How to build a Recognition Culture

In the tough economic environment that we’ve found ourselves in, many companies are have had to take a step back from their day-to-day routine and reevaluate the way they’re conducting business. I’m not just talking about how companies pay their bills, or how companies manage their relationships with their business associates and partners; what I’m talking about specifically is the way that companies reward and value their employees.

It has become incredibly important for companies to provide what has lately been dubbed a “recognition culture.”,  when a company embraces the idea that the best way to succeed as a company is by rewarding and recognizing all of the parts of the company for the important roles they play in the company’s success. They embrace creativity and productivity and loyalty and make sure that everyone knows they’re valued. Having or not having this type of workplace can make or break a company in these trying times.

Many companies are struggling to pay the bills and to simply keep the lights on, so to speak. If companies don’t provide a recognition culture and they end up beset with high turnover rates and an inexperienced and unskilled labor force, the consequences could be bad to say the least.With the importance that recognition cultures look to play now and for the foreseeable future, we here at Loyaltyworks have put together a small list of areas to focus on in your workplace in order to foster a culture of true recognition:

• Program Structure–When companies are trying to initially build their recognition culture, they start by instituting an incentives program that rewards their employees for performing behaviors or achieving goals that align with company goals, objectives and values. Before you ever decide to start your program, carefully define all aspects of your program from start to finish; especially eligibility and what actions warrant recognition. When you set your rewardable and recognizable actions with your company’s goals and objectives you bring the highlighted objectives to life and make them livable and “visible” to all employees so they can see how important their work and contributions are and how they positively impact the company on a day to day basis. Once you do all of this, measure your program’s success and tweak it to affect areas where recognition might not be given as strongly as others. Create more of your own desirable results.
• Praise–Another way to give your program the ability to gain more traction is to open it up to peer-to-peer recognition. This allows everyone, not just management because that’s expected, to share in noticing the hard work that everyone else does in your company. When you do this you cut down on infighting and the tendency people have to think they do more than others. It also allows you to provide free recognition through your employees and you end up providing extra motivation free of charge to the company.
• Mix It Up– switch your recognition up between acknowledgement (after/that) and incentive (if/then). You’ll want to lean more towards recognition of specific behaviors and actions that assist in your company’s goals. Be careful not to provide too much effort towards incentives that only reward people for pursuing one specific goal. When you mix it up people will make right choices in more areas than just one that rewards them and will provide you a stronger ROI and success in the long run.

If you’re unsure of the proper mix, or if you’re just unsure of how to pursue creating a good, balanced incentives and recognition program in your workplace, give us a call at 1.800.844.5000 or click on the button below.