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Previously in our ultimate guide to employee recognition, we discussed the benefits employee recognition can bring to your organization. In this article, we'll dive deeper into employee recognition programs and the benefits of using an employee recognition platform. What are the key features to look out for, and what are the best rewards system and recognition solutions to help you shape amazing culture in your organization?
What is an employee recognition program?
Employee recognition programs are a method of acknowledging, celebrating and recognizing the accomplishments, behaviours and milestones of deserving employees or teams in an organization. Recognition comes in many forms and can be as simple as saying 'thank you'. Other examples include a team meal, a prize or gift cards.
The goal of recognition is to boost employee morale and improve employee engagement, employee performance and workplace culture whilst celebrating employee accomplishments.
What is an employee recognition platform?
An employee recognition platform is a software solution, typically web-based, that enables organizations to acknowledge, recognize, motivate and even reward their employees. Recognition software provides various tools and features that allow managers and colleagues to appreciate and recognize their employees' hard work and contributions.
With employee recognition software, managers can create and manage recognition programs, such as employee-of-the-month awards, long service awards or spot bonuses, and provide rewards such as gift cards or custom rewards such as additional annual leave to employees.
In addition, employee recognition platforms may include social recognition features that allow employees to recognize their peers or receive public recognition for their accomplishments. Some platforms may even use gamification techniques to encourage participation and engagement.
Using an employee recognition platform can foster a positive environment, improve employee retention and morale, and create a recognition rich culture within your organization.
10 key features of employee recognition software
Social recognition platform
Social recognition can enhance the employee experience. We are inherently social creatures, and receiving recognition from one of your colleagues can be a great feeling. A well-designed social recognition platform encourages engagement on the platform, where all your colleagues can get involved. Some examples of social features include giving likes and comments or features that make the experience more fun and personalized, such as emojis, animated gifs and video uploads.
Gamification
Gamification features can make using the platform fun and encourage users to engage with the platform more often. Gamification features can include leaderboards, badges or a points system. These elements can act as a form of motivation for your employees and help create a healthy sense of competition in your workplace culture.
Company core values
An employee recognition platform should allow you to celebrate your company values. It would help if you were doing so when you recognize an employee or team because they have shown behaviours that your company wishes to encourage.
Peer to peer recognition
A genuinely effective employee recognition platform should not be restricted to just manager recognition. An open peer to peer recognition platform allows all employees to recognize one another. This open peer to peer recognition system encourages employees to engage with one another on the platform and genuinely improve company culture. As an employer or manager, you may only sometimes be aware of all the great work that happens throughout various departments. By having individual employees and teams celebrate their success, you'll have an overview and appreciation of the great work that happens every day.
Team recognition
What about those occasions when it's not just an individual whose done tremendous work but an entire team? Having a feature of team recognition can be a great time saver and a great way to celebrate collective success.
Recognition process
To encourage your team to reward and recognize each other's accomplishments, you'll need a platform that is easy to use. A simple, straightforward and easy-to-understand recognition and rewards redemption process is critical. The user interface should be clean and modern to help make the entire process clear for your employees.
Meaningful rewards
A recognition platform should also allow you to give out employee rewards. After all, rewards and recognition go hand in hand. A key feature of your recognition software is that it should also be a reward platform. Depending on your needs, look out for a rewards platform where you can include your own rewards or customizable rewards. Whatever you choose, you must ensure your employee rewards are effective. To do so, make them fair, relevant and meaningful rewards
Great customer service
If you need any help with the platform or your rewards, you'll want to ensure there's help when needed.
Sharing and integration features
Many modern workplaces rely on collaboration tools such as Slack and Microsoft Teams. With the best employee recognition software solutions, you can have all your recognitions appear on a dedicated Slack or Microsoft Teams channel or customize your channels for different teams. This will help to keep your team involved and engaged with your employee recognition program.
For larger organizations, onboarding and offboarding employees can be a constant challenge. The best employee recognition platforms allow for easy integration with a people management platform or HR system so that your records are linked and kept in sync.
Measure employee engagement and other key metrics
The benefits of using an employee recognition platform are not limited to your employees. For HR and management, you can use a reporting suite to track key metrics on how your employees use the platform. This can also be used as employee engagement software where you analyze valuable data. For example, this can help you detect a lack of engagement from specific individuals, departments or regions. Use this to collect employee feedback on the program to help improve it further. The key to improving your recognition program is listening to employee feedback.
A reporting suite can also allow continuous performance management. Track who is your most recognized employees and detect those where the employee performance may have dipped. Having this oversight can help make real improvements in your own workforce.
Conclusion
One of the most effective ways to enhance employee satisfaction and motivate employees is through employee recognition programs. They are a robust method as part of your recognition strategy. Employee recognition programs are designed to acknowledge and reward employees for their outstanding work. They can take many forms, such as bonuses, promotions, public recognition, or even a simple thank you note. By implementing such a program, you can show your team members that their efforts are appreciated and valued, resulting in increased productivity and higher retention rates, boosting employee morale and creating a positive company culture. So why not consider implementing an employee recognition program in your organization today?
Try encorePeople for free, our peer to peer recognition and rewards platform where employees can give meaningful recognition and rewards
