Last year at this time employers were stressed out about employee engagement. Now the focus is on employee retention and turnover.
The solution for both?
Employee recognition programs that reflect and embody company values. Standard employee recognition programs aren't effective if they don't reflect the
communicated organizational values. A new study from the Society for Human Resource Management, or SHRM, compared employee recognition programs that are closely aligned to an organization's company values, with employee recognition programs that are not, or could seem more “random” in distribution. Here are some of the critical results you need to know to ensure your employee recognition program’s success.
In value-based employee recognition programs, organizations observed:
- Increased employee happiness: 86% vs. 70%
- Added a human element to work: 85% vs. 70%
- Improved peer-to-peer professional relationships: 84% vs. 66%
- Helped reinforce corporate values in its employees: 88% vs. 42%
When employees can be recognized for exhibited behaviors that exemplify organizational values they are apt to take the values more seriously. One other key point for value-based employee recognition programs: peer-to-peer recognition. 74% of surveyed companies implemented a policy of peer-to-peer recognition at any and all levels. This is key because it allows good behavior to be called out and rewarded across the organization. Whether the office manager or a senior executive is encompassing company values, an employee recognition program should be enabled. What are the best practices for your employee recognition programs? The Young Entrepreneurs Council, which consists of some of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs, contributed to these 8 Best Practices for Your Employee Recognition Programs. One of the valuable tips:
Don't Overthink it!
“We created a really awesome, but elaborate point system, only to discover that it was too much for people to keep track of and actually deterred them from doing their job. The system that’s used to track employees for recognition is far less important than just having something in place to recognize those who have done well. People love to be recognized in front of their peers.”
— ANDERSON SCHOENROCK of ScanDigital
Do you have a value-based reward program? If so, do you allow peers to recognize each other across seniority levels? Tell us more about your value-based employee recognition programs in the comments.
