Taking the time to recognize and praise your team is something that is often forgotten about or ignored. Research from Aon Hewitt suggests leaders who do not make employee recognition a priority are missing an opportunity to keep employees happy and engaged.
There is also a huge benefit to praising your employees from a business standpoint. If your employees are praised for doing a good job then they will work harder and bring in more money. It also means that you are able to see who are the hardest working and best employees. Another way this helps the business is that you can get insurance for them using this relevant life insurance calculator so you don’t have to worry about financial implications that may occur from them passing away suddenly. All this from just praising your employees more.
According to Ken Oehler, Global Culture & Engagement Practice leader at Aon, “As engagement falls, businesses can expect greater employee turnover, higher absenteeism, lower customer satisfaction – all factors that will significantly contribute to poor financial performance.”
Praising and recognizing employees is low cost and does not take a lot of time, so why do so many leaders seemingly forget about it? Often, leadership just does not make the time or does not believe that regular praise will actually increase engagement. Praising employees is something that every manager should make time for – even if it’s just a few minutes a day. Sending a quick thank you note or stopping by an employee’s workspace does not take long, and doing a little bit every day goes a long way.
A great way to recognize employees is through your company’s intranet or internal collaboration tool. This means others will see the exchange, and hopefully will inspire your team to post recognition of colleagues as well.
You can find many reasons to post about or recognize an employee’s success. Acknowledge an individual or team who completed a project well. Share key takeaways from a colleague’s conference presentation. Thank an employee for going out of their way to help another colleague with a task or project. Congratulate an employee on his or her promotion. Thank an employee who is moving on for their hard work and wish them well.
Example posts to share on your intranet or collaboration tool:
- Thank you, Jim, for your hard work on today’s presentation to the Marketing department. They loved your real-world examples!
- Congratulations to Cathy for her promotion to HR Manager. Cathy has been working with us for 8 years now, starting as a Payroll Processor. We love having you on our team!
- Ben joins our team today as a Social Media Coordinator. Stop by and give him a warm welcome!
- A big Thank You to the accounting team for bringing in desserts celebrating February birthdays! Happy birthday to all!
- Have you noticed a colleague go above and beyond recently? Share briefly below! We would love to hear about your experiences. A random post will be chosen, and that person and the recognized colleague will each receive a $25 Amazon gift card. Thank you for everything you do!
Recognizing employees for their work shows that you are paying attention – that you see what your team is doing and understand how each person is vital to the success of the entire company. These examples are specific for a reason, showing that you care and notice individuals and their accomplishments. An employee that feels recognized, valued and respected for doing their job well will likely continue to perform better and share that experience with others.
