Improving morale at the office is often an elusive endeavor for many managers.
It can be difficult and challenging at the very least to find ways to engage with employees.
In order to help employees get the most out of their work at your company, they need to fill high levels of job satisfaction and engagement.
The best way to do this is to use employee recognition.
It ensure everyone is consistently being recognized for their positive contributions to the company.
It’s also a way to provide feedback, keep employees on track, and show them that you value their contributions.
With the proliferation of modern technology such as smartphones and cloud-based platforms, it’s easier than ever to implement a recognition program at your company.
Here’s a short guide to using employee recognition programs to increase morale at your organization.
What Constitutes Employee Recognition Software?
Employee recognition software is typically a series of programs with unique functions.
These functions integrate together to create a robust platform for recognizing members of your team.
Recognition software is useful for tracking and managing employee performance across an entire company.
It gives everyone from management to team members access to a broad platform.
There everyone can talk freely, give props to their coworkers, and recognize special achievements.
One can also use it as a viable platform to administer awards, bonuses, and other forms of compensation.
Personalized emails and messages are part of the technological aspect of it that makes it such a valuable system.
Most platforms these days are cloud-based.
They feature many different functions that can help recognize employees the right way.
Ultimately, employee recognition software is a great way to show your employees that you appreciate their hard work and dedication to the organization.
Features of Employee Recognition Software
When you’re looking to improve recognition and morale at your company, you need to know what to look for in employee recognition software.
There are a plethora of options available from in-house services to more powerful and reputable platforms like the Workhuman cloud.
Whatever route you choose to go, here are a few features to look for in a software package:
- Anniversary celebrations and planning
- Milestone recognition
- Social recognition
- Peer-to-peer feedback/recognition
- Mood assessment
- Continuous performance management
- Rewards centers
- Survey functions
The best employee recognition software is going to help you maximize engagement, reduce turnover, and ultimately make the office a better place.
How It Works
So how does employee recognition software work?
At its core, it seems pretty simple: take steps to recognize employees and their work.
In its easiest, simplest form it can merely be a verbal acknowledgment of a job well done or a written note after somebody meets a goal.
It can also be much more complex, especially when technology gets involved (but always in a good way).
Connected platforms allow employees to give a shout out anytime, anywhere, for any reason at all.
Recognition works best when it follows certain tenants as well.
It should be unexpected, specific, timely/prompt, visible to everyone at the company, and happen often.
That way, recognition performs an integral function to boost morale and create a more engaged office environment.
Benefits to Employees
On the employee side of the equation, recognition can be a significant and wonderful thing.
Pay, equity, work life balance, and other considerations all factor into an employee’s well-being, contentment, and engagement with a company.
But sometimes employees just want to be recognized for their dedicated efforts.
An employee who gets regular recognition is actually going to be a lot more productive and happy with the organization.
When employees are happy, it leads to good things and less instances where people just quit on the spot.
By employing recognition at your company you can make employees the best while also giving them a good reason to go to work.
Recognition also makes it easier to celebrate an anniversary.
Celebrating events and milestones are a great way to show appreciation to employees throughout a company.
However you decide to recognize your employees, consider the usefulness of such a platform and how it can bring your business great success.
Then be sure to incorporate it into your overall business strategies and tech platforms.
Thus it`ll make it easier for everyone to recognize each other’s accomplishments consistently across the company.
Benefits to the Organization
Employee recognition programs don’t merely benefit the employees.
They can have substantial benefits for the company, too.
To begin with, motivation is the key word here.
Motivation can be tough to come by, especially in certain industries.
When you implement a strong recognition program employees will feel more motivated and more likely to perform better.
This can increase productivity and help everybody feel appreciated/valued.
Beyond that, it gives employers the opportunity to track employee performance in meaningful ways.
This might be through check-ins, continuous performance management, or surveys.
All of these forms of recognition make it easier to assess your team.
Furthermore, you can increase their engagement by taking the time to understand what your measurements mean.
But perhaps the best part of employee recognition software is that it helps you keep, attract, and develop your employees.
Instead of resigning the first chance they get due to myriad factors that might be affecting them, employees will be more likely to stay with a company if they feel like they belong.
And that’s a tremendously positive benefit for any organization looking to thrive in a competitive world.
Petr is a serial tech entrepreneur and the CEO of Apro Software, a machine learning company. Whenever he’s not blogging about technology for itechgyan.com or softwarebattle.com, Petr enjoys playing sports and going to the movies. He’s also deeply interested in mediation, Buddhism and biohacking.