The holiday season offers the perfect opportunity for employers to recognize their hard-working employees. Whether you operate a small business with just a single location or a large national business with a dozen or more locations, you should use this time to show appreciation to your workers. It’s an otherwise simple task that will pay off in numerous ways. To learn more about employee recognition during the holidays, keep reading.

What Is Employee Recognition?

Employee recognition is exactly what it sounds like: recognizing workers for their labor, skills, and time invested into the company. Most workers go throughout their normal routine, day after day, without any acknowledgment from their employer/boss. Over time, this can lead to discontent between the workforce and management, which subsequently causes productivity to decrease.

Studies have also shown that lack of employee appreciation/recognition causes turnover rates to increase. When employees aren’t being recognized by their peers, they are more likely to look for employment elsewhere. This is particularly troubling considering the heavy cost of replacing employees who quit.

Benefits of Holiday Recognition

With the holiday season upon us, there’s no better time than now for companies to engage in employee recognition. The holidays are all about “giving,” which directly reflects the fundamental principle of recognition: the employer gives the employee acknowledgment for his or her hard work.

Employers can incorporate recognition directly into their existing holiday parties and events. If you’re planning to host a holiday party, consider allocating a certain amount of time for employee recognition. With employees already attending the event, you can knock out two birds with one stone.

How Should I Recognize My Employees?

There are dozens of ways to recognize employees, ranging from a face-to-face “thanks for the hard work,” to hosting a full-blown event where you make a speech and hand out gifts. With that said, plaque and 3D awards are typically the preferred choice by employers. There’s nothing that compares to a plaque award featuring the employee’s name engraved into it. Awards such as this carry more meaning and value, which is exactly what you should strive to accomplish with your company’s employee recognition program.

You can read through some of our previous posts here at AsapAwards.com for more employee recognition tips.