Humans have an innate desire to be recognised and appreciated for the work that we do.
This is deeply connected to the rise and importance of employee engagement in today’s modern workplace. Along with technology becoming the order of the day, and as Millennials continue to enter into the workforce en masse, along with their Gen Z counterparts, two distinct generations who knows not a life without a mobile device which has enabled a state of constant social connection.
Enter social recognition.
A form of employee recognition and appreciation that’s taken into consideration the rise of tech and the importance of social media in the lives of Millennials and Gen Z employees.
In this blog post, we take a look at 8 tips to help you successfully implement social recognition in your workplace.
Are you ready to consider these tips?
1. Technology
We just wouldn’t feel right not mentioning this tip first, whilst we know that technology is the driving force behind effective social recognition in today’s workplace.
It’s crucial that companies seeking to utilise effective employee engagement as a driver of productivity and motivation, consider using technology to do so.
It’s estimated that by 2020 almost half of the ENTIRE workforce will be made up of Millennials!
So what defines them?
Millennials are one of the most tech-savvy and digitally abled generations so far. It’s no wonder technology is a key driver of engagement and recognition and wait for it…retention – a key concern for companies hiring Millennials today.
Engaging this generation using tools and platforms that they’re already engaged with will do a world of wonders for your company.
Not only will it drive engagement…
It’ll boost productivity and motivation, and has the potential to create organisational buy-in and passion towards organisational success.
So what tech would one consider? bountiXP of course
2. Peer-to-peer recognition
How great does it feel when a friend or colleague compliments you?
We’re going to go out on a limb here and say “pretty awesome!”. You may want to consider encouraging your employees to compliment and recognise each other for jobs and tasks that are well done.
As in the previous tip, you can make use of technology to aid this process.
3. A top-down model
You know the story, if you as an HR Manager do not take the lead in implementation, the likelihood is that your recognition efforts won’t be as far reaching as what you’ve researched or expect.
You need to be a key driver behind your recognition efforts. You may want to spend some time identifying social recognition champions.
Identify people within your company that you can pass some responsibility to in implementing your social recognition efforts and really drive your recognition vision.
4. Frequency
Hand-in-hand with your newly appointed recognition champions, you will want to ensure that you recognise your employees on a frequent and well-timed basis.
Recognising someone for a task from a week ago loses its impact.
Recognition needs to weave itself into the very fibre and culture of your company. The only way that’s successfully going to happen is if recognition within your workplace is frequent – you don’t want people to forget that it even exists.
5. Make social recognition fun
The key to social recognition is to always make it fun. A less formal approach with a touch of spontaneity when recognising employees for a job well done is a great way to encourage recognition.
You can make use of sticky notes, balloons and even a hot chocolate on a chilly day as your way of saying thanks!
6. Always reinforce great behaviour
Like any recognition tactic, it’s important to ensure that you are reinforcing the kind of behaviour that you would like to see happen again.
Whether one of your employees has really gone the extra mile and helped a colleague with tasks that may be overdue, or an employee taking some real initiative on a certain task – these are examples of behaviour that warrants some extra merit.
7. Consider your company’s core values
Your social recognition efforts always need to be in line with your organisation’s core values. In fact, any recognition efforts should be aligned with your company’s values.
Why?
One of the core reasons for adopting a social recognition in the first place is to not only boost productivity for a positive impact on ROI, whilst these are no doubt, primary drivers, creating and establishing a company culture is a by-product of your efforts. You need to ensure that these efforts are aligned with achieving the values your company was founded on.
8. Be inclusive
There is no doubt that you could probably pinpoint your top performing employees off the bat. If you’re a bigger organisation however you may not be able to do this for each department that you may oversee.
Our point is that, despite your top employees, there’s an entire department to consider for recognition.
As a manager, the onus will be on you to make sure that everybody is publicly and socially recognised at one point or another. This is important for your employees.
Key takeaways
Social recognition is a key driver of motivation, productivity, engagement and culture, all resulting in positive bottom line impacts on your company.
Is your company ready for this?
We sure hope these tips have meant that you’re able to take the leap toward a more socially connected and rewarding workplace, where Millennials are set to thrive, along with their Gen Z counterparts.
Let us know how social recognition takes place in your company.