What do you think about the role of employee recognition in driving motivation for employees Well, everyone has their views, but employee recognition, if done on time, and in the right context helps a lot in improving motivation levels of employees.

What is employee recognition?

Employee recognition is the timely, informal or formal acknowledgment of a person’s or team’s behavior, effort or business result that is supporting the organization’s goals and values, and which has clearly been beyond normal or standard expectations.

In simple words, Employee recognition means Communication between management and employees which rewards them for reaching specific goals for the organization or producing high-quality results in the workplace. Recognizing or honoring employees for this level of service is meant to encourage such repeat actions, by reinforcing or supporting such behavior.To put it simply, it is an appreciation for a job well done, a job which is helping the organization in its goals and is in line with the values that the organization feels are very valuable to them.

To be really effective in a job, HR leadership teams need to develop a culture of appreciation in employee teams. The organization needs to think about Employee Recognition ideas for motivating the employees.Individuals need to be appreciated on-time and ‘in the moment’ for them to feel good about it and for them to continue to display such characteristics in the future. This is one of the reasons, why companies are spending increasing amount of time in exploring the role of employee recognition in driving motivation for employees.

Other team members would also feel immensely motivated by this recognition bestowed on their teammates and will secretly resolve that the next time will be their turn to receive the recognition. That is what keeps teams motivated and charged up.

Appreciation is a fundamental human need

Employees respond to appreciation expressed through recognition of their good work because it confirms their work is valued by others. When employees and their work is valued, their satisfaction and productivity at work rise, and they are motivated to maintain or improve their good work. For motivating employees moral Leaders think to Employee rewards and recognition also charges up their peers within the team as well as across teams to increase their level of performance.

Praise and recognition are essential to an outstanding workplace. People want to be respected and valued by others for their contribution. Everyone feels the need to be recognized as an individual or member of a group and to feel a sense of achievement for a job well done or even for a valiant effort. Everyone wants an occasional ‘pat on the back’ to make them feel good.

There are two aspects to employee recognition:

The first aspect is to actually see, identify or realize an opportunity to praise someone. If employees are not in a receptive frame of mind employees can easily pass over many such opportunities. In most organizations, this happens all too frequently.

The other aspect of employee recognition is, of course, the physical act of doing something to acknowledge and praise people for their good work. In several organizations, this happens periodically, typically a month or quarterly.

Why is Employee Recognition Important?

Recognizing people for their good work sends an extremely powerful message to the recipient, their work team and other employees through informal and other formal communication channels. Employee recognition is, therefore, a potent communication technique.

Employee Engagement- Organizations across the world see the need to improve engagement, but there is little consensus on which methods and strategies are most effective.

Staff recognition is a highly effective and proven strategy for improving employee engagement. A well-implemented staff appreciation program has the power to impact many aspects of a business from morale, to productivity, engagement, and even retention.

Productivity- Frequent staff recognition often improves productivity. It’s really fairly simple math. Employees do some great work, they get recognized and rewarded for that great work, and they feel incentivized and are motivated to put in some more great work.

Employee Morale

Employee morale is a crucial element of any operation. With low morale, nearly every aspect of an employee’s contributions will suffer. Employees cannot work without a positive morale. High morale, on the other hand, tends to inspire greater productivity, creativity, and overall satisfaction for that employee.

Showing appreciation for an employee’s valuable contributions is a great way to boost Employee’s morale. This employee morale-boosting effect is intensified further in a group setting.

Laying the Foundation- Building a culture and environment based on employee appreciation improves each of these important areas, but it’s crucial to understand how the foundation fits together as a part of organization ethics before starting to build the rest.

Cost benefits of an employee recognition program

The cost of a recognition system is quite small and the benefits are large when implemented effectively and across the organization. Costs involved could be in the technology and spread awareness of the program. Once the program is a success, it starts spreading completely through the informal network and it runs on its own.

Leadership teams need to make sure that the recognition is being provided in line with the organization culture that is valued and for jobs/tasks that are truly delivering value to the organization.

• Increased individual productivity – the act of recognizing desired behavior increases the repetition of the desired behavior, and therefore productivity. This is classic behavioral psychology. The reinforced behavior supports the organization’s mission and key performance indicators.
• Greater employee satisfaction and enjoyment of work – more time spent focusing on the job and less time complaining.
• Higher loyalty and satisfaction scores from customers.
• Teamwork among employees is enhanced.
• Retention of quality employees increases – lower employee turnover.
• Lower negative effects such as absenteeism and stress.

We certainly hope that this post was able to give the employee some ideas about the role of employee recognition in driving motivation for employees. Go ahead and get an employee recognition program rolling at employee organization. It isn’t too difficult, the employee just needs to have the vision and the willingness to do it.

By the way, we are happy to announce that our peer to peer employee recognition platform is now available on the Microsoft Appsource.  You can go ahead and try it for free (No Commitment, no credit card needed).