how to create a strong company culture and foster employee engagement? find out with employee recognition best practices!

The competition for the best top talents is more intense then ever, some call it the “Talent War”. The impact is that recruiters from other organizations are frequently seducing your highly skilled workers, thus creating a high rate of turn over. It is costly to your company both in time and money. How to create a strong company culture and foster employee engagement and alignment? What actions can you take to reduce the number of departure and reduce the rate of turn over? One thing this is critical is to recognize your employee’s contributions in a way that makes them feel genuinely appreciated. In this article, we describe 4 employee recognition best practice:

Consistency

Set up a regular feedback process. People should recognize their colleagues on a regular and consistent basis. When you consistently offer appreciation for good performance, you install a reliable and dependable feedback system, developing a culture of recognition and excellence in your organization. It becomes more natural and easier to do. Regularly can be every week, every other week, every month, it completely depends on the number of interaction you have with your colleagues. At first you can set up a calendar and once you have done it regularly for a while it will become natural.

Timely

Recognitions should be given in a timely way, do not wait too long. It is common sense that people learn best when they receive prompt responses as a result of their actions. This is especially true with younger employees. Millennials have grown up in a fast-paced digital era and have come to expect immediate response on all things. The quicker you give feedback after an action, the more efficient and useful it is for the people receiving it. Most of all do not wait to have several things to say, it diffuses your message and has less impact. One feedback for one action is the most impactful practice.

Specific

Feedback needs to be very specific, based on facts and on one event or achievement. Be prepared and explain precisely, with simple and chosen words what the person did, either positive or negative. You will find that general comments don’t seem to stay in the mind of a person, even when they are positive. Words like “great job” are always a nice touch but they are not specific enough to gives them strong recognition. On the other hand, a specific comment about something the person did will show them you paid close attention to them and gives them a high sense of recognition. It doesn’t have to be long, but be specific.

Positive? Negative?

Positive feedback will always bring strong appreciation for a person. It is quit obvious of course. Nonetheless, development feedbacks, on specific, factual elements that the person needs to improve, to do a better job, are also a very powerful way to show recognition. Whether you are congratulating a person on a job well done, or helping them develop their skills, the important thing is to do it with the interest of the person in mind.

In the end, what matters is to show that you care enough to take the time to give carefully thought feedback, thus demonstrating regular recognition to the people you work with. The need for appreciation is fundamental to us human beings. When acted upon, it helps create a positive work environment, where employees have stronger engagement towards the company and higher motivation.