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Amazing Ideas for Employee Recognition Programs

Madhurjya Bhattacharyya
Every employee seeks to be recognized in his or her workplace, which is why employee recognition becomes important. Here are some ideas for the same, which you can use in your organization.
When the employees work for an organization, they not only look for a good pay but also like to be recognized for their contributions towards achieving the goals of the company. As such employee recognition programs become important for their management, besides retaining the best people in the organization.
Most employers use this tactic to show the employees that their contributions are appreciated, which in turn leads to high morale, and in the process, increases their productivity. Understanding the expectancy theory of motivation might help you to realize the importance of such programs.
As the employees are in direct touch with the managers, it is important that the latter develop such programs, which would interest the employees. You as a manager need to think of how to recognize the best, and come up with creative appreciation ideas, so that they feel appreciated and remain positive.

Policy

Every company needs to have an employee recognition program in place, so that their contributions don't go unnoticed. When you develop the policy for the same, you need to keep the costs involved in mind.
There are several criteria, which you can have in place such as helping colleagues, attendance, and the employee performance at work. Next, you need to think of the kind of awards you can give (for instance, a gift certificate or cash awards).
Moreover, you need to communicate the parameters, which the workforce need to follow so as to be eligible for receiving awards and recognition. A certificate of achievement also works great with the ones, who have performed consistently throughout the year.

Objectives

Whatever policies you create, the objective of such program should be to reward the best performers, and at the same time, to motivate the rest to perform better. Moreover, its aim should be to encourage employees to respect work ethics of the best ones, and try to follow their footsteps, so that the organization can achieve its goals.
While recognizing their performance, you not only need to give them a reward but also a certificate of performance, so that they can keep it as a record of having achieved something during their careers. There are several letter samples available for the same, which you may like to go through, in order to get an idea of how such a letter is written.

Ideas to Acknowledge Their Contributions

Just by giving an employee monetary benefit, an organization may not be able to achieve its goals. Monetary benefits should be used as a supplement with recognition program ideas for the best results. Some of the examples that you can use include:

Creating a Picture Collage

There may be a team in your company, which may have performed the best throughout a given period of time. Then, why not try and recognize this team?
You can click pictures of this team, create a collage of pictures, and put it up on the entrance of your office, along with a message congratulating and appreciating them for their teamwork. This will not only recognize their efforts as a team but also serve as a source of inspiration for other teams to perform.

Plan a Surprise Day Out

Who would not like to take a break from work? And that too when it's a company-sponsored break. You can arrange for a picnic for the best performing team in your company. You can choose to surprise them by arranging a surprise tour to some good picnic destination in the vicinity. Or, you can sponsor them out for a movie and dinner.

Holiday Package

Providing a holiday package can prove to be one of the best employee appreciation ideas, as most of them would love to go for it, without having to worry about the accommodation and travel plans. So, you can opt to provide a travel certificate, wherein a holiday package to a particular location for a particular number of days would be included.

Gift Certificate

It is an excellent option, which you can use to appreciate their performance. You can provide gift certificates, which employees can use to redeem what they shop for, in company-chosen outlets.

Gold Coin

If someone in the office does really well in his or her job, then you can think of giving him or her a gold coin. No doubt, gold is costly, but considering the employee's performance at work, gifting him/her a gold coin is not an unreasonable option.

Personalized Gifts

These can be one of the best ways to appreciate the best performers. You can give one a good quality pen stand, with the person's name inscribed on it. Such gifts make them feel appreciated and wanted, which in turn improve their morale, and motivate them to perform better.
These are some ideas to applaud the inundated nisus of the workforce. However, these recognition ideas are not the only ones; there are several more. Use your creativity to formulate different kinds of programs, which can keep the employees motivated.