Employee Recognition Ideas to Boost Engagement and Retention
Employee recognition is a powerful way to increase engagement, boost retention, and make your work culture stand out. But in order for an employee recognition program to have these effects, you need great ideas for how to show your appreciation.
Employee appreciation is a lot more than just a “thank you.” There are plenty of ways to spread a culture of gratitude throughout your organization, including teamwork, leadership, and peer recognition.
Let’s explore different ways to showcase employee appreciation with these employee recognition ideas.
Employee recognition as part of company values
For employee recognition to have a lasting effect, it needs to be part of your company's values. This means embedding recognition and appreciation at every level of your organization, from the CEO and leadership to employees across the board.
Your employee recognition program should take a systemic approach with formally defined processes and criteria so that every team member knows how to use employee recognition and that it becomes a natural part of their role within the organization. This takes employee recognition from a nice perk to a true cultural pillar – and business driver.
An ad hoc approach doesn’t have the same guaranteed impact on your business. That’s why creating and upholding a comprehensive and equitable employee recognition program is so important.
What makes employee recognition impactful?
Picture it: an employee has done an exceptional job on a recent project. Their manager takes time to write out a thoughtful recognition message sharing exactly what the employee did well and why it’s so appreciated.
The employee gets a jolt of good vibes from the recognition and the corresponding points that come along with it, which they redeem for a reward they’ve been eyeing, making them more motivated to continue performing at a high level.
And so the cycle repeats. Get it?
Employee recognition is deeply tied to well-being and productivity. In fact, Gallup and Workhuman® research shows that when employee recognition hits the mark, employees are:
- 5x as likely to feel connected to their company culture
- 4x as likely to be engaged
- 44% more likely to be “thriving” in their life overall
Download our exclusive report to discover practical steps for unlocking the power of recognition and transforming your workplace culture.
How does this work? Gallup also found that for employee recognition to be impactful, it needs to hit these five pillars:
This means that when you recognize employees, it can’t just be for a “job well done.” It needs to be specific, correlated with your company values, on par with what the entire team receives, and genuine. Employees feel valued when they can tell the recognition is from the heart and specific to their individual work and that it’s not just their manager ticking off some recognition quota.
Employee recognition should also be given at the right frequency. Recognizing employees too infrequently comes across as shallow and unfulfilling. Excessive recognition, while rare, can also have a negative effect, making the whole thing feel meaningless.
When done right, employee recognition efforts are likely to:
- Boost employee morale
- Support professional development
- Encourage employees to recognize one another
- Motivate employees to do their best work
Be sure to give out awards of all sizes, too. A small reward can be the perfect motivator to keep putting in good work, while a bigger reward is merited for a more substantial milestone.
Employee recognition ideas
There are nearly infinite ways to show your appreciation for employees. When done right, your recognition efforts should boost employee retention and employee engagement while making your team members feel valued and seen. Here are some employee recognition program ideas.
Company events
Take a moment to celebrate accomplishments by recognizing your employees with a fun team event. Happy hours, offsites, and team lunches are nice moments to pause and appreciate team wins while boosting employee morale.
Designated breaks and break spaces
While they’re not exactly a gesture of recognition, moments to pause and recharge go a long way. Employees feel a sense of appreciation when their organizations recognize their whole human-ness and encourage frequent breaks as a means to rejuvenate before returning to work.
Celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and personal milestones
Employee appreciation goes beyond productivity and accomplishments in the office. Recognize employees for their full selves by celebrating special moments like birthdays, anniversaries, and milestones like weddings or new degrees.
Gift certificates
Reward employees’ hard work with a gift certificate to a local or national vendor of their choice! Gift cards are a great way to show appreciation while enabling employees to spend their hard-earned rewards as they see fit.
Wall of fame
Public recognition is a powerful motivator and means of employee appreciation. Celebrate above-and-beyond work by constructing and maintaining a wall of fame. This gives employees something to aspire to and shows them that their efforts aren’t going unnoticed.
Donation to a local charity
Rewarding employees with a donation to a charity of their choice shows that you value their values. It also gives them some agency over how their reward is used.
Employee of the month
Similar to the Wall of Fame, employee of the month programs are a powerful means of public recognition. This can be tied to specific output metrics, or it can be based on recommendations from managers.
Reward redemption
If you’re struggling with employee recognition ideas, don’t worry. Platforms like Workhuman take all the guesswork out of how to recognize employees by attaching a point value to every piece of recognition. Employees can then redeem their points for rewards, like gift certificates, products, or even experiences.
Monetary rewards
Nothing says “thank you” quite like some cold hard cash. A spot bonus is a great way to reinforce positive feedback and is always meaningful to the receiving employee.
Leadership recognition ideas
Senior leaders can go a while without recognition. It’s important to recognize employees of a certain level not just because all employees deserve recognition but also to show that recognition is valued at all levels of the organization.
Employees seeing their manager or leader get recognized can instill a sense of pride and encourage employees to continue doing their best work. Here are some employee recognition ideas for leadership.
Work anniversaries
Of course, milestone moments are some of the first recognition ideas that come to mind. Whether it’s two years or 20, employees of all seniority levels appreciate recognition for their years of service.
Thank you notes
Positive feedback goes a long way, especially when it’s handwritten. A brief note to show appreciation is a meaningful gesture to show leaders how valued they are.
Public recognition
Shouting out a leader for their hard work or recent accomplishments is a great way to reinforce positive company culture and the importance of recognition.
Gifts
Gifts can be a tangible and creative employee recognition idea. Picking out something specific to the person’s interests or customized with their name or initials is a great way to show that you really know and care about the individual.
Customer praise
Has a customer gone out of their way to praise a leader? Share that with them! Honest feedback is important, and hearing such praise is a great way to boost morale.
Peer recognition ideas
A good employee recognition program isn’t exclusively top-down. Peer-to-peer recognition helps spread the culture of appreciation throughout your organization and embeds it in your company values. This is a great way to involve hybrid and remote employees too. Here are some peer-to-peer recognition ideas.
Company swag
Keep a stock of company swag for employees to gift one another. It will feel all the more meaningful coming from a colleague offering it as a gesture of gratitude.
Self-care items
Show you care about your coworkers’ wellbeing with some thoughtful treat. You can give healthy snacks, a gift certificate to a local coffee shop, a bath bundle, and other self-care items. These items are easy to ship to remote employees as well.
Note of appreciation
Peer recognition is all the more meaningful when it’s written down. Many employee recognition program platforms have this functionality built-in, but you could consider hand-writing a note as well.
Celebrating a milestone or achievement
Effective employee recognition doesn’t exclusively come from senior leadership, and it shouldn’t just be managers celebrating milestones. Get the whole team involved to recognize birthdays, buying a house, having a baby, and other important personal moments.
Team recognition ideas
Employee recognition should extend beyond the individual level to teams. You can recognize employees for their shared accomplishments as a means to build camaraderie and reward collaboration. Here are some ways to do employee recognition on a team level.
Hire food trucks
Celebrate a team milestone or a finished project by hiring a food truck. This is a fun and casual way to show appreciation for a job well done on a larger scale. A team lunch feels special in its own right, and food trucks add a fun twist.
Charitable donations
Tie a productivity milestone to a donation as a means to motivate your employees to reach their team goal.
Team trophy
While trophies can feel a bit trite, they serve as a visual reminder of your accomplishments. Extend your employee recognition by putting it on a plaque or trophy that can remind colleagues of all they’ve done together as a team.
Office outing
It’s fun to leave the office every once in a while for some team bonding. Reward team members for a job well done with an outing like an escape room, happy hour, or another fun activity.
Fitness classes
Looking for creative employee recognition ideas? Get active! Offer fitness classes to help team members rejuvenate and bond during or after the work day. It’s a great way to show you value their physical and mental health, too.
Volunteer day
Show team members how much their time matters by taking a team volunteer day. Let the team decide together which organization means the most to them and give them the time to make a meaningful contribution.
Extra time off
Employees feel appreciated when they get an extra break. Demonstrate appreciation by giving the team extra time off to relax and recharge after a particularly stressful or time-intensive project.
Launch an effective employee recognition program
Armed with these creative employee recognition ideas, you’re now ready to get your recognition program off the ground (or make the most out of your existing platform). Employee recognition programs when everyone participates, so focus on buy-in rather than perfect execution. Genuine appreciation goes a lot further than any pursuit of perfection.
Learn more about peer-to-peer recognition with Workhuman here.
About the author
Maeve Ginsberg
A wellness enthusiast and the mid-day walk’s #1 fan, Maeve champions work-life balance.
Having gone from a corporate job to self employment, Maeve has lived through countless working styles. This evolution forced confrontation of her own limiting beliefs, eventually breeding a completely individualized approach to work and productivity.
As a Senior Copywriter, Maeve often writes on workplace wellbeing and strives to advocate for all workers and leaders to find small yet significant ways to make their work lives healthier and more fulfilling.
Offline, Maeve enjoys testing new cuisines and hanging upside down off walls (also known as bouldering).