How to Build a Culture of Rewards, Recognition and Engagement?

We often talk about creating a culture of employee engagement but how can we influence employees day-to-day experience to offer meaning, impact, connection and appreciation in their everyday work.

Culture is a way of life which binds people together under one identity.  Workplace culture is the environment created by companies to offer a work-life experience for employees, often in order to encourage their loyalty.  The work culture is not the same for every company as it is determined by the values, expectation, and missions of each individual organisation.

How can you help to foster employee engagement through a positive employee experience?

Share the core values: Establishing a defined, well-communicated vision grounded in core values — and recognising behaviour that supports that vision — gives employees a sense of meaning and purpose in their work. Having leadership communicate core values regularly and clearly builds meaning into the employee experience.

Provide recognition: You can’t overestimate the power of appreciation. Research shows that employees who get some form of recognition at least once a week are more likely to stay in a job longer.

• • Make it personal. Use positive words and engage the employee to show that you really understand what he or she has done and how difficult the work was.

• • Magnify recognition using multiple communication channels – Town Hall meetings can be a venue to award all rock star performers.

• Offer beyond-the-call-of-duty perks. These might include the following ideas: More flexible hours, Celebration events for teams such as a company picnic or dinner, Opportunity to work on a special team, Enlist a Manager to recognise performance.

Provide coaching from Managers: It’s well known that managers account for most of the variation in employee engagement. In addition, as companies grow, technology changes, and cultures evolve, most job requirements also change. Companies need to provide internal training to bridge skill gaps, and coaching from a manager can be an effective form of this, fostering relationships and employee engagement.

Encourage growth: Organisations need to offer employees an opportunity to grow, discover, and expand their personal and professional horizons. Policies which extend moral as well as financial support for staff to pursue certification courses that will enhance their skill set can be useful here. However, alternatives such as the use of innovation time (where staff are encouraged to spend a percentage of their time unstructured) in organisations such as Google has been well documented. This can include spending time working on a new product, participating in innovation forums designed to share ideas across the company, or by simply allowing employees to try things without needing permission.

Promote a team environment: When you’re spending 40+ hours a week at work, having a meaningful relationship with your coworkers makes a significant difference in your employee experience. Having a supportive team environment builds everyone’s motivation. Organisations should celebrate all festivities which will bring everyone together and offer the opportunity to participate in corporate social responsibility programmes, will engage staff at an altruistic level.

Offer competitive pay and benefits: Even though pay and benefits are not the key indicators of employee engagement. When you’re looking at how to engage employees, start out by offering competitive compensation, benefits, and reasonable working conditions. With a strong focus on employee’s health and well-being, companies can offer dental/medical/eye checkups, life-skill workshops, stress management through yoga, meditation, and physiotherapy. You can ensure that the focus remains on making the organisation a caring environment in which to work.

Our expert team has been providing employee engagement and satisfaction surveys for over 20 years. If you would like to know more about how we can help your organisation with employee research, then give us a call on +44 (0)1255 870735 or contact us via our website.