Do you remember the last time someone gave you recognition 🎗️ for your work? 🤔 No matter how many thoughts 💭 you have in your head, this will always stick with you as it means something.
Employee recognition comes in many shapes 🟩🔷, but whatever approach you fancy, you have to agree - it’s absolutely one of the most valuable areas an employer must focus 🎯on.
Besides making your employees feel good, it also impacts key 🗝️ business metrics like employee engagement, productivity, retention, and more.
Identifying 🔍 the right employee recognition ideas takes time. But once you know what works for you and your employees, you know you’re giving your business what it needs to expand and grow 📈 in the right direction. 🔝
As an organization, you need to carefully customize your employee recognition program ideas and efforts to make it significant to your workforce. Here are a few easy employee recognition ideas you can try almost immediately.
🤔 Why Is Recognizing Employees Important? 🤔
Employee recognition 🎗️ helps acknowledge the accomplishments and hard work of individuals, teams, and entire workforces within a company.
The idea behind the employee recognition program is to create a bond 🤝 between organizations and employees so everyone feels appreciated, valued, and respected. Employee recognition is one of the most important factors in driving workplace engagement, productivity, and retention.
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Simple gestures like a ‘kudos’ 👌 or ‘a pat on the back’ 🤚 create a positive impact, make people feel good, and build a more human and inclusive workplace.
Overall, employee recognition is significant because it includes a business’s most important asset - its employees. Employees are the ones behind the work 💪- dealing with projects, talking to customers, driving performance, and more.
Showing them appreciation helps foster a better working environment 🌇, and a better emotional connection between the employee and the company itself.
🎗️ 15 Trending Employee Recognition Ideas 🎗️
1. 💸 Bonus
One of the best employee recognition ideas that you cannot go wrong with is a bonus 💰. It’s essentially a monetary reward for a job well done. 🥳
It tops the list as it’s a form of reward that’s immediate in nature and, when done right, extremely effective. 🎯 You can hand it out almost instantly and you can see the gratification as quickly too.
2. 💆♂️ Employee benefits
A solid benefits package with the “right” ✅ benefits helps attract 🧲 and retain talent.
MUST READ: Best Employee Benefits Checklist Every Modern Employer Needs
Please read the above link, it will throw light 💡 on the different benefits a modern workplace can have. Gone are the days when a simple paycheck 💷 will cut it. Today’s workforce requires benefits that are in line with their current times.
Of the many benefits like flexibility 🏡, time-off, and more, group health insurance 📜 has become the rising star⭐.
Especially after the pandemic, employees want to protect both their and their family’s 👨👩👧👦 health. Plus, it’s a way to eliminate the financial burden off your employees’ shoulders, leaving their minds 🧠 clutter-free and ready to focus 🎯on work.
🟢 With Loop, you get comprehensive health insurance for your employees that's customizable according to your needs. That’s not all, you also have doctors 🩺 who care for you like family, and a support team 🤳 to help with claims or customer queries to ensure your employees are stress-free.
For HRs, the HR dashboard, the Loop app 📲, and other product features, make sure your health benefits run with minimal intervention on autopilot. 🟢
3. 💆♂️ Wellness programs
You’ve heard the age-old adage, ‘health is wealth 💰.’ What better way to recognize 🎗️ your employees than by caring for their wellness? 🧘
Think of wellness programs such as dance classes 💃, yoga sessions, brain 🧠 training games, financial 💴 management, and more.
GOOD TO KNOW: Why Is Health And Wellbeing Important In The Workplace?
While they get to indulge in fun and games 🎮, they also learn a thing or two. And when they get back to work, they’re refreshed and ready to give in their 💯!
When you think of wellness, think no further than Loop. Along with group health insurance 📜, you also get free wellness sessions 💆 for your teams, 4x a month! This allows employees to stay on top of wellness goals 🎯 with the help of wellness experts.
Enjoy the goodness of real-time wellness. Check 👀 out the upcoming schedule here. 🗓️
4. 🧧 Gift cards
What’s a way to recognize team members' efforts but not put too much thought into the gift? Gift cards are your answer.
With gift cards, 🃏 your options are limitless. You can either buy them from your employees’ favorite brands like Amazon or Apple 🍎, or let your employees choose. Either way, this is not only useful but also meaningful.
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5. 📈 Growth and development opportunities
Sometimes, the best employee recognition ideas are giving them the opportunity to develop 🪴 themselves. This can include professional courses 📚 directly related to work or meditation or yoga sessions 🧘, which aren’t directly linked to work, but will help with overall wellness. ☮️
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6. 🌄 Experiential rewards
Sometimes, experiences 🚅 speak louder than words. Rather than offering the atypical rewards, you can present them with an experience of some kind.
Think tickets 🎟️ to an event, wellbeing 💆♀️ gifts, a family 👨👩👧 vacation, etc. Such things give your employees time to refresh themselves, plus spend time with their family. When they return they’re rejuvenated and come with better morale.
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MAKE A CHANGE: 10 Easy And Efficient Ways To Increase Morale At Work
7. 🚕 Taxi credits
With employees returning to the office 🏢, this is a thoughtful way to acknowledge employees who travel often and use either Ola or Uber.
Credits 💳 help them reduce their expenses on the commute and it’s a simple yet meaningful gesture to show you care.
8. 🍟 A good meal
Everybody loves good (and free) food. 🍔🍜🍚 And that’s what makes this one of the best employee recognition ideas that are highly effective.
This employee reward comes in countless forms like leaving snacks 🍿 in the break room 🛋️, lunches with team members, one-on-one with managers 🧑💼, private lunches with the boss, bringing food from food trucks down the street, or something as simple as ordering pizza. 🍕
WORTH KNOWING: 15 Best Employee Perks That Increase Employee Satisfaction
9. 🥳 Celebrate birthdays
Sending employees meaningful wishes on their birthday 🎉 is a simple yet effective way to recognize them.
You can either arrange a cake 🎂 for them, give that person a gift card 🧧, give them a day off, give them some company swag, or just a shout out 🔊 on the company group.
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To make sure you and your peers remember, you can add it to your Google or Outlook calendars. 📅
10. 📣 Recognize employees on social media
A quick and easy way to recognize your employees is a shoutout 🔊 on Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, or any other platform where your company has a social media presence. 🧑💻
Encourage coworkers and clients to share and add positive comments 💬. For your business, it’s a bonus as you’re giving your company a human face. 🧑
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11. 🌴 Extended breaks
Whether full-time or remote employees 🏠, recognizing their hard work with long breaks is an easy employee recognition idea.
This extended break can be a holiday 🌍 or even an extended lunch break 🍜 for individuals or teams.
Other than some R&R 🛋️ during working hours, it’s an excellent way to boost productivity 🎯 and collaboration 🤝 too.
TRY IT OUT: 15 Fun Employee Engagement Quiz Ideas To Boost Productivity
12. 🏆 Trophy
Create a trophy like ‘employee of the month, ’ ‘always lends a helping hand 👋,’ ‘team player ⚽,’ etc. and you can pass this along to the other winners 🥇 on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. 🗓️
When you hand out the trophy, ensure everyone and not just the receiver knows the purpose of it, explain what the trophy stands for and the specific action they're being recognized 🎗️ for.
LEARN MORE: 3 Steps To Build An Employee Recognition Program That Works
13. 🙏 Employee appreciation day
Employee appreciation day falls on the first Friday of March. 📆 You can either use this day or any other day of your choice to host an appreciation day to publicly 🔊 show your team you care.
Employee recognition ideas for this include fun games 🏓 in the office, team-building activities, award 🎗️ ceremony, etc.
HAVE SOME FUN: Top 10 Fun Friday Games And Activities For Employees
14. 🧱 Employee wall of fame
This employee recognition idea for small businesses works well, especially for small businesses, as it requires very little investment, both monetarily 💶 and time-wise ⏲️.
All you need is a space where you can pin up photos 🖼️ of employees who you’d like to recognize for a great job, including why they’ve garnered this recognition.
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For remote employees 🏡, rather than something physical, you can highlight various accomplishments in your company group.
15. 💌 A card
Some of the best employee recognition ideas are the simplest ones. And a handwritten note 📝 is a gesture of appreciation that goes a long way. Not only is it something memorable 🧠 but also a keepsake that one can keep in the years to come.
You can either leave cards on employees’ desks 🖥️ or send them to their home 🏡 address. Remember, when you’re penning 🖊️ this down, be specific as to why you’re recognizing them.
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🙏 It’s Time To Say Thank You 🙏
Like other processes, employee appreciation is an essential part of a business. A company that recognizes milestones, anniversaries, new behaviors, or achievements, sees higher 📈 retention and engagement rates.
Do you want happy and engaged 😁 employees who make the workplace positive? You need Loop.➰
We offer amazing health benefits 👌 for small and large teams. We work with 130,000+ happy customers and 30+ HR teams. 😊
See Why HRs Love Loop
Along with group health insurance from top Indian insurers at affordable prices, we have a host of free add-on benefits for the holistic wellbeing of your employees. Enjoy doctor consults 🩺, wellness sessions 🧘, top-up policy 🔝🆙, additional dental 🦷 and vision cover, mental health consults 🧠, and more.
You have everything in one place to help your teams feel better and do their best. 💯
