Employee engagement: Appreciation, reward and recognition

For the next topic in our employee engagement blog series we are talking all about appreciating your team and your reward and recognition strategies

Everyone likes to feel valued

Appreciating your employees should not be dismissed as simply boosting morale during a crisis or something to tick off at the end of year Christmas celebrations. Appreciation needs to be part of a structured reward and recognition programme that sits alongside your annual employee engagement strategy.

Whether you have 100,000 employees across 100 different countries or a small team within 20 miles of each other, the importance of communicating well with people in every corner of your organisation has never been more essential. This sentiment incorporates celebrating and recognising your employees throughout the year even as they work remotely.

Reward vs recognition

A reward is generally something tangible, something given to an employee from the senior management team to celebrate something.

Recognition is personal praise or gratitude for good work and can be given by anyone at the company at any time, plus it’s often inexpensive.

Is it worth it?

Employees with high morale are more likely to stay motivated and work towards your organisation’s goals, completing work more effectively and building better relationships with colleagues and clients in the process.

Conversely, staff with low morale can lead to negative mindsets, reduced productivity and concentration levels, less competency and often an increase in errors and delays.

So, whether it is time you invest to spread a little joy with a few thank you messages or budget to send the team a special pick-me-up; at Something Big we’ve seen how companies who get the employee engagement balance right reap the rewards.

Simple steps to show your appreciation

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you

Regardless of any R&R strategies, your direct communications can go a long way to recognising employees’ efforts. Make a point to share appreciative messages from leadership, customers, the general public and fellow colleagues.

Peer-to-peer feedbackIf you haven’t already got a channel for employees to say ‘thanks’ to their colleagues, this is the time to create one. Feedback and recognition from leadership is great but feedback from colleagues is very powerful – give employees a channel (this can be digital or as simple as a noticeboard in the canteen) to share their feedback.

Creative employee communication pays off

At Something Big we power every project with fresh creativity, best practice and bravery. Design is at our heart and having original ideas is what we do. We’ve supported organisations accredited by Great Place to Work as both Europe’s and the World’s Best Workplaces 2020™.

This blog is part of a series on employee engagement, if you’ve found it useful please check out the rest of the series. If you need to up your game in employee engagement and internal communications give us a shout.