4 Innovative ideas to recognise employees

4 Innovative ideas to recognise employees

While a simple “thank you” or pat on the back is always appreciated, it doesn’t hurt to look at some innovative ideas to recognise employees that some companies have adopted.

A creative employee recognition program that reflects the company culture is the key to incentivising and motivating employees, says Matt Straz on foxnews.com.

The Society for Human Resource Management and Globoforce recently conducted a survey of 823 HR professionals, and in the findings outlined in the Employee Recognition Report, the results support the idea that recognising employees for a job well-done isn’t just nice.

It’s necessary.

Values-based employee recognition significantly contributes to bottom-line organisational metrics and helps create a stronger culture and more human workplace.

In the Employee Recognition Report, 90% of the participants say of their employee recognition programs that they positively impact engagement.

86% say they increase employee happiness, 84 per cent say they improve employee relationships and 68 per cent say they positively impact retention.

Outlined below are four ways today’s most innovative companies recognise their employees, above and beyond the standard bonus schemes and ’employee of the month’ rewards;

4 Ideas on how to recognise employees

1. Wear milestones on your sleeve (or belt)

Milestones are especially important for an employee, and equally as beneficial for the employer, yet it’s something that we tend not to celebrate.

Straz says “at Groupon, no work anniversary (or Grouponiversary, as they call it) goes unnoticed.

This milestone is recognised with a top-of-the-line, bright green Adidas track jacket.

Employees can even personalise their jacket with unique nicknames — “GroupMom” and “Garvitron” are already taken — and receive star patches for each additional year at the company.”

Rewarding employees with company swag for reaching important milestones helps recognise individual achievements and also gives employees something to actively work toward.

2. Revamp performance bonuses

Straz suggests getting creative with standard incentive programs, and at the same time, making the employees participants in the act of giving.

Zappos, the popular online retailer, has put a new spin on an old standard with the creation of a coworker bonus program.

The bonus program allows employees to award an extra $50 to a coworker who went above and beyond for them or their team each month.

Encouraging employees to recognise each other’s hard work and accomplishments can make a world of difference when it comes to job satisfaction.

3. Share the love (or doll)

At Red Velvet Events, employees use a small plastic troll doll to recognise employees.

During their weekly staff meeting, an RVE team member gives the doll to another employee and describes the recipient’s work efforts during the previous week.

Each person who receives the doll gives it another accessory (earrings, a tattoo, a bow tie, etc.) and presents it to another team member the following week.

Though inexpensive, this is a surefire way to maintain morale in your workplace, and ensures employees are consistently being recognised for their hard work by the people who see it first hand, their team.

4. Reward taking risks

Tata is one of the few companies that recognises the innovative ideas and bold attempts behind what most see as failures.

The company’s “Dare to Try” award celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit that pushes employees to take risks.

Recognising employees for their risk-taking capabilities and creative ideas is just as important, if not more so, to individual and company-wide success.

Recommended further reading: 25 Ways to Reward Employees without Blowing the Budget 

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