PrintEmployee Recognition
How To Make Employee Recognition Programs Work As Motivational Tools
Employee recognition can be a powerful motivational tool if applied correctly. Everyone enjoys being recognized for the work that they do and doing so encourages others to work hard to receive the same accolades.
The recognition may be given in the form of an award or a tangible bonus depending on what is most effective with a specific group of employees. Employee recognition can be marvellously effective but must be done right.
Be Consistent With Your Criteria
Having consistent criteria for the reception of incentives is crucial in employee recognition programs. If it seems that recognition is handed out arbitrarily then employees will not know what they have to do to receive it or to be in the running to receive this recognition. That can undo any motivation that the program would have created.
If the criteria are not the same from one individual to the next then awarding incentives becomes complicated. If incentives are not seen as being fairly awarded and linked to specific performance goals then their motivational power plummets.
Everyone must be eligible to win these incentives, and they must know how to compete. Handing out recognition that is perceived to be unfair will not motivate employees. In fact, it could do just the opposite.
You Don't Have To Reward Everyone
When you hear about judging every employee's ability to win in the same way, it may seem that you have to reward everyone in the same way. If this is not feasible for your goals then you can go another route.
You may choose to reward the top performer. Again, you will need clear criteria for the decision of who is the top performer, but this allows you to create clear guidelines for how to win without having to bestow the same incentives upon every employee.
If you are handing out incentives that are smaller then you can hand them out to many employees, but you may want to consider a larger prize. A vacation package is an irresistible incentive that will have everyone competing to be the best and to win that vacation package.
Don't Always Recognize Performance The Same Way
It can be tempting to always recognize the meeting of performance goals in the same way. You may recognize individuals with a cash bonus every time they hit a sales quota or with travel incentives every time the reach long term goals. The problem is that using the same incentives every time diminishes their effectiveness. They go from being an exciting motivational factor to being an expected perk of the job.
The surprise and excitement fade because this becomes just another benefit of the job. If, however, you change up the incentives on a regular basis then no one incentive or incentive program becomes stale, and the employee recognition is novel every time.
Employee recognition is a way to motivate employees, but it must be done in the right way. Be consistent with criteria and change the incentives to have the maximum effect.
