The Five P’s of an Employee Recognition Scheme

Whether you are pulling together an employee recognition and reward scheme from scratch or giving your existing efforts a review and an overhaul, the five P’s of employee recognition detailed below can help you to engage employees of all demographics.

1. Progression

Is there room for progression in your company? Do you even know who the most promising employees in your company are? A formalised employee recognition system highlights who is at the top of their game and who is going above and beyond time and time again to hit those targets. A workplace culture of appreciation will encourage employees to show off their strengths but it is important that goals set are achievable for every employee and not just a select few. A recognition scheme should work for both you and your employees and this not only allows you to put your highest achieving employees in the spotlight but it also encourages every individual to step up their game.

2. Personalise

The relationship between managers and employees and between peers can impact on engagement. One way to improve these relationships is to provide the means to formally say ‘thank you’ and take a personal approach to delivering praise. It is important to consider that if you offer rewards as part of your programme make sure the individual is given something of meaning or value to them. By offering a suite of rewards that can be selected by the recipient employers can avoid complicated reward purchasing processes whilst maximising the impact of the rewards.

Your employees are the biggest asset to your company and if the act of recognition isn’t personal, you run the risk of demotivating an already transient workforce. A simple thank you goes further than you might expect.

3. Praise

Research shows that praise is among the most effective ways to engage employees in the workplace so it makes sense to incorporate various channels of praise into your engagement efforts. Create simple ways for employees to receive praise from both employers and co-workers alike. Giving immediate feedback and congratulating employees on their achievements in real time can really help those employees to feel like a valued part of the team.

Link praise to company values to ensure you encourage desired behaviours and be sure to offer a healthy blend of both monetary and non-monetary recognition.

4. Promote

You could have the best recognition scheme on the planet but if your employees don’t understand the criteria, all of your hard work could go to waste. Simply having a scheme in place isn’t enough, you should think of ways to promote it throughout the year. It is not just a case of creating a buzz before it is launched, a continual programme of promotion should be in place in order to drive usage. Take the time to make sure that each and every employee understands the objectives and how the scheme complements the company goals. This way, everyone is on the same page from the very beginning.

5. Partake

What really makes an employee feel valued? Employees want their opinions to be heard and your recognition scheme can give each and every one of them a voice. As your employee recognition scheme is designed with your workforce in mind, it makes sense to let them partake in the creation of it through surveys and focus groups. Ask employees for feedback on all things recognition related and not only will this make it simpler to build an effective scheme but it also allows the voice of your employees to be heard.

Is your employee recognition scheme up to scratch? Use these five P’s to review and improve the way you deliver praise to benefit both your employees and your company. Find out more about employee recognition here.