Avoid Making These 5 Employee Awards Program Mistakes Right Now

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Jesus Jackson

Business

3 Mins Read

March 8, 2021

Employee Awards Program Mistakes

Employee recognition awards and programs are meant to celebrate the effort of the hard work of the employees. This shows that the organization values its presence. Over the past decade, employee recognition programs have become the embodiment of positive company culture.

It is difficult to overstate the effect of organizing employee recognition programs. According to many managers and team leaders, employee recognition programs help the company or the organization in the following ways:

  • Increased productivity.
  • Satisfied employees.
  • Lower turnover.
  • Reduce sick leaves and employee theft.

Despite employee recognition being an effective way to motivate the employees, it can backfire as well.

Common Mistakes Of Employee Recognition Programs

While employee recognition programs are quite effective, with these mistakes, your hard work sums up to nothing, given below are the mistakes that you shouldn’t make while appreciating your employees.

1. Lack Of Clear Goals

Holding employee recognition programs just for the sake of it will not get the job done. You need to have a clear goal as to what you want to achieve from the program. According to the PMI Pulse of profession survey, 37% of the project’s failure is due to a lack of clear goals.

When you ask, do rewards work? The answer will depend on what “works” you mean. Depending on the goal, the meaning changes. Some organizations hold these programs to motivate their employees, while some appreciate their hard work.

Effective management is about setting clear expectations and motivating employees to reach the expectations. The best way to go around this process is to treat your employees like children, set them simple and transparent goals. Let them know that if they complete it, they will be rewarded.

2. People Get Left out

The dark side of employee recognition programs is that most employees didn’t get recognition for their hard work. This starts impacting their efficiency. You do not always have to reward them for the best in their team; you can always reward them for the contribution.

By rewarding only the best achiever, you might motivate all to do the same and get the rewards, but at the same time, you are saying that they were not good enough. This can actually be worse engagement than having no awards programs at all.

3. Not Consider The Timing Of The Event

Employee recognition best goes with a time when everybody is thinking of being top of their game. There is no point in rewarding the employees a year after their achievements. It will lose its positive effects. However, on the other hand, if you start rewarding them every week, the excitement will become expectations.

Hence, the timing of recognizing your employees right after they have achieved something for the organization. This will be the time when the appreciation will show its full colors.

4. Management Doesn’t Ask For Feedback

Have you taken any feedback as to what your employees are expecting from the employee recognition programs? Most of the organization never does that, which is why the employee recognition programs end up in failure.

What if the rewards you give hold no value to them or simply want something else. If that is the case, then the impact of programs will be null. This can be avoided by simply asking your employees and taking suggestions for the rewards.

5. Meaningless Employee Recognition Events

Think about whether the rewards are meaningful or just some awards that will soon be used as a paperweight. It is upto the organization how much weight they have put in the awards.

Employee motivation and employee engagement are all about having a positive working culture. Hence, the rewards you are giving to the employees must hold meaning and values.

Take Away

There are many ways to recognize your employees; however, the old and traditional blank acrylic awards still hold value in the eyes of the employees. Now that you have known the mistakes associated with employee recognition programs start analyzing your employee recognition programs and ensure that you are not making these mistakes.

Jesus Jackson

Jesus Jackson is a freelance content writer and enthusiastic blogger. He is the co-founder of Get Me Seen. He contributes to many authority blogs such as The Pets Magazine.

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