What should I include in an employee recognition program?

3 of March, 2021

An employee recognition program is far from a pointless investment. Just like employee wellness programs, a recognition program can do wonders to improve your employer brand. It also has the benefit of increasing productivity as well as boosting employee engagement. In this article, we explain what makes a good employee recognition program and what it should entail.

What makes a good employee recognition program?

You should tailor your employee recognition program so that it increases productivity and motivation without causing envy or aggressive competition. It is also important to cover mid-term as well as long-term recognition with different initiatives.

Moreover, a good employee recognition program shouldn’t be time-consuming. The key then is to automate most of the processes so that running the program doesn’t take up too much of your HR employees’ time. Sesame’s HR suite offers you all the tools you need to make all HR processes go as smoothly as possible, including delivering awards to your best employees.

What types of recognition to include in the program?

There are two main types of employee recognition: structured and unstructured. Both types have their advantages and limitations, and both contain key elements to a successful recognition program.

Structured recognition

This type of recognition is formal and planned. Structured recognition happens at regular times, for instance every month for certain events. It takes the form of ceremonies where managers praise and reward employees for various achievements. Structured recognition is infrequent because of its formal nature, but is still a great way to motivate employees in the long term.

There are several ways to include structured employee recognition in your program:

• Employee of the month: A traditional and well-known recognition event. Each month, an employee is chosen by their colleagues or managers. The key here is to have precise selection criteria. This way, it won’t seem like employees are chosen at random or according to popularity.
• Top performance awards: Similar to the Employee of the month award, this type of recognition rewards employees for achieving the best results in a certain domain.
• Yearly or quarterly reviews: Managers can give recognition during formal employee appraisals. This practice has the advantage of offering personalised appreciation, which employees will value more than generic praise.
• Years of service awards: A great way to reward loyalty and dedication. However, employees spend less and less time in a same company, so you might want to lower the traditional 5-year mark for such events.

Unstructured recognition

While structured award systems are great to maintain motivation in the long term, unstructured initiatives offer more frequent and spontaneous recognition. Moreover, in this case recognition doesn’t come only from the top, but is given between peers. It does create the risk of employees lacking objectivity and praising only their friends. But you can avoid this issue with good management.

Unstructured employee recognition can take the following forms:

• Peer-to-peer recognition: This means encouraging employees to show appreciation for their colleagues’ work. It is perfect to improve everyday morale.
• Gamified recognition: A great tool to motivate younger employees. This type of recognition uses online tools where workers can collect badges or trophies through good performance.
• Celebration of important life events: This puts in the spotlight professional as well personal events like birthdays, weddings and children’s birth. That way, employers show that they value their employees not only for their professional talents, but also from a human perspective.