Thoughtful Employee Recognition & Appreciation Ideas for 2019 Part - 7

1. Set up a peer-to-peer system

Peer to peer recognition ranks as the 3rd most requested form of recognition by employees. Allison Citino, Communications Director at ad agency Team One, points to the power of peers:

“Create a system that encourages peer-to-peer recognition.

We have an internal employee recognition program where you can send your colleagues a thank you note, and then they are also entered to win a gift card. Design the cards in a way where folks are proud to display them!”

2. Support what they want to support

Ad agency Drake Cooper recognizes employees through philanthropic side projects. They have a Dream Big program where they let staff select a nonprofit for the agency to work with for free. Letting staff have the time to work on a passion project and do good is a great way to offer recognition.

3. Go visit

The experts at the staff recognition blog, Baudville put simple visits at the top of their 7 Simple Ways to Engage Your Team in 10 Minutes or Less post. Facetime not only makes employees feel appreciated, it also helps you get to know employees impromptu

4. Showcase employee success stories

Learning manager at Disney University, Pete Blank, recommends showcasing employee success stories in order to show that there are opportunities for upward mobility within companies. Disney showcases every promotion and employee success story, at every opportunity they get.

Disney’s internal newsletter “Eyes and Ears” features everything from health and wellness tips, employee appreciation awards and milestones, to “Magical Moments” between cast members and guests.

 5. Recognize skills (and talents) they value in themselves

When people have natural skills and talents, they sometimes find it hard to see the true value in what they do best. As a result, raw talent can be neglected instead of nurtured, and the talented employee fails to live up to his or her full potential. When this happens at scale – entire companies fall short of their true potential.

That’s why every company should recognize employees not just for achievements that result from hard work and dedication, but also for achievements centered around individual talents.

Give superlative recognition awards with themes aligned with the talents you hope to nurture. Highlight a different person each month. This way, everyone receives recognition, even if they didn’t participate in one of your company’s recent standout projects. For example, you could give awards for:

· Room-commanding public speaking

· Human-calculator math skills

· Einstein ideas

· Networking