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Many employees seek recognition. Often, workers feel as though their efforts are unrecognized and even unfairly scrutinized.
Therefore, showing your employees that you care is important in boosting productivity and morale. While performance reviews offer one method of praising employees, achievement recognition can be the better option.
Speedy Implementation
Setting up an achievement recognition program is a move that you can make pretty quickly. Once you have determined the measures of success and the rewards system, let employees know.
Since implementing this program doesn’t have to take a lot of time, you can also quickly start to see the results of the change. When employees learn that they have the opportunity to receive recognition for their hard work, a boost in morale can happen pretty quickly.
Do make sure that you’ve fully evaluated the program before making the announcement. Promising employees recognition and then failing to follow through can have seriously detrimental consequences.
Measurable Goals
Employees might feel that performance reviews are based on too many subjective criteria. With performance awards, you can create measurable goals for your employees to meet.
For example, you might provide recognition for employees who meet certain sales goals within a designated period of time.
This program allows team members to set specific goals for themselves and to focus on those goals. Employees don’t have to guess what arbitrary criteria they will be judged on during performance reviews.
Positive Reinforcement
Performance reviews typically involve a discussion of both strengths and areas for improvement. However, by creating and giving custom awards and providing other marks of recognition, you can positively reinforce your employees and boost performance.
Instead of being called out for a series of mistakes made months ago, employees would feel more encouraged to improve if they received recognition. Choosing to take this approach doesn’t preclude you from talking with employees when errors are made.
Having a conversation when an issue arises is different from drawing attention to all of an employee’s shortcomings over the course of the year in one performance review.
Competition
Thinking of criticism as the key to driving competitiveness is problematic. Simply seeing other employees striving to reach goals can increase drive and motivation across the workplace.
In other words, people can be motivated to work more productively when they see their colleagues getting recognized for doing so. When employees are motivated to work, you can see better productivity in the business in general.
Tangible Rewards
Achievement recognition can also involve the distribution of tangible rewards. Be careful with giving bonuses every time an employee achieves a milestone. If you create a system of monetary awards, you’ll need to keep up with these bonuses and raises.
In the event that a time comes when you’re unable to financially continue with the program, tensions could rise among your team members. Instead of opting for financial rewards, you could use trophies, plaques, certificates or gift cards.
Resume Booster
While it’s unlikely that you want to have your top-performing employees decide to leave the company, try to look at achievement recognition from the perspective of a worker. Even when people are not actively seeking new employment, they tend to like resume boosters.
Many individuals have a section of their resumes dedicated to awards and recognition. In short, employees can feel more motivated to achieve awards because they know they will be able to boost their resumes with it.
Improved Environment
An achievement recognition program shows employees that you want to celebrate their successes. This approach can also demonstrate that you’re all working toward common goals.
In negative work environments that focus on punishment and criticism, employees often feel as though they are on a different team from their bosses. In fact, colleagues may bond over their dislike for the managers. Recognizing employees’ achievements can allow for stronger rapport among all levels of staff members.
Performance reviews may still have their role in your workplace. However, consider how relying solely on these reviews to comment on employees’ strengths is not the best approach. Make recognition a regular part of the work environment.
This move has benefits for the mental health and well-being of your employees. Furthermore, showing recognition to your employees for their efforts and productivity can make for a healthier and more efficient workplace overall.
