Ramp Up Your Employee Recognition Efforts

For truly meaningful impact, a personalized approach is key.
Written by Remy Merritt
June 24, 2021Updated: June 25, 2021

With so many responsibilities to balance, recognizing coworkers for their achievements can become an easily-forgotten aspect of work life. To simplify employee recognition without losing its meaningfulness, more companies are integrating Slack channels, dedicated callout meetings and ongoing rewards programs to keep accolades flowing.

In Debra Johnson’s experience as chief people officer at SALT Lending, employee engagement can help identify which methods of recognition are the right fit for a team. For her company, a novel recognition and rewards program was embraced so quickly and enthusiastically that it “has become a key part of reinforcing our culture, strengthening our connections and providing a meaningful way to recognize each other’s valuable contributions.”

With few possible downsides to recognition programs, every company can benefit from embracing a wider scope of employee encouragement and celebration. These local leaders shared their best practices, and how they’ve tailored their approaches to meet the unique needs of their workforce.

 

 

Jamie Valpatic
SVP, Human Resources • Mitratech

As a professional HR and recruiting firm, talentReef understands the importance of keeping employees happy. Their team leans on a balance of award ceremonies and daily peer-to-peer recognition to keep employees connected.

 

What are a few ways you or the other leaders on your team recognize employees for their hard work? 

Every quarter, our employees are able to nominate fellow coworkers for the company REEF Award. Five employees from across the company are selected, and are celebrated during a company meeting where they receive an award and a plaque to commemorate their achievement. 

Our culture also fosters collaboration. To help employees share their appreciation for the work their teammates are doing, we have a peer-to-peer recognition system that allows any employee to highlight a teammate’s success and express their gratitude. Ninety-one percent of our employees are regularly active in the recognition program, averaging over 300 unique messages a month. 

Recognition in the workplace is a key driver that creates employee loyalty and builds engagement.’’

 

As a leader, what have you done to encourage a culture of recognition throughout the entire company and your team?

Every role in the organization has a purpose, and we encourage our leaders and teams to value the contributions their teammates are making. We frequently highlight accomplishments in our company all-hands meetings, and have systematically set up our peer-to-peer recognition program to generate periodic reminders to our employees to keep recognition top of mind. This reminds us to look for positives and provide timely appreciation.

 

When it comes to giving meaningful employee recognition, what is the most important best practice you follow?

Recognition in the workplace is a key driver that creates employee loyalty and builds engagement. When you recognize people effectively, you reinforce the actions and behaviors you most want to see people repeat, and remind individuals how valuable their contributions are. We strive for meaningful recognition by customizing the experience for each person, making appreciation and recognition immediate, and thoughtfully reinforcing the hard work they deliver. 

 

 

Debra Johnston
Chief People Officer • SALT

Offering personal and business loans backed by digital assets, SALT Lending is turning cryptocurrency into a long-term financial strategy. With a similar view toward lasting developments, SALT evolved its culture of recognition to align with the limitations of remote work.

 

As a leader, what have you done to encourage a culture of recognition throughout the entire company and your team?

As SALT made the transition to remote work, we needed to evolve aspects of our culture to support a more distributed team. One of the areas we explored was recognition. We launched an employee perks and recognition program, which includes online peer-to-peer recognition functionality with a company-wide feed and integrated Slack channel. 

All employees receive a monthly giving balance of SALTcoin they can gift to coworkers with messages of appreciation, alignment to our core values and fun GIFs. SALTcoin can be redeemed on a platform for e-gift cards, Visa and Mastercard prepaid cards and custom company items. Employees can also choose to use their SALTcoin to make charitable donations. Birthdays and work anniversaries are also celebrated on the platform. 

This has become a key part of reinforcing our culture and strengthening our connections.’’

The program was embraced quickly with a high engagement rate, and we were glad to see that all members of our team received recognition through it. This has become a key part of reinforcing our culture, strengthening our connections and providing a meaningful way to recognize each other's valuable contributions.

 

 

Donna Sue Mastalka
VP, Corporate Marketing • IntelePeer

IntelePeer’s platform streamlines omni-channel customer communication, powered by automation and AI. When it comes to their culture of recognition, they understand the value of taking an omni-angled approach, emphasizing timeliness and personalized incentives.

 

What are a few ways you or the other leaders on your team recognize employees for their hard work? 

Recognizing our employees is integral to our continued success as a team and a business. In my specific role, I recognize employee efforts through personal and public recognition, celebrating milestones and via performance-related promotions and bonuses. Personal and public recognition includes verbal appreciation, “thank you” emails or cards for a job well done, as well as public recognition when appropriate in company communications, emails and other announcements.

Secondly, I like to celebrate personal and career milestones with offsite activities and rewards to acknowledge employee commitment and further reinforce team bonding. This type of casual, out-of-office interaction has really helped transform how the team works together. Increased team empathy, teamwork and collaboration are some of the results we see from these initiatives. At the end of the day, the best way to recognize an employee for their hard work is with incentives that make a difference in their day-to-day life, such as greater responsibility within the business and compensation.

Increased team empathy, teamwork and collaboration are some of the results we see from these initiatives.’’

 

As a leader, what have you done to encourage a culture of recognition throughout the entire company and your team? 

While many organizations create micro-awards, activities or incentives for only the junior staff, encouraging them to be involved in the workplace, we like to employ this type of recognition for our employees at higher and mid-levels as well. By implementing from the top-down, we’ve seen improvement in authenticity and positivity throughout our whole business — not just at the junior level. Unifying the recognition process makes for an overall more inclusive, connected and family-like workplace that is still aligned with corporate performance and standards.

 

When it comes to giving meaningful employee recognition, what is the most important best practice you follow?

When it comes to giving meaningful employee recognition, our best practice is to do it timely and by modern standards. As a fast-growing technology company always looking to innovate our products and services for our customers, we see the value in consistent research, development and investment in our internal company culture. When we recognize our employees for good work, we try to do it in a way that takes personality, timing and modern standards into account. Over-recognition can often de-value future recognition, which is something to be cautious of when creating reward structures and standards.

 

 

Jeffery Hodgin
Senior Director of Product Operations • CyberGRX, Inc.

With expertise in cyber security and risk management, CyberGRX understands the importance of foresight and preparedness. When it comes to company culture, this omniscient approach is not lost. For Jeffrey Hodgin, Senior Director of Product Operations, a key aspect of employee recognition means celebrating all team members equally, and ensuring that those who may not enjoy the spotlight are still recognized in ways that resonate.

 

What are a few ways you or the other leaders on your team recognize employees for their hard work? 

At every all-hands meeting, we recognize two individuals for their contributions to one of our core values. Our job success is often measured by the features we deliver; instead of centering our recognition around deliverables, we focus on personalized peer-to-peer recognition for going above and beyond in support of our customers or our business. We also have a company Slack channel where we call out employees every day for their amazing work. 

 

As a leader, what have you done to encourage a culture of recognition throughout the entire company and your team? 

I look for unsung heroes and encourage others to do so as well. There are always people going above and beyond, and they are not always recognized for doing so. It is also important to understand that not everyone appreciates public recognition. I prefer to get to know individuals and ask them about their preferred form of recognition — there is nothing worse than giving a very shy individual public recognition in a forum where they may have to speak in response.

What is most important to us at CyberGRX, and me specifically, is peer-driven recognition.’’

 

When it comes to giving meaningful employee recognition, what is the most important best practice you follow?

What is most important to us at CyberGRX, and me specifically, is peer-driven recognition. This doesn’t mean that pairing compensation with peer recognition is not effective, but sometimes using the strategies together can be a super-motivator. Empowering employees to recognize each other is the best way to achieve this! 

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