Motivating Employees Through Recognition Programs

From the employee's perspective, a company is a good place to work when its policies and practices reward good employees. From the company's perspective, a good employee is one who is reliable, loyal and a productive worker. Successful businesses not only realize that those workers are the backbone of the company, they let the workers know they are valuable assets. Taking employees for granted creates the same strain in a business setting as it would in a personal relationship: people move on to an environment where they are appreciated.

Creating a visible recognition program for employees who excel is something that can be done in any size business. However, the program will not be effective unless employees see it as a legitimate effort to recognize and reward job performance.

Management mistakes that will sabotage a recognition program include:

Limiting the honorary prize so that no one gets a repeat reward until everyone has been recognized,

Using criteria that favor some employees and disqualify others, or

Rewarding a favorite employee with no clear criteria.

These selection methods undermine the intent of recognition, which is to motivate employees to turn in top performances. If performance criteria have been used to select the recipient, all employees will be aware of why an individual was selected for the award. It is very important that all employees have an equal opportunity to earn recognition rewards. For some companies, that may mean creating categories or grouping jobs to create a fair base of comparison.

Recognition rewards are as varied as the companies where recognition programs flourish.

Consider whether the following rewards would motivate the employees in your company, but use your imagination to lengthen the list:

1) 'Points' that can be traded for various 'perks',

2) Lunch with the boss,

3) Nomination to a committee,

4) Education or training programs,

5) Assignment to a mentor,

6) Special assignments or duties,

7) Job title change,

8) Symbolic gifts (logo pins, t-shirts, etc.),

9) Publicly displayed plaque or sign,

10) Traveling trophy, or

11) Verbal praise for a job well-done!

A yearly raise is a welcome way to show employee appreciation, but the good feeling doesn't last all year if there isn't some reinforcement the other eleven months. Employees value recognition on a regular basis. The old saying that, 'Nothing succeeds like success,' is still true. People who feel that they are appreciated want to maintain that role. As a consequence, they are more productive on the job . . . and less likely to end up working for a competing company!