“Employees who report receiving recognition and praise within the last seven days show increased productivity, get higher scores from customers and have better safety records”—Tom Rath, bestselling author and senior scientist/advisor at Gallup Inc.

Recognition is an excellent tool for furthering engagement because it stimulates motivation and provides behavior reinforcement. Recognition in its simplest definition is telling an employee they did a good job. However, providing praise that resonates with an employee—that gives them a true sense of appreciation—involves an action beyond a few words in passing.

1.What your employees want

Rather than trying to divine what act of recognition your employees would appreciate—ask them!

Solicit suggestions on how employees would like to be recognized for their efforts through a survey or a suggestion forum.

2.Recognition Tokens

Add a little ‘punch’ to your praise by including a “token of appreciation.” This can be anything from gift cards to candy bars. The idea is that these tokens be used to convey that the employee went ‘above and beyond’ expectations.

For a cost-effective token program, Employee Engagement for Dummies author, Bob Kelleher, suggests giving out the Kudos brand candy bar or printing out fake million dollar bills and writing “thanks a million for…”

3.Virtual Kudos

There’s no denying the fact that we live digital lives both at home and at work. In fact, most employees can be accurately said to compulsively check their smartphones several times a day.

This fact can be an advantage for providing praise. Instant recognition through email, text, social network messaging or intranet posting is an easy and simple way to recognize employees.

For a more streamlined virtual recognition process, there are a number of companies that currently offer recognition programs for the office.

4.Breakfast

Breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day, so why not share it with your team of exceptional employees?

Show your employees you appreciate their efforts by bringing in, setting out and cleaning up, breakfast. This gesture serves a dual purpose; it recognizes your employees for having done an exceptional job and it encourages team cohesiveness—an element that drives engagement.

5.Call in “Well”

Recognize employees who put in extra hours on the weekend or stay late into the evening by awarding them the opportunity of taking a day off.

6.Offer Development and Training Opportunities

The PwC report, “Millenials at Work Reshaping the Workplace” found that 35 per cent of millennials are attracted to employers who offer superior training and developmental programs. The report also indicates that millennials view training and development as an important benefit of working for an organization.

Providing employees with the opportunity to attend an internal development session, an outside workshop or professional training as a means of recognizing their work is an excellent way to foster engagement. In encouraging the education of employees, you enhance the mutual commitment of the employee and employer. In essence, you reinforce their engagement in the company by demonstrating your engagement in them.

7.A Call from the President

In the US, winners of major league sporting event often receive a celebratory call from the president. Taking a page from the sports team handbook, have the company president call deserving employees to thank them for their superior efforts.

This experience will not only thrill employees, it will motivate them to work harder and help build long lasting engagement.

8.Create a Recognition Committee

Select a few hard working employees to head-up the creation of a workplace recognition program. Bridge the gap between employees and management by including several managers in the committee. This will allow employees the opportunity to gain insight into the budget and financial constraints so that when they’re ideas are rejected on monetary grounds they won’t feel frustrated.

9.Invite to Leadership Meetings

Demonstrate to outstanding employees that you value their work and input by inviting them to a meeting of the company’s higher-ups. For instance, you might have them join a strategic initiatives meeting or join the executives as they brainstorm solving a departmental issue.

10.Peer-recognition

It is one thing to receive recognition from your boss and it’s quite another to be recognized by a colleague.

Managers should suggest that employees recognize each other’s efforts either through private notes, giving tokens or making mention of their praise to the superior.

Sources

“Study on Employee Engagement Finds 70% of Workers Don’t Need Monetary Rewards to Feel Motivated.”

Kelleher, Bob. Employee Engagement for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2014. Print.

[originally published on HerdWisdom.com]