5 Steps To An Engaging Employee Recognition Plan

Employee recognition plans are a hot topic right now, and there’s a good reason why. 

Rewards and recognition are a huge component in maintaining staff loyalty and retention. 

In today’s workforce, employees are unwilling to stay in a job where they are unacknowledged and without an opportunity for advancement. 

That’s why employee turnover is at an all-time high. 

Without further ado, here are 5 steps to building an effective, efficient, and engaging employee recognition plan.

What is an employee recognition plan?

Before jumping into the how let’s tackle the what.

In summary, an employee recognition plan is an outlined program laid out for your employees that details how they can work toward recognition and/or rewards.

You’ll want to chart out several things, such as performance expectations, and specific rewards your employees can expect to receive as a result of their hard work.

Now, let’s jump into 5 things you can do to get your employee recognition plan in order.

1.  Decide what high performance is worth to you 

Let’s say someone on your staff is able to impressively resolve a conflict with a difficult customer. At this point, they have prevented a client from leaving and a potential negative review on your business. 

The point is, there are probably many times when your staff has gone above and beyond to contribute to the success of your company. Ask yourself how much it is worth to you to retain and encourage those employees.

The obvious answer is a lot, but really, how much?

Be specific – really consider what you as the employer are willing to put forth to encourage this above-and-beyond behavior. 

Once you start considering the value of your employee recognition plan, it will be much easier to understand how important it is to provide fair employee rewards. 

2. Define what constitutes an outstanding moment

What does it look like to actually go above and beyond in your company? 

Is it exceeding customer service standards? Responding to emergencies in alignment with company standards? Bringing great ideas to the leadership team? 

Whatever it is, it’s important that you know what you’re looking for. 

Be transparent with your team about what they need to do to go above and beyond, otherwise your employees might lose their motivation to excel out of lack of clarity in your employee recognition plan.

3. Outline levels and use a point system

Assuming you have a great team that is frequently exceeding their expectations, it probably isn’t realistic to initiate a reward for every moment. 

Now the question is, how do you keep track of these moments, and how do you decide when to grant a reward? This is where a points-and-level system comes into play.

Outline a pathway for advancement by creating levels tied to earning a certain amount of points. When a team member does something outstanding, have their manager award them a point. 

This can be tracked in a variety of ways, such as using good ol’ spreadsheets or something new, like OneTeam360’s Incentive Program.

The important thing is that when an employee reaches a level, they are rewarded immediately. They should not have to chase or wait around for something that they already earned.

4. Brainstorm employee rewards

You don’t have to be handing out new S-class Mercedes’ to incentivize hard work.

To be honest, you don’t even need to hand out money to incentivize it.

Oftentimes, the best rewards to have in your employee recognition plan are simple knick-knacks like company merch, gift cards, and other inexpensive things.

Here’s a quick list of some ideas for rewards to include in your employee recognition plan:

• Company merch (people love hoodies)
• Tuition reimbursement
• Movie tickets/other activities
• Affiliate/referral programs
• Health/wellness programs
• Career development opportunities/resources
• Cold, hard cash (everyone loves this one)

These should give you a good starting point for choosing which rewards to include in your employee recognition plan.

5. Automate your employee recognition plan

Manually keeping track of employee success is an incredibly tedious task, as it requires hours of spreadsheet logging and cross-referencing to make sure your employees’ progress towards their rewards is being accurately tracked.

If you like the old-school model, then Excel is your best friend, and keep rocking that.

If you want something completely automated, so you can win your time back to focus on more important tasks, OneTeam360’s Incentive Program is just what you need.

OneTeam360 was designed to be the most versatile employee management platform for hourly and shift-based workers.

Employers now have the ability to develop their employee recognition plans in-app, eliminating the need for manual reward and progress tracking.

Employees can see their progress through our tiered level system in-app, or on the web, as well as track hours, and offer feedback to their employees.

Click here to book a free demo and see how OneTeam360 can unlock new potentials for your shift-based employees.

Conclusion

And there you go, that’s everything you need to know to build an engaging employee recognition plan.

Remember, defining clear goals and rewards is the key to a successful program, no matter your industry or staff salary.

Without clarity, your employees may suffer from a loss of direction and motivation.

If you’d like to explore how an automated employee recognition plan can save you time and money, click the link below to book a free demo for OneTeam360.