Show your Employee Appreciation through Employee Recognition

When working in any team, the maintenance of a positive work environment is the key to success. There are a variety of ways that one might set out to reinforce good relations between team members. A stand-out example, that we will be discussing in this post, is the use of employee recognition.

The power of employee recognition programs is seen in their capacity to bring colleagues closer and establish a collective understanding of what defines a top performance. With a designated space or tool to share such recognition, amongst other benefits, the productivity of employees has been seen to significantly improve.

Oftentimes, it is simply through these small signs of appreciation that employees develop a stronger commitment and positive response to their work. Given that the act of recognition can be so effective, PeopleGoal has created a process that simplifies and streamlines the process of giving recognition.

Why Recognition is Important

Imagine a world without recognition. Any effort that you ever put into something was simply a means to an end. No one would show appreciation for grand gestures, nor small. The human bonding experience of achieving something together would be an empty accomplishment. Nothing would mean anything and we would live in an emotionless void. Without recognition, there is a significant lack of motivation.

Now snap back into reality and consider how a company rewards its employees for their efforts. Salaries are earned, bonuses are rewarded but amongst all of it, there is the emotional communication of a job well done. For any team to function well, there must be a strong current of recognition and appreciation for any actions. Even simply a nod of approval will encourage an individual to continue doing good work. Recognition provides guidance, it will show employees how and why top performers are so regularly celebrated and it demonstrates to them how they can fulfill expectations. Recognized employees will best understand their responsibilities and how to achieve them.

Giving Recognition with PeopleGoal

In tandem with our latest development to make the new item creation and submission flow more accessible, PeopleGoal has been able to create a new recognition app that is easy to use, whilst also facilitating powerful results.

The update to the item creation function essentially enables any employee to preview the item or form prior to creating it. This is significant for recognition as it will allow an employee to look through the type of response or recognition they would like to give before the recipient is notified of their inclusion within the item. On top of this, having the option to preview an item will also encourage the user to more regularly explore the types of recognition that they can give.

Recognition in the Workplace

The image above provides a representation of how the preview function works. When an employee creates a new item to give their recognition, they are able to select the recipient as well as the message they would like to share with them. Through using this new function, an employee can give recognition in a matter of minutes.

With such an accessible system for giving recognition, this process will promote much stronger feelings of sentiment among team members. Collaboration on tasks or great displays of teamwork can be recorded and celebrated through this tool for recognition. On a company-wide scale, the distribution of recognition will bring a positive working environment that will also facilitate a considerably more productive workforce. Praise for doing good work encourages more of the same.

As we see in this next image - the employee who has received recognition or praise will then be able to see who sent the recognition and some details as to why they sent it. Peer to peer recognition is a healthy and positive way to promote a supportive company culture. There is even a competitive advantage for companies that adopt this approach to employee recognition as it generates an internal source of inspiration to better perform.

In a team where employees work for each other, there will be better teamwork. Top performers will be highlighted and can in fact be useful for demonstrating to other employees how to get things done. Employee engagement will increase and a persistent channel of recognition will reinforce company culture.

The Benefits of Recognition for Remote Work

In any team, sharing recognition or praise for an individuals efforts are great for building team morale and employee engagement. Of course, when working from a remote setting - these opportunities for recognizing employees become harder to come by. Without the frequent informal social interactions that are exhibited in the office, there are significantly fewer opportunities to share compliments.

For this reason, a recognition tool can be an extremely effective way to encourage a positive work environment. Team members may not see each other face-to-face regularly and yet they will still be able to demonstrate their appreciation through such recognition tools. There numerous benefits to adopting a culture of giving recognition, below we have compiled a list of just some of these benefits:

• More Productive Workforce
• Better Employee Motivation
• Higher Profitability
• Establish a Positive Work Environment
• Stronger Talent Retention
• Better Employee Collaboration

Recognition is just one part of positive feedback, and should be part of a larger, structural initiative to positively encourage employees. The importance of praising handwork and success of our team members will generate an environment where everyone wants to and can be their best selves.