Employee recognition is essential to ensure consistent employee motivation. But as much as it is essential, it can be tricky to execute since different employees may find motivation through different means. However, some general dos and don’ts can help you navigate employee rewards carefully and more efficiently as you personalize them according to your employees.
Let’s take a look at these:
Employee Rewards – The Dos
Let’s see what always works for employee recognition programs:
Do – Set Attainable Goals
It goes without saying that when you want to reward your employees’ efforts, you must set a goal they can actually achieve. However, the goal must be equally attainable for whoever qualifies to aim for it. The employee recognition program may seem biased if the goal isn’t equally attainable for everyone or is more attainable for some.
If you want to set goals for the different levels of employees, set different goals according to the departments and responsibilities. You must never exclude any junior group from participating in the employee recognition program. However, management can be excluded.
Do – Provide Enough Time to Attain Goals
There is no point in setting an attainable goal if you do not provide enough time for your employees to achieve it. As with the goal’s attainability, ensure that every employee gets equal time to make their effort towards it. Setting a fixed duration for the goal can especially help increase its attainability.
Do – Communicate Company Values
Utilize employee recognition programs to remind and reinforce company values among the employees. Communicating the company values directly while informing the employees of the employee recognition program is essential.
Moreover, only set goals that reflect and communicate company values. For example, maintaining a client for twelve months is an achievable goal for sales employees and communicates prioritizing repeat customers.
Employee Rewards – The Don’ts
Here’s what you must always avoid for employee recognition programs:
Don’t – Exploit Employees
Employees deserve recognition for the hard work they put in willingly, not exploitation. For example, if you reward your employees for not taking any day off during a specific period, it conveys that you don’t care about your employees’ rest. It also communicates that overworking and ignoring one’s health and family needs is the only way to achieve recognition at work. Such negative messages can significantly decrease employee motivation.
Don’t – Force It
While you can do your best to make the goal attainable and exciting, forcing employees to work for it can have negative impacts. Yes, most employees enjoy and seek ways of being noticed and progressing at the workplace, but assuming that all employees want it is incorrect. Provide an equally attainable goal for all your employees, but don’t expect all the employees to work for it equally.
Don’t – Make It Cash
Cash rewards don’t contribute to employee motivation positively. This is because employees expect decent cash per the schedule for their regular work. So if you want your employees to put in a little extra effort, incentivize them in ways they like.
Finally, if you don’t know where to begin with employee rewards, don’t hesitate to ask your employees what they would like.
