How to make employees feel recognised in a large organisation
Everyone knows the bigger the organisation, the harder it is to make every individual feel appreciated. But this isn’t a problem that you should turn a blind eye to, it is an issue that needs immediate attention because if your staff don’t feel valued their work performance will decline. Below are 6 steps to help you recognise your employees no matter how big your company is.
Align feedback and recognition with your company values, goals and mission
The reason employees feel more disengaged the bigger the company gets, is because they feel like they don’t have an input into the overall direction of the business. By aligning feedback and recognition with your company values, goals and mission, you make employees aware that their contributions do make a difference to the company and this creates a positive cultural change.
It gives your workforce a sense of purpose and stops them from feeling like just another cog in the machine.
Peer to peer recognition should be encouraged
Creating a culture where employees recognise each other for little things they do every day makes a HUGE difference to employee morale and attitude. Rewards and recognition shouldn’t just be left up to management, with Engage's achievements managers AND peers can hand out stickers or trophies to staff when they feel like they have performed well.
Make everyone aware of the criteria for rewards and recognition
A lot of staff are actually unsure of when they should be rewarding or recognising a staff member. To make it clear you should write a criteria that can be easily accessed so that everyone knows what they should be working towards.
You should be communicating this wherever you can! In staff rooms, on notice boards, mentioning it in staff meetings. If you have a digital employee app like Engage you can send out news, display them on banners and include them in your learning material so that staff remember exactly what it takes to get recognised. The more your staff know the more engaged they will be.
Ask employees what they want
In a big company, it can be very easy for staff to feel like they aren’t being listened to. To eliminate this feeling it’s essential that you regularly carry out staff surveys. Ask them questions such as:
Do you feel recognised at work? Why yes or why no?
What type of recognition do you appreciate?
Do you feel valued at work?
The last time you accomplished something at work were you recognised for it?
Make sure that you act on the findings to let staff know that you do take their thoughts and feelings seriously, this will go a long way in making them feel appreciated.
Offer day trips for employees that go above and beyond for you
For those employees that are constantly showing superb performance, you need something more than a virtual trophy or sticker. Of course, there is money but money can soon be forgotten about, especially when it’s paid to them as part of their salary and day to day life gets in the way of them actually using it for something they want or enjoy.
By giving them vouchers you give them a chance to have some fun with family or friends away from work. They will remember the experience for a long time, rather than just receiving an extra £20 in their pay packet. Vouchers could include:
Restaurant
Cinema
Watersport activities
Adventure activities
Arts and crafts classes
Cocktail or food making classes
Make employee recognition a regular part of your news
You need to make a big deal out of employee achievements. People like reading about people, especially when it’s about people they know, which would explain why Instagram and Facebook are the most popular platforms in the world. Every month you should write a news article which features the top-performing employees. This will encourage others to improve their performance whilst also making those hard-working employees feel appreciated.
Want to unlock the performance of your frontline teams?
Ocasta Engage unlocks the performance of your frontline teams through comms, microlearning and knowledge. Customers include Next, Virgin Media O2, Burgertory and Tesco Mobile, who have achieved desirable results, including;
98% engagement rates
3.75x more recognition amongst their teams
94% of all comms being read.
