The 11 best employee recognition ideas that motivate employees

"Tangible recognition could encourage 50% of employees to stay loyal to the company." This underscores the importance of recognition and appreciation for employee retention.

What does employee recognition mean?

Let's first try to understand what employee recognition means:

Employee appreciation and recognition are about showing gratitude to employees for their exemplary work and contribution to the growth of the company. It's also about the values the company conveys through its policies and attitudes toward employees.

Why is employee recognition so important when the company offers them a salary and other benefits?

Employee recognition helps employees feel confident about their value to the company, which motivates them to continue doing excellent work. Let's describe why employee recognition is important.

1.human emotions: Employees as human beings have emotions and feelings that connect them to the project they are working on. Employee recognition improves team bonding and increases productivity.

2.liking challenges: some employees like challenging tasks, and the reward at the end of the performance spurs them to work hard. The challenging tasks and rewards improve employee learning and skills.

3.part of the community: as part of the society, employees represent the community and culture. When an employee is appreciated for his work, the attitude of society towards the community also improves in a positive direction.

According to a McKinsey study, "Companies with more than 30 percent women in the executive suite are in a strong position to outperform those companies where that percentage is between 10 and 30.

Recognizing employees' contributions to the company through rewards and trinkets brings freshness and belonging to the work atmosphere. These employee recognition ideas are listed below:

1."The sky is the limit" - performance-based career paths not only help recognize employees' hard work, but also help with career development and self-esteem enhancement. Leadership training and other skill development courses boost employees' confidence and make them ready for a bigger role in the company.

2.employee well-being: major IT companies Infosys, TCS and Accenture India cover the cost of vaccination for their employees and their family members. This step helps employees bond with the company like one big family.

3.The bigger the company, the better the facilities - from free meals to laundries, salons, gyms, swimming pools and hospitals on the office campus help employees relax when they feel stressed. By its very nature, a relaxed mind and body increases productivity. The more the company grows, the more it needs to cater to employees' needs. For example, employees should be allowed to bring children and pets to the office, and the boundaries between office and home should be removed.

4.recognition in front of peers and recognition from peers - This is the best employee recognition idea that will please your employees. Awarding a trophy, a certificate of excellence and a thank you speech will motivate employees to continue their good work. Companies and higher management can take initiatives to regularly recognize employees in front of their peers. This will act as a motivating factor and increase employee job satisfaction.

Recognition from colleagues who work on the same team or in the same department is also an important factor in appreciating each other's work. Since most team members work closely with co-workers in their jobs, praise from them acts as a confidence booster for the employee.

5.Lunch with the boss - It helps both the boss and the employee understand areas of interest, hobbies, and opinions about life. This informal conversation helps the employee open up to the boss and feel good about the appreciation shown to them. Similar results have been obtained through Hawthorne studies.

6.community service - charity, donations, and providing various services to the community, such as providing food to the homeless and downtrodden, working in community kitchens, organizing health camps, etc. Through community service, we realize that employees come from different backgrounds, genders, races, and religions. And community service is about giving back to the society we come from.

7.Wall of Fame - The successes of various projects, such as the fastest completion of a project, increased sales and revenue, can be recognized through a gallery of achievements. This "Wall of Fame" helps employees not only work hard when they are at their peak, but also when their performance slows down. They can view their accomplishments and regain energy for work.

8.Boss for a Day - Recognize outstanding performance by providing them with special amenities such as VIP parking, chairing meetings and having their own cubicle. This will help employees visualize what goes through your mind when you are in a higher position. It will help employees understand the boss's perspective when acting sternly and also prepare employees for challenges as they move up the career ladder.

9.Reward at the right time - If an employee completes a task in a timely and efficient manner, then their work should only be appreciated at that time, as a delay in rewarding and recognizing employees can reduce the value of the rewards.

10.Outings - Weekend or monthly celebrations, buying movie tickets and organizing employee outings all help colleagues get to know each other better. Spending time with the team outside of the office improves bonding and helps team members understand why a particular colleague behaves a certain way. This motivates employees to contribute to the success of the team and ultimately the company.

11.celebrate the little things in life - surprising the employee with cake and candles when they walk into the conference room sounds cool, right? Celebrating important days in employees' lives and their accomplishments outside of work, such as volunteering for flood relief, will definitely boost team morale.

In your company, this employee appreciation and recognition ideas can be adopted to help motivate employees to give their best to achieve company goals and fulfill their career objectives. A quote to get you thinking about employee recognition.

"Customers don't come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the customers."

While working with the employees in a friendly try icehrm.com, a digital HR platform to manage all employees without any difficulty.