deadline? Consider taking the whole team out for lunch or giving them a half day off.
Employee recognition can be a key part of an overall strategy to promote good company values and help employees feel invested, motivated and happy to come to work each day.
