Everyone, including your employees, loves to be appreciated and valued for their work. According to a survey, lack of recognition and engagement drives 44% of employees to switch jobs, and 63% are unlikely to look for new jobs when recognized.
Therefore, if you want to improve employee satisfaction, employee rewards and recognition programs should be the starting point since they help shape workplace culture. This article will explore the meaning of employee recognition and rewards and its many benefits. Let’s begin!
What does employee rewards and recognition mean?
While employee recognition and rewards are drivers of employee engagement in the workplace, they mean different things.
Employee recognition is a set of practices that companies implement to appreciate and acknowledge top performers for their significant contributions. They involve formal and open expressions of gratitude to an employee. On the other hand, employee rewards are gifts or awards that supervisors offer their employees for specific accomplishments or milestones.
Despite their differences, they both play a vital role in making employees feel like a significant part of the team. According to Quantum, employee recognition drives employee engagement because when employees are recognized, they are 2.7 times more likely to be engaged.
Why are employee rewards and recognition programs necessary?
Employee rewards and recognition programs tremendously impact the workplace and benefit the organization in multiple ways. They include;
Employee Retention
Employee appreciation has a direct impact on employee retention. For example, 68% of HR managers attribute success in retention to recognition or rewards programs, with 56% saying it helps with recruitment.
Additionally, a Glassdoor survey shows that 53% of employees admit that getting more appreciation from their boss would make them stay longer at their company. Therefore, when employees feel valued and appreciated, they are less likely to leave an organization.
If you’ve been looking to improve your employee retention strategy, incorporating employee recognition and rewards would be your best bet since employee turnover is 31% lower when a recognition or reward program is in place.
Increased Productivity
As noted by Dale Carnegie, People work for money but go the extra mile for recognition, praise and rewards. This stands true because employees are more motivated to go over and beyond when they feel appreciated and valued.
This has to be one of the top benefits of rewarding and recognizing employees in the workplace. You’d not be spending as you would with other employee benefits and getting the same returns; happier employees. In addition, 40% of employees are willing to put more effort into their work when rewarded and appreciated, and other employees who did not receive any reward would be encouraged to up their games.
Builds Organization Reputation
When employees are frequently rewarded and recognized for contributing to the company, the workplace culture is positively impacted. In addition, when your organization is reputed as being people-centred, your work is cut out for you as it relates to recruiting top talent since they would automatically be drawn to you.
The Genz and millennials dominating the workforce look beyond a competitive paycheck and would instead opt for a lower-paying job with a workplace culture that ensures job satisfaction. This gives you a competitive advantage in the struggle for the best talents.
Boosts Employee morale
A workplace culture that shows value and appreciation to its employees produces a highly motivated workforce ready to go over and beyond to ensure the organization’s goals are met. When this happens, you’d have a workforce that performs optimally, and this would lead to an increase in revenue.
In revenue, when employees feel valued and appreciated, they are less likely to be absent from work and would prove working relationships between employees themselves.
How to build an effective reward and recognition program?
You’d want to get started immediately with the many benefits employee recognition and reward programs offer. So, check out some best practices for designing these programs below.
Set out a Vision
Organizations are all different in terms of workplace culture. Therefore, it is essential that you clearly define the role you want the employee rewards and recognition programs to play, bearing in mind the peculiarities of your organization and the cost involved.
Set up a team
Next is to assemble a committee responsible for managing and implementing the employee rewards and recognition programs.
Determine Program Criteria
Especially regarding rewards; it is essential that you set out precise requirements to qualify for rewards. A great way to do this is by asking your employees for input. After all, you’re designing it for them.
This would include determining what acts should be rewarded, how they should be rewarded and how often such rewards should be.
Track the program’s effectiveness
Measuring the program’s effectiveness is essential to ensure it aligns with its designed purpose.
Final Thoughts
A workplace with a system in place to ensure employees are recognized and rewarded for their hard work is a breeding ground for highly productive and motivated employees. With its multiple benefits, you should consider designing one for your organization if you still need one.
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