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Posted on 8 March 2023

5 Employee Recognition Examples to Empower Women at Work

3 minute read

Happy teams create happy businesses. Yet, female employees still face multiple barriers to equal opportunity in the workplace. Whilst we’ve seen businesses make strides in how they level the playing field in recent years, there is still much work to be done. 

Latest research highlights a gender gap in workplace recognition. 71% of women feel underappreciated at work, and due to this, 42% report decreases in their productivity and 38% lack confidence in senior management and the business’ strategic goals. 

Recognition plays a fundamental role in cultivating an inclusive, empowered environment where employees of all backgrounds can unleash their potential and thrive. Yet, this too often remains an undervalued tool in maximising and retaining the brilliant female talent behind a brand. As a result, businesses miss out on the unlocked potential of female employees at all levels, and consequently sacrifice the commercial advantage of a gender inclusive workforce.  

Now more than ever, HR leaders must implement effective employee recognition to engage and empower female talent and cultivate a gender-inclusive workplace – not just on International Women’s Day, but every day. 

Here, we discuss five employee recognition examples for businesses to do just this: 

1. Celebrating performance at all levels. 

43% of female employees value line manager and peer recognition above receiving a higher salary. Regularly celebrating performance is a powerful employee recognition example to value the impact of female role models at all levels across the business, from senior leaders to entry-level positions. Recognition should not be exclusive to exceeded KPIs, but should also value performance, effort, innovation, and creativity. Recognition from both line managers and peers creates a culture that motivates and promotes visibility of female talent within the business, inspiring future leaders. 

2. Delivering timely reward. 

Pairing recognition with meaningful and timely rewards, such as digital wallet points or vouchers, development opportunities, time off, or bonuses is an effective employee recognition example that inspires and values optimised performance. Reward can also be closely tied to embodying company values, with each being personalised to individual preferences.  

3. Providing inclusive benefits. 

Providing benefits that represent the broad and unique needs of female employees is critical to enabling equity of opportunity. Benefits offers must address unique needs, including access to flexible working, maternity leave, childcare vouchers, and family-planning and menopause support. It is crucial to continuously evolve the benefits package to align with changing needs, and regular engagement surveys can help identify any gaps in the existing offer. 

4. Leveraging internal award nominations. 

Delivering internal award schemes that enable both managerial and peer-to-peer nominations is another powerful employee recognition example. This cultivates an inclusive culture by delivering recognition across a breadth of areas and encourages equal representation of female nominees. Awards can be linked to performance and culture, with reward paired with Bronze, Silver and Gold winners to maximise impact.  

5. Recognising the key moments. 

Recognising key moments such as birthdays, service milestones, and achievements outside of job role performance is an effective employee recognition example that instils belonging and community for all. National calendar days also provide a great opportunity for managers and peers to recognise one another – including International Women’s Day, where the spotlight is placed on the brilliant women across the business.  

Recognition is a key tool for championing an inclusive culture that empowers employees to reach their potential. By implementing these employee recognition examples, HR leaders can transform their employee experience and unleash the value of every individual across the business no matter their background.  

To explore how to instil an authentic culture of recognition in your business that empowers all talent, chat to us or book a free demo. 

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