When a person or team’s behavior, effort or business result supports an organization’s goals and values that goes beyond normal expectations, recognition is in order. Employee recognition is an important part of encouraging others in the workplace and one of the best ways of strengthening working relationships. The psychology of praising others for their good work is something many successful business leaders in the greater St. Louis area understand and why so many turn to ASAP Awards when the time has come to recognize a person or team’s hard work.
Whether it’s a crystal award, a plaque or a trophy, ASAP Awards carries the tokens to satisfy your employees’ fundamental human need for appreciation. When your employees are recognized for their hard work it confirms their work is valued. As a result, their satisfaction and productivity rises and they continue to maintain or improve upon their future work.
An ASAP Awards trophy helps your employees to feel respected and valued for their contribution. Such a trophy gives a person a feeling of achievement for a valiant effort and work well done. It’s that “pat on the back” that makes them feel good and willing to give 110% day in and day out.
The benefits of recognizing a job well done far outweigh its costs. One benefit of recognition is increased individual productivity. When you recognize a desire behavior, the odds of the employee repeating the desired behavior increases and so does productivity. This is behavioral psychology in its most basic form, with the reinforced behavior supporting the organization’s mission and key performance indicator.
When employee recognition is done correctly, employees experience greater satisfaction and enjoyment in their work. They spend less time complaining and more time focusing on their jobs. Recognition is validating as well. It allows an employee to receive direct performance feedback. When direct performance feedback is provided, organizations see higher loyalty and satisfaction scores from customers because they are being served by workers who care about the company and the quality of their work. Employee recognition also enhances teamwork between employees. Retention of quality employees increases while employee turnover decreases. When employees feel valued there are fewer accidents on the job and an improved safety record. When employees are recognized for their work and feel valued, they experience less stress on the job and absenteeism dramatically decreases.
Do the benefits of recognizing your employees outweigh the costs? Absolutely. The cost of recognizing your employees includes your time spent designing and implementing a recognition program that best suits your organization. Another cost is the time taken to give the recognition. You’ll also need to factor the dollar cost of the recognition items given as well as the time and cost of teaching people how to give recognition. Lastly, there’s the cost of introducing a new process within your organization.
There are all sorts of ways to give employee recognition. In “The Importance of Employee Recognition — Part II,” we will look at ways you can give employee recognition and examples of measurable improvement in profitability as a result of recognition schemes.