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In the immortal words of Dr Dre and Sam Sneed from 1994, you better recognize.
Whilst they (probably) weren’t referring to recognition in the workplace, the data shows it’s something HR, people, and employee experience leaders cannot afford to ignore. According to Gallup, employees are 20 times as likely to be engaged when they receive great employee recognition.
When done right, it can drive fulfillment, community, and productivity. Unfortunately, even with positive intentions, companies can get it wrong. Plenty of studies show most workers would simply be happy with a genuine thank you from their peers, managers, or leaders rather than recognition that is yawn-inspiring, insulting, or even non-existent.
So, ahead of Employee Appreciation Day (EAD) 2024, what could you be doing to make your recognition strategy more fun, inclusive, and engaging?
Let EAD 2024 mark a new & improved era of recognition
Friday, March 1 marks EAD 2024. American Airlines is one workplace getting it right. “Our senior leadership will, of course, send a thank you note to the entire organization for the tremendous work they do,” begins Beril McManus, Director of Team Member Engagement at American Airlines. “We’ll also encourage our leaders, rather than giving some manufactured gift, to go out and see or talk to their people and build a genuine connection so that they feel they’re seen, valued, and supported by their leaders.”
Unfortunately, not all recognition programs are as effective. There are many frustrations with employee recognition programs. Infrequent recognition from managers and leaders, exclusive programs that only recognize ‘star performer’ employees, and rewards that underwhelm or even upset employees are all easy traps to fall into.
Let’s unpack three common complaints:
1. Uninteresting: Our recognition programs are boring and static!
Recognition, reward, and appreciation are celebrations of the work employees do. Programs should therefore be fun, fresh, and in tune with what your employees tell you they want in way of reward. “Not everyone has the same taste,” says McManus, advising against one-size-fits-all programs. “We give our leaders tips on using appreciation languages and how to figure out if people prefer public or private recognition or for efforts or achievements.”
Making recognition fun through strategies such as gamification and keeping rewards from becoming stale or predictable improves adoption. It makes it something employees, managers, and leaders want to include in their day-to-day work.
At American Airlines, McManus and her team have prioritized creating measurable programs that connect rewards back to business purposes. “It becomes a competition between teams about getting the best metrics,” she says. “If you get everyone on the same page, and explain what we’re working for, they feel like a team and they feel like they're supported. People get so excited and proud when they, as a group, can say they’re the best at on-time departures!”
2. Uninclusive: Our recognition programs don’t include everyone!
Recognition programs have historically been structured around performance, reserved for ‘star performers’ with measurably high output, such as salespeople who contribute the most revenue. However, this can overlook those who demonstrate other qualities including hard work, innovation, mentorship or peer support, and other company values.
This can also leave recognition programs as ineffective at driving better performance from disengaged employees. “When you jump into programs without thinking, you incentivize the people who are already doing the work,” notes McManus. “You’re not moving the needle a lot for people who don’t.
Moreover, it contributes to bias in recognition processes. Only 19% of Black employees strongly agree that they receive similar amounts of recognition to their peers despite performance levels.
HR teams should ensure their recognition programs are designed to include and equitably reward all employees, and that they reward a diverse spread of contributions to the organization.
“You can have a much greater impact and mobilize recognition by helping your leaders figure out how they get to know their people,” argues McManus.
3. Unrealistic: Our recognition programs are too complicated!
When recognition programs are too cumbersome and complicated to fit into day-to-day work, adoption is low. Creating simple, structured opportunities for peer-to-peer or manager recognition in the flow of work can resolve one of the main silent assassins of a thriving appreciation strategy: Busyness.
Even trying to identify the right channel, format, or platform for recognition can take time, as can clunky software or drawn-out processes that demand too much input from employees or managers. Consider ways to automate reminders for recognition into the platforms and tools employees are already using each day (the customer success team for your vendor(s) of choice would love to hear from you). This could range from prompts for managers to recognize employees who mark projects on task management software as complete to a weekly reminder on an employee feedback tool to nominate a peer or colleague for a reward.
McManus outlines the work American Airlines has done to make recognition a seamless part of the employee experience. “We’ve built a connection recognition platform so people don’t have to leave their email inbox or messaging tool,” she explains. “We've done these things specifically to make it part of their day-to-day, so it doesn't feel like a chore.”
This will create a culture of recognition where appreciating and rewarding others is a behavioral habit rather than a time-consuming process that interrupts the busy schedules of employees.
“We spend a lot of time finding ways not only to make recognition easier for people but to remind leaders what’s available to help them recognize their people,” adds McManus.
Employees want recognition and appreciation from their managers, employers, and colleagues. But they also want it to be easy, enjoyable, and inclusive.
There’s a lot you can do to improve the quality of your recognition programs from EAD 2024 forward, so remember, you better…
