Congratulations! You’ve successfully built a team of champions. Recap time! How’s your employee recognition program benefiting your business so far this year?
If your answer is anything other than “game-changing,” this is not the year to hit the snooze button on appreciation.
While it’s obviously true that employee recognition positively impacts your employees, the benefits are actually far greater.
Yep, that’s right. Employee recognition isn’t just about your employees.
Without an effective employee appreciation program, you’re likely to see some lulls in other areas of your business.
Key measurables like productivity and profitability are directly related to your employee engagement and their levels of input and commitment to the company values.
“To build the right workforce for the future and leverage its capabilities, leaders must take a human-centered approach to building their employee experience and employer brand. It starts by demonstrating to employees that you value them by recognizing their contributions.”
It’s not hard to see how recognizing your employees directly influences your company’s output and bottom line.
But if you’re still not sure how employee recognition can benefit your employees, your culture, and your business, you do not want to stop reading now.
We’ve spelled out 15 of the biggest benefits your business won’t want to forfeit in 2023.
Tip! Are you looking to learn more about employee personalities?
In just a few minutes, you can Take the FREE assessment here and unlock insights into the types of recognition that matter most to you (and your team).
With RecognitionDNA, you can stop wasting $$$ rewarding employees in ways that don’t matter, and start recognizing them in ways they will actually care about.
Benefits of Employee Recognition
1) Increased employee productivity
Measuring employee productivity is based on many factors. The number of finished goods produced vs. the target quantity. Meeting deadlines.
Tracking the key point indicators (KPIs). Financial goals. All of these metrics are directly impacted by employee productivity.
Employees who feel accomplished and valued are more engaged and motivated to crush their goals. And since their goals feed the organization’s metrics – including productivity rates – everyone wins!
2) Positive impact on employee retention
It’s no deep, dark secret that people stay where they feel valued. Who wants to spend all day at work, feeling invisible and unaccomplished? And where’s the value for them in doing that for 40 more years or even 4 more weeks?
Think of it as a partnership. When an employee’s talents and skills are appreciated, there’s no reason for them to look elsewhere.
They’re already committed to the core values and to the organization that best supports their goals, so they’re likely to celebrate more work anniversary milestones at that company.
3) Lower recruiting and onboarding costs
Brace yourself.
In 2023, the average cost of onboarding ONE new employee is estimated at over $4000! You could spend $400 just on the necessary forms and documentation for each new hire.
Then, once they’re finally onboarded and trained, it can still take up to 6 months for new employees to fully get up to speed and meet your performance expectations.
Bottom line? New isn’t always better. It’s WAY cheaper to retain your high-performing employees than it is to spend weeks scouring LinkedIn trying to replace them.
4) Healthier company culture
The culture of your company is its heart and soul. It’s created by the collective mindsets and attitudes of the employees, and it’s nurtured by positive feedback. Clear indicators of healthy company culture are high profits and productivity with low turnover (see above). Coincidence? Not likely.
Happy employees are those who feel seen and acknowledged for their capabilities. They’re more likely to show appreciation to others based on their own positive experiences, which in turn creates a cycle of social recognition, and supports a healthy workplace culture.
Try out care packages from Caroo to celebrate your employees and gift them something nice!
5) More engaged employees
Employees come to work and do a job. Engaged employees come to work and make a difference.
They’re the innovators. The question askers. The shaker-uppers. The improvement makers. They take an active role in the company and influence others to step up their game.
They obviously care about their work and the company culture and want to be a part of a successful organization. Employee rewards reinforce the great things they’re already doing and recognize them for standing out.
6) Improves employee morale
Employee morale affects other aspects of the employee experience, such as job satisfaction, productivity, and employee performance.
It feeds into the company culture so if your morale metrics are in the green, that ripple effect resonates throughout the entire system. Happy employees are more motivated, encouraged, and likely to stay where they’re appreciated.
Employee recognition was made for morale boosting! Continuously encouraging your employees and rewarding them for their talents definitely has a positive impact on their morale.
7) Increased business profits
Are you picturing Jerry Maguire, screaming “Show me the money!!”?
Disengaged employees can actually cost your company tens of thousands of dollars each year in non-value-added time. And what’s a key factor in said disengagement and revenue loss? Employees who don’t feel valued or appreciated for their great work.
Positive reinforcement yields positive results! When you invest in your employees by way of recognition, they become more deeply engaged and motivated, resulting in a more profitable bottom line.
8) Less workplace stress
Every day can’t be a party but no one wants to (nor should) be consistently frazzled at work. Workplace stress leads to burnout, absenteeism, presenteeism, and a slew of other symptoms of a toxic culture.
It can also be physically, mentally, and emotionally damaging to the individuals, so prioritizing the well-being of your workforce is necessary.
Employee recognition is more than just shout-outs and high-fives. Wellness gifts and self-care bundles make great recognition gifts and can help keep your workforce balanced.
9) Enhances employee bonds
It’s noticeable when your employees aren’t on the same page.
Providing a place for them to express themselves and recognize their colleagues for the everyday things they do strengthens their bonds and supports more free-flowing working relationships. All the things that make work better, easier, calmer, cleaner, whatever deserve an honorable mention.
Creating an interactive and successful employee recognition program offers your employees unlimited opportunities to share their gratitude in real-time.
Whether it’s for a specific peer, their whole team, or even the entire organization, their kudos generate and nurture a culture of recognition.
10) Improves communication between peers
Managing a disconnected workforce feels like you need to speak 27 different languages to effectively communicate with each of your 27 employees. Getting people better connected and well-versed in the language of acknowledgment removes barriers and opens doors for more open, authentic communication.
When gratitude and appreciation are embedded in the culture, they also influence communication. Simply put, peer recognition drives better peer communication.
11) Encourages employees to get to know each other on a human level
People in general are super interesting if we just take the time to listen. Socializing about things other than work gives your employees opportunities to find “their people.”
Who’s obsessed with the same Netflix series? Who are the dog people vs. the cat people? Who are the parents, the podcasters, the activists, and the travelers on the team? So many commonalities to uncover!
Finding these common interests strengthens bonds and improves the employee experience. Employees can humanize the people who were once just colleagues.
12) Helps support employee mental health
There are many things that can affect employee mental health at work. The number of hours they work each week, workload, the company culture, and so much more. Don’t let “feeling unappreciated” make the list. Keep employee morale high by ensuring they know they’re seen and valued for all their hard work.
It sounds so simple but, it should feel good when we do good work. Employees should be proud of their accomplishments and adding your recognition to the mix is how the feel-goods get amplified.
13) Boosts your company’s reputation as a healthy work environment
There is no doubt about it – people talk! Your employees undoubtedly talk about their days, their coworkers, their managers, etc. If those stories consistently reflect a healthy culture and positive employee experience, you’re likely to end up with a stack of resumes for positions you don’t even need to fill.
Job-seekers want to work for your company because they’ve heard all about the healthy work environment, but your current employees aren’t going anywhere because they feel appreciated and are consistently recognized for their talents. What a horrible problem to have (note the sarcasm)!
14) Attracts talented individuals
You obviously want to hire the right people the first time instead of repeating the onboarding process over and over. This means having something to offer beyond salary and benefits that’s inviting enough to draw them in. A healthy culture is definitely an intangible yet attractive perk.
When you level up your employee recognition, you’ll be shocked at how it also levels up your workforce. You’ll attract (and retain) the right team members, based on the reputation of your culture alone.
15) Inspires managers to interact with employees on a 1-to-1 basis
Finding a healthy balance between micromanaging and “good luck – figure it out” can be challenging some days. With so many different management styles, the amount of one-on-one interaction with individual team members can be poorly prioritized at times. No one really wants to work for a manager who’s hovering over their shoulder all day, but realistically, we do need some support and guidance.
Regular, consistent one-on-one time with managers to hear about all the things they’re doing right. Talk about incentive! No reason to fake an “important call” to get out of these kinds of meetings!
Benefits of Using Caroo For Your Employee Recognition Program
Caroo is all about giving back.
Our one core value is “To seek understanding. Whether it’s the humans around us, what’s most important to those we serve or the fastest path to meaningful impact we’re not going to succeed unless we first understand.”
From our charitable donations to our partnership diversity, Caroo provides all the tools and resources for cultural improvement, while recycling the “good” back into our teams, our customers, and our communities.
But Caroo doesn’t just offer industry-leading resources for all your employee recognition needs. We also provide a recognition platform to honor and celebrate all our diversities. Our Amplify experience helps to spotlight and support all the colors and shades of cultural diversity within your workforce.
Making Caroo the center of your recognition program is a move that’ll recycle the “good” back into your workforce culture too.
Caroo makes it so easy to get super personal with your employee recognition. After all, it is personal!
Conclusion
Employee recognition creates a culture where your personnel is consistently acknowledged and appreciated. Seeing their hard work valued beyond a standard paycheck actually has a psychological influence on how they work.
One recent survey showed 37% of the participants claimed that being appreciated and recognized at work would motivate them to go the extra mile more often.
Think about that! Did you realize that simply saying “Great job on your presentation today!” could have such a profound effect on employee performance?
100% facts!
Employee Recognition Benefits: Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How do companies benefit from offering recognition to employees?
- A: Offering recognition to employees benefits companies because valued employees are productive, empowered, and motivated. The more you encourage and support their invaluable efforts, the bigger the benefits to everyone.
Q: What makes employee recognition meaningful for employees?
- A: What makes employee recognition meaningful for employees is knowing what they’re doing right. They deserve to be made aware of the things they do that make a difference to others around them. Highlighting the small gestures and the bold moves of your employees helps them to be the best version of themselves.
Q: What effects can managers expect from establishing an employee recognition program?
- A: By establishing an employee recognition program, some of the effects managers can expect are better communication, higher morale, less absenteeism, and lower turnover. It will create a cycle of public recognition within the organization and generate a more respectful and symbiotic work environment.
Q: Why is it important to utilize employee recognition ideas at work?
- A: Utilizing employee recognition ideas at work is important because your employees are people first. An effective recognition program can improve employees’ communication and collaboration skills, increase productivity and profits, and help you retain the top talent on the team.
