It’s Not Rocket Science!

For the most part, the workforce are an organisations most valuable asset, and having engaged happy employees can only be a good thing. There are many ways to increase and enhance employee engagement in the workplace, but perhaps the most obvious, because ‘it’s not rocket science’, is employee recognition.

Employee recognition is the well timed, informal or formal acknowledgement of a staff members’ behaviour, hard work or achievement that backs your organisations ethos and strategies, and which distinctly goes above and beyond what is normally expected of them.

To be really effective in this area, there needs to be an understanding of the psychology behind the act showing genuine appreciation to your workforce for their good work.  Apply the concept of employee recognition yourself and inspire others to introduce it into their relationships with other work colleagues.

There is a fundamental human need to be appreciated. Employees get the confirmation they need from expressions of appreciation that their work is respected and of value.  If employees feel that their work is valued their job satisfaction and work performance will increase, and they become more motivated to continue or improve on the work they do.

Employee recognition has two aspects.  The first is to determine a reason to praise a staff member or team. Missed opportunities happen all too often if you are not in a receptive or observant frame of mind.

The last is the obvious physical undertaking of affirming your employees for their efforts and accomplishments.

Ensuring employees are recognised sends out an impressive message, not only to the recipient, but to their team and other employees within the organisation.  It’s an extremely powerful communication tool.

However, despite employee recognition being a simple choice when looking at your employee engagement strategy, it’s often carried out badly if at all.

It’s clear that management need to emphasise and encourage acknowledgement of their staff, and employee recognition remains a management technique very much undervalued.

It would be wise to include questions relating to employee recognition in any staff survey your organisation runs as the results may show a definite need to implement a recognition scheme.

The cost of introducing a scheme doesn’t have to have huge cost implications either, just by starting off with a simple ‘thank you’ can prove to be as highly effective as a gift or financial reward – so there’s no reason why all organisations shouldn’t be recognising their staff.

If you would like to discuss conducting an employee survey, then please contact us on +44 (0)1255 850051.