33 AMAZING EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION IDEAS YOU NEED TO BE USING (+5 BONUS IDEAS)
33 Amazing Employee Recognition Ideas You Need to Be Using (+5 Bonus Ideas)
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It pays to have amazing employee recognition ideas.
Research shows that companies with a solid strategy to recognize members of their team enjoy stronger engagement, increased productivity, a devoted spirit of customer service, and lower turnover rates.
But what makes an employee recognition strategy solid? It’s more than just a nifty gold-plated fountain pen for a decade of service. Employee Recognition is an art, and he strongest ways to recognize your employees is by doing something no tchotchke or gift card ever can; make employees feel valued, respected, and even loved.
The creative employee recognition ideas below come from real companies that know a thing or two about making their employees feel cherished.
1. KEEP A GOOD BOOK Buy a journal and encourage employees to write in it, recognizing team members for accomplishments – whether personal or work-related. Read the entries from the previous week during your weekly team meeting.
2. GROW EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION ALONG WITH THE COMPANY Equip managers with a “Best Loved Employees” toolkit for handing out employee awards. The toolkit can provide uniformity and scale for efficiency, and the human connection needed to make awards significant for employees.
3. CATER YOUR PROGRAMS TO YOUR EMPLOYEES Find out what forms of recognition resonate most with staff members. Encourage managers to ask employees how they most like to be recognized – you might be surprised at the answers that surface!
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4. CREATE A “GO THE EXTRA MILE” PROGRAM Create a program where when an employee witnesses another going the extra mile, they can nominate them for a “Go The Extra Mile” certificate. This leaves recognition in the hands of staffers, which goes far towards making them feel truly appreciated.
5. CELEBRATE MORE! Focus less on rewarding performance (which has actually been shown to reduce intrinsic motivation) and start celebrating performance. This can be done in many ways, but the point is to highlight and appreciate teams and individuals who have made a spectacular effort, have achieved great results or helped others achieve them.
Celebrating success is fun and energizing and shows employees that their efforts are being seen by leaders and by their peers.
6. REACH OUT ON SOCIAL MEDIA In addition to handing out employee recognition awards, give the person being recognized a shout-out on social media. Take a picture and upload it to facebook, twitter, and LinkedIn with a congratulatory note.
7. KNOW THAT ONE SIZE DOESN’T ALWAYS FIT ALL Engage employees in ways that they’re accustomed to. For your millennial employees, take advantage of technology as the medium to deliver praise. For older employees, having a manager offer an in-person thank you could me more effective.
8. EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION? THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT YouEarnedIt is an app that allows employees to give their co-workers gaming “gold” for jobs well done. Down the road, they can cash in their game gold for real- life prizes like Amazon gift cards.
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Aside from the prizes, recognition from peers makes employees feel just as good, if not better, than recognition from management.
9. RECOGNIZE YOUR TEAM BY RECOGNIZING THEIR PASSIONS Try out a program called 60/60, which grants employees two hours every week to work on a project they’re passionate about – and it doesn’t even have to relate to their work!
Through these types of programs, employees are able to work on anything from sports sites to food blogs. When you value an employee’s passions, they know you value them as a unique individual.
10. BE TRUE TO YOUR COMPANY With all the various ways to recognize employees, build your recognition program to align with your company values.
For examples, MINDBODY is an online marketplace for wellness services. It’s an integral part of their Core Values and Culture, and one that they offer to other companies through their Connect Workplace Program. Their program provides employers with the opportunity to reward their employees and keep them engaged by promoting healthy behavior via the services of the nation’s largest network of wellness practitioners.
11. USE YOUR WEBSITE WELL Use some real-estate on your homepage or about us page to feature team members. Highlight their stories and passions, as well as their amazing work for the company.
12. HOST A FRIDAY “CRUSH-IT” CALL The “Crush-It” Call is SnackNation’s time-honored tradition. Each Friday afternoon, the entire SnackNation team huddles together and we go around the room stating 2 things:
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1. “Crush” someone on the team whose work they want to recognize and why 2. Something you are grateful for It’s a great chance for people to not only recognize each other, but also bring that person’s hard work to the attention of the entire team. As our team has grown, this gives everyone a chance to see the awesome work of the people who they don’t work with very often.
13. DON’T TAKE EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION TOO SERIOUSLY A company named RoundPegg is in the business of culture and engagement. They know how to keep employee recognition ideas from getting stale within their own walls. They offer every new hire their very own action figure.
14. MAKE EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION PART OF YOUR LANGUAGE Instead of waiting until the end of the year or someone’s work anniversary to celebrate the contribution they’re making to your business every day, recognize them in that moment.
Keep your recognition specific, timely and social to amplify achievements of anyone in your organization, no matter their job title or tenure. It’ll also motivate them to do that same awesome thing again.
15. ASK FOR THEIR ADVICE Make a “Wisdom Wall” where you collect quotes from employees to post on a board. Sometimes, recognizing expertise and wisdom is all you need to make people feel special.
16. DON’T BE GENERIC Employee anniversary celebrations spawn generic gifts like pens, watches, gift cards and more. The employee recognition idea from Two Rivers Marketing involves invigorating anniversary gifts with much more company flair.
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They give their employees a personal caricatures when they’ve been at the company for a year. They’ll laugh at it, remember it, and most importantly, keep it forever as a token of appreciation.
17. TRY RANDOM ACTS OF FUN To celebrate EVERYONE at the company instead of just a single person, enjoy some fun activities together. Random acts of fun, happy hours, and offsites are all great ideas to recognize the collective effort of your team. 18. RECOGNIZE HOLISTIC PERFORMANCE Some companies recognize their employees for reaching company goals. Others recognize them for reaching personal goals. Ergodyne, a protective workwear manufacturer, gives employees rewards when they reach their own fitness or nutrition goals. This reminds workers that the company is invested in them as people, and not just as contributors to a bottom line.
19. TREAT EMPLOYEES LIKE YOU TREAT YOUR CLIENTS The user experience specialists at Slice of Lime don’t just offer amazing experiences to their clients, they also offer them to employees.
The pass around what’s called “The Green Hand”. It’s a mounted mannequin hand that gets passed around to a new person each month. This is peer recognition, which can be more powerful than recognition from the leadership at the company.
When the hand is passed to a new person, the giver of the hand explains to the group why this person is deserving of the hand. That recipient also receives a unique “experience” of their choosing which can range from a spa treatment to driving a race car to sky diving.
20. RECOGNIZE THEIR OTHER TALENTS You probably imagine that your team has talents beyond what they bring to the workplace. OpenDNS provides internet security solutions, but they
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recognize their employees by showcasing their inner creativity through a program called the “OpenDNS Art Experience.”
Through the program, the company shows their employees they value their talents in music, art, and dance in addition to their company contributions.
21. GET TOGETHER AND CHEER EACH OTHER ON If you have a monthly all-hands meeting, get everyone together at a fun spot like a restaurant or theater space and present on the big projects everyone is working on.
22. RECOGNIZE THE VALUE OF HELPING OTHERS Limeade, a coporate wellness tech company, advises recognizing employees who help others. Their “Make Others Great” monthly award recognizes an employee who exemplifies the kind of collaboration and teamwork it takes to help make others great.
The chosen employee gets recognized through a Q&A post on the blog and gets the honor of keeping the coveted, lime-colored shoe for a month.
23. A LITTLE GAMING GOES A LONG WAY New gamification tools aim to make workplaces more game-like, offering points and badges for doing good work. Target uses gamification to recognize its cashiers. After they’ve helped a customer, they get a score that instantly recognizes their performance, no management necessary.
24. KNOW THY STAFF Go out of your way to find out your team’s interests and recognize it with a personal message.
A note, a craft beer… know your staff personally and you will know the little things that truly will motivate them.
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25. RECOGNIZE YOUR EMPLOYEES’ STRENGTHS In a survey from DOMO, 25% of employees said they would love more opportunities to do what they love best.
We get it. Everyone has parts of their job that they don’t love to do, but have to get done. But you can recognize your employees (and promote amazing work) by taking extra time to learn what work they love best and allocate tasks that play to their strengths. They’ll appreciate being recognized for their unique strengths and contributions.
26. GET THE REST OF THE TEAM INVOLVED Having the whole team participate in an act of recognition gives your praise some extra thoughtfulness. Things like a “thank you” t-shirt signed by coworkers will make the recipient feel extra loved.
27. DESIGN PERKS AROUND YOUR COMPANY STORY New Belgium Brewing started after the founder’s 1989 bike trip through Belgium. His journey through the beer- loving European villages inspired him so much, he decided to make sure New Belgium Brewing employees could share the experience with him.
When brewery employees make it to year five, they get a paid trip to Belgium. The brewery gets to recognize employees with a fabulous trip while letting them soak up even more of the company culture.
28. DOLE IT OUT DAILY The best leaders don’t make their employees wait until the end of the month or year to let them know they’re doing great work. Instead, they recognize good performance by giving informal and frequent positive feedback about specific behaviors – in conversation, in email, or even in a short, hand written note.
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29. MAKE THE IMPACT CLEAR The way in which recognition is delivered is vital. Communicate recognition clearly highlighting the positive impact the employee had and acknowledge where employees went above and beyond their job descriptions.
30. SET UP A PEER-TO-PEER SYSTEM Create an internal communication program where you can send your colleagues a thank you note. Make it easy for people by creating a stack of notes that people can grab, write down their reason for recognition, and deliver it to them.
31. SUPPORT WHAT THEY WANT TO SUPPORT Ad agency Drake Cooper recognizes employees through philanthropic side projects. They have a Dream Big program where they let staff select a nonprofit for the agency to work with for free. Letting staff have the time to work on a passion project and do good is a great way to offer recognition.
32. GO VISIT Facetime not only makes employees feel appreciated, it also helps you get to know employees impromptu.
33. SHOWCASE EMPLOYEE SUCCESS STORIES Companies like Disney showcase every employee promotion and employee success story at every chance possible. It gives people the recognition they deserve and reminds people that there are opportunities for upward mobility at the company. 34. ARRANGE A “PRAISE AMBUSH” WITH YOUR CEO Show up to an employee’s office or team meeting with the CEO or other senior manager as close as you can in time to actually catching them in the very act or doing or just finishing an amazing job. Ask the CEO or senior manager to congratulate that person on the specific job their doing so well. 35. Lunch with the CEO
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One-on-one time with the CEO can be insanely motivating and rewarding. Recognize outstanding work with a lunch with the CEO (or other executive). You can ask the CEO to host these monthly or quarterly, depending on the size of your company.
36. CREATE A CELEBRATION VIDEO When it comes time to appreciate a team member’s major accomplishment or work anniversary, celebrate that person by creating a montage video in their honor. Ask colleagues who work with that person to record a quick 30 second video of gratitude, edit the video together and present it in front of the whole team.
37. TREAT A TOP PERFORMER AND A GUEST TO DINNER As a way to incentivize and recognize exceptional work, treat the top performer(s) to dinner with a guest at a restaurant of their choosing.
38. POST A LARGE INTERACTIVE “CELEBRATION CALENDAR” IN YOUR OFFICE Use this calendar to post reminders and recent recognition strategy developments, meetings and events. Make sure there’s a space for new suggestions and even a prominent place to post formal statements of recognition for top performing employees.
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