Employee Recognition is a Powerful Motivator

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Havas Public Relations with Sverve. All opinions are my own.

In this busy hustle-and-bustle world, employee engagement is vital. A great team is made up of co-workers who enjoy their projects and are enthusiastic in their efforts, and this is directly related to how much pride they take in their work. This is why employee recognition is so important.

It isn’t enough to just have a paycheck and do your job – we want to feel like our work matters and that we are appreciated by our teammates and supervisors. I know I work hard and get my projects completed, but what really makes my day is having someone notice. I always notice that my team thanks each other for their efforts after a working meeting. Projects get stressful as unexpected issues come up and deadlines loom, so helping each other with a positive attitude and recognizing that everyone is doing good work really helps keep the momentum of the workflow.

Beyond the recognition from our fellow teammates, recognition by supervisors and the company at large is very important to our development as an employee. Companies with an employee recognition program show their employees that they are valued and appreciated, which helps boost office morale and, in turn, productivity and engagement.

Examples of employee recognition

“Thank you” Team Lunches.

Employee recognition can be very simple and can take place during a team lunch where everyone involved in a project gets together outside of the office for a much-needed break and a nice meal. In these lunches, our supervisor has gone around the table and talked about the projects each of us have completed recently and thanked us for our efforts. I have also had team lunches for an entire department where we each shared our wins for the year. This allowed us to let our colleagues know what projects everyone was working on since a large group does not usually work together with each individual very closely.

Bonus programs.

My consulting firm previously had a quarterly bonus program, where top-performing employees would receive recognition and a bonus for their work during that quarter.

Gift card recognition.

I have seen a monthly gift card program where if an employee recognizes another co-worker for a certain good deed (such as a safety observation), the management will acknowledge that and provide a gift card.

Thank you cards.

I have had a supervisor give me a thank you card at the end of the year. I thought that was a lovely way to show recognition and I had it displayed on my desk for some time.

Monthly birthdays and service anniversaries “parties”.

Once a month my office invites the entire department for an afternoon break with dessert and a list of everyone celebrating a birthday that month, or anyone with a special service anniversary (it is very interesting to see people with many years next to their name – that’s employee engagement).

Offsite team-building activity.

One time our department took a mid-day field trip to the local go-carts for a little afternoon fun. We were released to go home after the event. That was a nice way of giving us a day off from our project work to enjoy each other’s company and celebrate a productive season.

Keep your own employee recognition file.

I have kept an “atta-girl” file where I have saved emails that were sent by clients or supervisors on various projects that have recognized me for some action or activity. These are great to look back on when needing a little extra motivation and also useful when it is time for performance reviews.

How have you been recognized in the workplace?