What is  an Employee Recognition (ER) Program?

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An employee recognition program can be a great morale-building tool for any organization, whether large or small. Everyone likes to be recognized for their accomplishments and effective recognition programs can lead to innovation, higher productivity and greater job satisfaction for the workers.

A program for employee recognition should include several levels of recognition. From a simple Certificate of Appreciation to Employee of the Month to awards given on the division and company-wide level, recognition should be provided to those who exceed expectations and earn the awards.

Recognition awards should not be too easy to obtain; if they are easy to achieve, they lose their meaning. The lower tier or employee recognition awards should, on the other hand, not be too difficult to achieve or everyone will feel that the recognition program is ineffective.

A Certificate of Appreciate is a very simple, cost-effective form of recognition. When a customer, whether internal or external, documents an event where an employee goes above and beyond their normal duties, a simple certificate in a frame and a letter from management stating what the award was for and how they learned about the event that led to the award is very appropriate and costs very little.

If a customer writes the employee's leader to tell them about the service they received, a copy can be presented to the employee along with the certificate. This type of award can be given at department or branch staff meetings. This is a practical situation that using positive words as an employee reward is effectively and appreciated.

Employee of the Month recognition should include a nomination of an employee by someone who works with them and should document carefully what the employee did during that month to deserve the recognition.

A well-designed, framed certificate, plaque or other physical award should be given to display along with a small monetary reward making this recognition highly coveted by team members. Higher productivity and deeper dedication results from wise use of this recognition award because every employee will want to be named Employee of the Month for their hard work.

A branch or division award could be an Employee of the Year or Employee of the Quarter, depending on the size of your organization. If your company has many different locations, a large award for company-wide recognition can be very effective as a much sought-after employee recognition award.

To make employee recognition programs effective, the recognition system must have clearly documented criteria for each award. The nominations for awards must also be reviewed and assessed by an unbiased team of peers.

If there is any hint that chance of gaining recognition are higher for the popular employee or the employee the boss likes best, the entire employee recognition program will be of little value.

Copyright © 2006 by Bill Roche.  All rights reserved.  All material on this site (www.TopResults.com) is protected by U.S. Federal Copyright law. It may not be reprinted in any form, or hosted on any Web site, without explicit permission.

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