Why is Employee Recognition a $46B Market and what does that look like for your business?
Recognizing employees for their work has a plethora of benefits from boosting employee engagement and productivity to building loyalty and retention. Does your company invest in lifting up it’s high-performers with praise and other incentives? If not, it’s certainly time.
A $46B market seems like a lot, but when broken down, the total spent averages only about 2% of corporate expenditures. What’s worse, is that of that 2% spent, the vast majority of it is spent on tenure based gimmicky rewards that often provide very little excitement or motivation. To truly promote increased employee engagement and incentives for people to stick around and continue to do good work, rewards and recognition need to be timely and meaningful.
2021 has seen a dramatic shift in workplace culture and employee retention. It has been a challenge for companies to retain top talent thanks to remote-work opportunities at higher paying organizations. One way for employers to combat this is to invest in meaningful employee recognition. Here are a few ideas to consider:
People are motivated by different things.
It’s important to get to know your employees and find out what motivates them. Is their “love language” words of affirmation or do they prefer gifts? Do they get excited about catered lunches and fun team outings or would they rather just get a gift card or bonus? It’s important to mix and match incentives to not only fit your budget, but also to reach the wide variety of individuals and what brings them joy and motivation.
Whatever you do, make it meaningful.
A pin for sticking around for 10 years doesn’t exactly boost worker morale and incentivize high productivity. You need to be intentional about who you are recognizing and for what reasons. Recognition should be aimed at highlighting excellent habits, people who are wonderful to work with, and employees who are driving excellent work. It should provide a reward or acknowledgement that is proportionate to the value of the good work they’ve been doing.
Recognized employees put more energy into their work.
In fact, over 40% of employed Americans say that they would put more energy into their work if they were recognized more often. Stats also show that happy employees are 31% more productive. You can see, it’s worth the investment. Praise and recognition increases the likelihood that employees will continue to work hard or repeat the specific action that was acknowledged. Positive reinforcement is a powerful tool.
Company-wide/peer-driven engagement tactics are often more valuable than management-directed.
Corporate systems that promote regular recognition help ensure that acknowledgement of valuable employees is happening in a timely way. Rather than having management directly decide who gets acknowledged for what, it is perceived as more valuable to many when peers are part of the recognition process. Practices like employee of the month or weekly voting to highlight essential milestones or project contributions are great ways to engage the entire company and get insight from the people who know your employees best – their teammates!
Now that we’ve covered some of the more important concepts to keep in mind when considering employee recognition, let’s talk about some specific types of recognition ideas:
Types of Recognition:
- Bonuses
- Merchandise
- Travel Awards
- Growth Opportunities
- Praises in writing
- Verbal praises
- Gift cards
- Catered meals
- Time-off (for example, Friday afternoons off for meeting goals ahead of schedule)
- Plaques/trophies/formal awards
- Parties in honor of the recipient or group
There’s a reason an attitude of gratitude is so highly encouraged. If we work to make that gratitude and appreciation a natural, daily part of our corporate culture, its impact on the bottom line will pay off thanks to happier employees, more motivated and engaged teams, and people who take pride in their work. Remember that not every act of praise needs to be monumental, but you should strive to make praise of others a daily routine.
Looking for merchandise ideas to have on hand for employee recognition? Browse some of our products or contact Mary at Riffland Solutions today for a free consultation. We also provide a variety of other products that would be helpful for employee recognition such as wall installations/signage and plaques/trophy printing.
