17 February, 2022
Using Rewards and Recognition to Boost Productivity
This blog explains the significance of appreciating and recognizing your employees and how it can lead to an improvement in productivity.
One Recognition can change a life!
The single-most career defining moment for me was when I was working as a data analyst in a project involving spreadsheets and calculations. While I was struggling in the project, there came a day when I had to present my findings to the team. After the meeting, my boss walked up to me and said- your data wasn’t that good, but your presentation and speaking skills were amazing! You should actually be in marketing!
It’s been 5 years since that day- I changed my role immediately and am working as a full-time marketer now, happy and efficient with my role. A recognition of my strengths helped me shape my career and become exponentially more productive!
The Scientific Link between Recognition and Productivity
Studies conducted by Harvard Business Review show that-
1. 73% percent employees think that they would work harder if they were better appreciated at work
2. Peer Recognition has a greater impact on productivity than manager recognition
3. When one member of a group is rewarded for their hard work, the performance of other members of the team increases
Aligning Employee Recognition with Performance
Designing an R&R framework around a company’s key performance metrics is a great way to emphasize their importance to employees. An efficient rewards and recognition platform can help in:
1. Encouraging performance through appraisal-based recognition, wherein reward points can be allocated for achievements that align with an employee’s KPIs as per role and function
2. Integrating recognition data with performance management systems to better inform employee evaluation
3. Using gamification for social recognition in the form of scoreboards, team-wide performance scorecards, digital badges and levels
Personalization- the Key to Boosting Performance
Recognition needs to be sincere, personalized and timely to be effective. A good employee recognition program helps in improving employee engagement and thereby, performance.
1. Using e-cards, personalized messages and group recognition through an employee recognition platform
2. Using rewards to encourage all types of wins by mapping reward points to recognition based on the level of impact
3. Continually refreshing your rewards catalog based on employee redemption trends and preferences. For example- learning courses may be popular among new joiners or sales teams may prefer cash payouts instead of physical gifts
Conclusion
In this blog, we have drawn a clear link between recognition, engagement and productivity. We have also seen how peer recognition is especially effective in boosting employee motivation. Such an environment of peak performance can be created using an organization-wide employee appreciation tool, wherein employees can recognize anyone in real-time and comment on others’ achievements through social walls. In conclusion, digital rewards and recognition needs to be a part of any organization’s strategy hoping to foster an engaged and productive workforce.