Improving Informal Employee Recognition: How to Do It?

Imagine the following scenario: you start a new job. You love your work and carry out every task assigned to you brilliantly. Yet despite your good work, no one says a word about your skills or your efforts.

Month after month, task after task, the lack of recognition for your dedication and good work becomes exasperating. Every attempt to please your manager and employer seems futile. Demotivated, you finally decide to quit a job that has become a source of stress. Yet a few words of encouragement from your manager would have motivated you to stay.

Did you know this scenario applies to many employees? Indeed, a study by CoCoworker shows that 76% of employees consider recognition the number one factor impacting their well-being at work. It is essential for retaining your talent, especially during their first months within your organization!

Download now: Free cheat sheet for welcoming and onboarding new employees!

How can you improve employee recognition at work? What impact does recognition have on your staff's motivation? To better enlighten you on the subject, here are ten concrete examples to show your employees that you appreciate them.

The Importance of Recognition at Work

Recognition at work has many benefits for the psychological health, social integrity and motivation of your employees. Taking the time to highlight your employees' good work allows them to:

• Feel recognized and appreciated by your organization;
• Feel motivated to surpass themselves;
• Feel valued for the work accomplished;
• Be less anxious, stressed and irritated at work;
• Feel included and appreciated by their work colleagues;
• Reduce their absenteeism rate by 41%;
• Improve your reputation as an employer through positive word-of-mouth;
• Reduce their desire to turn to a competing organization.

In this context, it is crucial to show your teams how much you notice their good work. A few words of gratitude, a short meeting to highlight the highlights of the past month, a team outing — all occasions are good for expressing to your employees that their efforts are noticed. Rely on our best employee appreciation examples to better motivate your staff at work!

The Four Types of Recognition at Work

There are many ways in which a lack of recognition can affect an individual's work. This can manifest as a gap between the efforts provided by an employee and the respect, job security, compensation and/or esteem received in return. Take care to regularly recognize your employees' good work!

There are four forms of recognition at work:

• Existential recognition: Recognizing an employee for their human qualities, personal challenges and attributes. To show your employees that you appreciate them as human beings, take the time to inquire about their lives, current challenges and morale. Show flexibility to better recognize your employees — they will be grateful!
• Investment recognition: Recognizing an employee's efforts, contribution and initiative toward their work. To highlight such efforts, celebrate your employees' investment through social media posts or during your team meetings.
• Results recognition: An employer's gratitude for the productivity, efforts and results of your teams. To recognize your employees' exceptional work, organize events, team-building activities, or offer bonuses based on their monthly performance.

These authentic forms of recognition will help you improve your work environment and better motivate your staff. Remember: recognizing your employees is an excellent way to stand out as an employer while optimizing the performance of your teams!

How to Improve Recognition for Your Employees?

Ten Ideas to Improve Employee Recognition

Employee recognition can manifest in many ways. Team meetings, colleague outings, social media posts, little gestures — the list is long!

How can you improve your employee experience by regularly highlighting your teams' good work? To help you, here are ten examples of employee appreciation for a strong and motivated team at work.

1. Showcase Your Employees on Your Company Social Media

First of all, an excellent way to show your recognition toward your employees is to highlight their achievements and initiative within your organization. To achieve this, what better than promoting their good work on your social media?

To accomplish this, write posts to introduce your staff members to your community. These posts will allow you to add a human touch to your online presence, but also to demonstrate your positive organizational culture to potential talents.

Here are some elements that can be included in your post when showcasing your employees on social media:

• Their journey within your organization;
• Their position;
• Their field of expertise;
• Their accomplishments;
• Their human qualities;
• Their skills as an employee;
• And more!

Such posts will benefit your employees' motivation: they allow your staff members to see that their efforts are recognized. Remember this valuable tip to better motivate your employees while strengthening their interpersonal bonds within your organization!

2. Highlight Good Work During Group Meetings

How can you motivate your teams at work? During group meetings or colleague gatherings, take the time to express your recognition toward your employees. Express in detail and sincerely how certain colleagues have stood out over the past few days. This small gesture will certainly please your employees: they will feel that their efforts are recognized and, above all, greatly appreciated.

To this end, why not plan a monthly meeting to highlight your colleagues' achievements? For example, before a meeting, ask your managers to think about employees who have stood out over the past few weeks. Then, during the meeting, encourage them to share and highlight the excellent work accomplished by your teams. This wonderful demonstration of recognition will certainly encourage your employees to give their best, while also solidifying their relationships with colleagues.

3. When Giving Positive Feedback, Be Specific

While it is important to recognize your employees' good work, it is also crucial to be specific in your comments. A precise and detailed thank-you will make your colleagues feel accomplished and noticed, whereas a very vague or out-of-context positive feedback can create an impression of insincerity.

To avoid giving your employees this impression, take the time to describe in detail why you appreciate their good work. Inform them of their qualities as human beings and colleagues, then highlight why their work is exceptional. Positive feedback, accompanied by warm and sincere compliments, will quickly make your employees smile and motivate them toward the tasks ahead. This is especially true in the context of welcoming and onboarding new employees. Your precise, authentic and information-rich comments will help them better integrate into your teams while constantly improving!

Moreover, did you know that our software includes an employee performance evaluation solution? With this tool, you will collect individual performance reports per employee based on your clients' feedback. By having accurate information on the service quality offered by your colleagues, you will be able to provide precise and information-rich comments — particularly relevant in the context of evaluation meetings.

4. Share Highlights Praised by Clients

Employee recognition at work does not come solely from managers — comments must genuinely come from feedback provided by your clients.

When a client thanks the management team for the quality of the experience they received, it is important to share these messages with the rest of the team. This recognition will provide the necessary motivation to redouble efforts and provide the best possible service. It is essential for optimizing the performance and well-being of your employees at work.

To this end, regularly share your clients' recognition with your employees. Positive reviews, warm comments, constructive suggestions — these small gestures from your clientele will quickly have a positive impact on your staff's motivation.

In the same vein, software such as InputKit allows you to automatically share positive feedback from satisfied clients with your staff members. This feature will allow you to empower your teams while showing them the concrete impact of their service on client satisfaction. Thus, relevant comments and positive reviews gathered through satisfaction questionnaires will motivate them to give their best in order to improve the quality of their services.

5. Organize Recognition Activities

Do you want to express your recognition toward your employees through means other than a conversation or team meeting? If so, we suggest planning recognition activities to thank your teams for their good work.

Here are some ideas to inspire you:

• An individual lunch with a manager;
• A dinner at a restaurant with colleagues;
• A team-building activity with colleagues;
• Draws for gift cards;
• Recognition meetings;
• An outing of choice to strengthen bonds between colleagues.

Such activities are an excellent opportunity to show your recognition to your employees, but also to allow them to build trust with their colleagues and manager. Remember this valuable tip to improve your teams' motivation while establishing an organizational culture focused on trust and recognition at work!

6. Encourage Recognition Between Colleagues

It is well known that the quality of relationships between colleagues has a crucial impact on your staff's motivation and well-being. According to a study by Psychology Today, 76% of employees are more motivated by recognition from their peers than by money. In this context, take care to establish a climate of trust, mutual respect and recognition within your organization.

During team meetings, encourage your managers to highlight your employees' achievements. During lunch hours, initiate pleasant discussions focused on your colleagues' qualities as human beings. Finally, during evaluation meetings, always take the time to mention to your staff members how much you notice and appreciate their efforts within your organization. This organizational culture focused on recognition will certainly make your employees happier at work!

7. Celebrate Birthdays in the Office

Whether it is your employee's birthday or an anniversary related to the number of years they have spent within your organization, all occasions are good for marking such an important date. Moreover, a birthday is a golden opportunity to show your employees how grateful you are for their efforts and good work.

To this end, on a birthday, send an internal message to wish the celebrant your best wishes. Offer them a birthday card signed by their work colleagues with little notes to highlight their importance within your organization. You could even offer them a gift on behalf of the entire organization and decorate their desk to celebrate the occasion!

If the budget allows, why not take the opportunity to celebrate the birthday as a team? A restaurant outing or an outdoor activity are excellent occasions to express your recognition to your employees while marking this unique day. Follow this employee recognition program example to show your staff that their well-being is a priority. Your teams will be grateful!

8. Create a Surprise Effect with Small Gestures

Beyond words, employee recognition manifests through concrete gestures and small, thoughtful surprises at work. In this context, during particularly difficult periods or remarkable successes, why not plan small gestures for your staff?

During stressful periods, offer treats to your employees. Special lunch deliveries to the office, pizza dinner, lunch at the corner café — your teams will appreciate the gesture and can return to work after recharging their energy.

Similarly, surprise your employees with surprise days off and team activities to give them the opportunity to rest. These occasions will allow you to improve their job satisfaction and give them the opportunity to get to know each other better as human beings. Follow these employee recognition program examples to stand out as an employer and better retain your talents!

9. Share Positive Client Feedback with All Your Employees

How do you motivate your teams at work? Share positive feedback from satisfied clients with all your employees!

During quarterly meetings or team gatherings, take the time to highlight the positive and recurring comments from your clientele. This valuable information will allow your teams to know the concrete impact of their services on client satisfaction while knowing that their good work is recognized. It is an indispensable strategy to better recognize the initiative and proactivity of your employees within your organization.

To motivate your staff, why not establish a recognition board where positive feedback and constructive suggestions from your clients are highlighted? At a glance, your teams will know how much their good service is appreciated. Moreover, this tool will allow them to better understand the needs and expectations of their clientele to offer a personalized and up-to-date experience. It is an asset for continuously improving your services while recognizing your employees' achievements.

10. Acknowledge Personal Life Achievements

It is very important that your teams feel heard and validated in their workplace. After all, your employees are first and foremost human beings: they need colleagues to talk with, exchange ideas and feel recognized, both professionally and personally.

To this end, regularly take the time to converse with your staff members to better understand certain issues affecting their motivation at work. Marathons, moving, newborns, bereavements and more — many factors can impact your teams' satisfaction, energy and motivation. Speak with your colleagues to get to know them as human beings and better adapt to their current needs. This demonstration of flexibility and empathy will make them feel validated and heard — they will be infinitely grateful!

How InputKit Can Help You Give Recognition to Your Employees?

Do you want to improve employee recognition at work? If so, InputKit's employee evaluation and motivation solution is made for you!

Thanks to our employee recognition software, you will be able to share feedback and positive reviews from satisfied clients with your teams. This will allow them to better understand the concrete impact of their services on client satisfaction in order to continuously improve the customer experience. It is an asset for empowering your employees while highlighting their achievements at work.

In addition to empowering your employees, our solution also has a feature allowing you to automatically prompt satisfied clients to leave a positive online review. This tool will allow you to increase your organization's visibility, but also to show your staff that their good service is recognized and appreciated. It is essential for showing recognition to your employees and increasing their engagement at work!

Did you know that InputKit will soon allow you to send satisfaction surveys for staff? Thanks to this valuable tool, you will be able to conduct personalized and automated follow-ups on your employees' satisfaction in order to better understand certain issues affecting their motivation at work.

Rigorous and regular monitoring of your staff's motivation will allow you to better adapt to their current needs and show them that their well-being is at the center of your priorities. It is essential for standing out as an employer, especially when it comes to recognition at work!

Schedule my InputKit demo to improve employee recognition in my organization

How can you improve employee recognition at work? Remember our best practices to show your teams that their efforts and good work are recognized and appreciated by your organization.

On your social media, write posts highlighting your employees' achievements, qualities and skills. During group meetings, encourage your colleagues and managers to recognize their peers' good work. In the same vein, regularly share your satisfied clients' positive comments and highlighted achievements with your staff.

During your evaluation meetings, offer positive and precise feedback to your employees to ensure the continuous improvement of your services. When your teams do exceptional work, don't hesitate to introduce small gestures to express your gratitude. Recognition activities, deliveries, restaurant outings, thank-you cards, group birthdays — all occasions are good for highlighting your recognition for your employees' excellent work!

Now that you know the importance of recognition at work, do you need help improving your employee experience? If so, we invite you to schedule a free and personalized demo of our solution with our team of employee experience experts. We will be happy to contribute to your employees' satisfaction at work.