A Good Checklist for Successful Employee Recognition Programs

Following is a collection of ideas that we pulled from HR sources over the last few years.  We feel it contains a good framework for anyone attempting to implement formal employee recognition in your organization and help you avoid potential problems that may come as you recognize people in your workplace.

Determine what you want your outcomes to be

At face value this may appear to be an obvious step, but too many companies don’t start with this.  When you put serious thought into this step, you will increase the chance that your program will be successful and produce results.  Recognition should reinforce behaviors that lead to successful conclusions

Emphasize fairness and be consistent

Anyone who contributes should have an equal likelihood of receiving recognition for their efforts.

Recognition is not just for the top 10%

Except for the poor performers who need to be dealt with in other ways, your entire workforce can be motivated to improve performance.  Make sure you look for all the opportunities to recognize the things that are important to you.  Recognizing only the highest performer will defeat or dissatisfy all of your other contributors. 

Set guidelines so leaders can acknowledge equivalent and similar contributions

Monitor the performance of your managers to ensure fairness to all your workers. 

Employee recognition approaches and content must also be inconsistent 

Contradictory? No, not really. You should do what is necessary to make sure your employee recognition efforts do not become expectations or entitlements.

Be as specific as you can in telling the individual exactly why he is receiving the recognition

The purpose of feedback is to reinforce what you’d like to see the employee do more of; the purpose of employee recognition is the same. In fact, employee recognition is one of the most powerful forms of feedback that you can provide.

Avoid “Employees of the Month” type programs

The most overused employee recognition system is the “Employee of Month”.  If you want to build a strong culture of engagement, you should always be looking for ways to recognize your employees!  You shouldn’t be meeting once a month to try to find just the right one.  Having a recognition culture that recognizes and rewards on an often basis, even using diminimous awards to save budget dollars, will provide a great deal more engagement and employee satisfaction than an Employee of the Month program. 

Offer employee recognition as close to the event you are recognizing as possible

When a person performs positively, provide recognition and a thank you immediately.  This will positively affect the employee’s confidence and ability to do well in your organization.

Remember that employee recognition is viewed differently by different employees

Each individual has a preference for what he finds rewarding and how that recognition is most effective for him. One person may enjoy public recognition at a staff meeting; another prefers a private note in her personnel file. The best way to determine what an employee finds rewarding is to ask.

Recognition programs are about changing behavior

Any time you reinforce employee performance with recognition, you are in the process of changing behavior.  Tangible reinforcement (an award) can go a long way to changing this behavior into a habit.  Awards do not have to be expensive to be appreciated.  Whenever possible, allow the employees to choose what they want instead of giving them something you want them to have.

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