Your people are more than their job descriptions. And just like customers, they are looking for a great experience from the business. Recent shifts have pushed feeling valued and recognised to a top spot in employee priorities, with inadequate recognition accounting for nearly half (44%) leaving their last role. Traditional, outdated approaches to recognition are, now more than ever, costing businesses their most critical asset to success. In a modern world, ad-hoc recognition centred around exceeded KPIs is no longer meeting the mark. To transform the EVP in a competitive market, HR leaders must rethink their approach to how and why they recognise their people.

Here, we explore the most powerful examples of employee recognition, so businesses can remain agile in celebrating excellence in all areas – and not just on Employee Appreciation Day, but every day.

Performance & Engagement

Of course, individual and team performance should be celebrated and recognised. However, this shouldn’t be limited to exceeded targets only – a job well done alongside injecting new approaches and ideas are equally as valuable. Here are some examples of employee recognition surrounding performance and engagement:

1. Doing their job to the best of their ability.

2. Meeting individual or team targets.

3. Exceeding expectations.

4. Creative ideas and outside-the-box thinking.

5. Innovative approaches to existing processes.

6. Positive feedback from customers and colleagues.

Collaboration & Culture

When taking an agile approach to recognition, businesses must not only value performance but cultivate an authentic culture by also celebrating examples of how employees demonstrate company values. After all, an empowered culture creates empowered teams. Employers must outwardly value collaboration and peer-to-peer support in championing a positive and inclusive culture that drives the business mission forward. Some examples of employee recognition surrounding this include:

7. Effectively collaborating with colleagues. 

8. Supporting direct and wider teams to achieve their potential.

9. Embodying company values and behaviours.

10. Demonstrating consistency and reliability.

11. Promoting colleague wellbeing and belonging.

Belonging & Inclusion

52% of employees don’t believe their senior leaders currently prioritises a sense of community within their organisation. Yet, this is vital to driving team productivity and retention. Effective recognition places emphasis on employee belonging and inclusion by celebrating milestones and anniversaries. This can include:

12. New starter shoutouts.

13. Service milestones.

14. Employee birthdays.

15. Peer-to-peer recognitions.

16. Internal award nominations (enabling nominations from managers and peers).

17. Celebrating National Days.

In an intense market, employee recognition can no longer be seen as a nice-to-have, but as a commercial imperative. Plus, when delivered effectively and with agility, recognition programmes are 12x more likely to predict strong commercial outcomes.

Find out how Rippl’s recognition, reward and benefits platform can transform your People experience and book a free demo here.