While most CEOs and managers are busy trying to expand their businesses, a large fraction of employees in their organizations are disengaged and display low levels of productivity.
Gallup research shows that only 13% of employees around the world are actively engaged at work.
Engaged employees are passionate about their work and go above and beyond to contribute to their organizational success. One of the most common reasons why many engaged employees become disengaged is, the lack of appreciation for good work. Most organizations ignore the importance of recognizing and rewarding the good work of their employees.
No matter how small the accomplishment is, employees feel motivated to do more if their work is recognized by their managers. This gives them a psychological satisfaction that drives them to perform better at their work.
Also read: Employee Recognition: The Art Of Gratitude
Not all organizations can use the same employee recognition program. It is important to design a proper employee recognition program that fits your organization.
Here are a few things you need to consider before designing an employee recognition program for your organization.
- Identify the goals of every team in your organization
- Align those goals to your organizational goals
- Determine how to measure performance and accomplishments
- Identify the behavior that should be recognized
- Make a list of appropriate rewards or ways to recognize good work
- Communicate this with your employees
Employee recognition is also said to be the key to employee retention. While many organizations deal with issues like decreased rate of employee retention, the organizations with proper reward and recognition programs are helping their employees excel in their careers. These programs make employees feel appreciated and hence motivate them to come up with new ideas that can help improve organizational productivity.
While designing an employee recognition program looks simple enough to be created over a week or so, it has many hidden aspects that might take forever to understand and implement in your workplace.
Developing a culture of appreciation and recognition cannot happen overnight. The organizations that have solid employee recognition programs now, once struggled for years with employees leaving their organizations and new employees trying to understand the organizational values and goals. This practice might not give visible results right away, but in a long run, it contributes the most to the organizational success.