9 Common Mistakes To Avoid In Your Employee Recognition Program

by

For every company’s overall strategy, employee recognition is an integral part. When you are doing it right, it can help you in driving the company to a whole new level. 

But it doesn’t mean that any employee recognition program is going to work, in fact, when you have an ineffective program, it can lead to more harm than good. 

However, to learn what mistakes you should avoid in order to make your recognition program effective, here are some listed ones that will help. 

How Much An Effective Employee Recognition Can Change? 

As mentioned above, if your employee recognition is not properly done and it’s not effective, it can lead to some severe damage. 

There are some statistics that show how the program is important and what impact it has on the company. 

Well, it includes : 

  • Around 53% of employees say they stay longer if the company makes them feel appreciated. 
  • There are around 72% of businesses agree that having a recognition program does impact positively on engagement. 
  • Companies where they have the recognition program have a 28.6% lower frustration level as compared to those who don’t have it. 

List Of Common Mistakes You Should Be Avoiding In Employee  Recognition Programs 

employee recognition program

Having an effective employee recognition program means more engaged, happier, and longer-staying employees in the company. 

However, the question is if you are doing it in the right way or not. 

It’s important that you don’t fall into the trap of recognizing strategies and implementing rewards that don’t have any impact. 

Here are some of the mistakes that most companies make while they design their recognition of employees. It includes : 

Having No Defined Objectives 

Companies fail when they don’t have defined clear objectives for their recognition programs.   

Well, the objective can differ as it depends on what your company actually needs. 

Maybe you are looking to shape a vibrant culture of appreciation or focus on the remote workforce or maybe you want to be fair to each and every employee. 

When you are setting the objectives for this program, it’s very important that you are specific about what you are looking forward to achieving. 

Here the program arises when you have an objective that doesn’t align with the values of the organization. 

For example, if your mission shows value in teamwork, but the reward program focuses on individual success, this might end up derailing the collaborative spirit which is expected from the employees. 

Having Criteria Which Is Unclear Or Irrelevant For The Rewards 

Another problem that you should avoid when you are framing the employee recognition program. 

The program can become too random and end up meaningless if you recognize everything and anything. 

When you don’t have the definition of what is good,  you might end up risking encouraging the wrong behaviors in the workplace. 

Here you need to set the behaviors which should be specific and expected from the employee. 

In this way,  the employees will follow the direction which is right and towards their goals. 

Rewarding Only The High And Extraordinary Results 

Appreciation is not just about acknowledging the performance which has high or extraordinary results. 

It can also be for things such as teamwork efforts or day-to-day tasks. 

Recognition programs that are performance-based tend to stifle some needed qualities of your ideal employees. 

Well, qualities such as integrity, punctuality, and teamwork are also required to get encouragement. 

When you are making the program, here are some behaviors that should be recognition worthy, it includes : 

  • Teamwork 
  • Reliability and integrity 
  • Consistency in performance 
  • Emotional intelligence 
  • Punctuality
  • Mentoring Skills
  • Commitment to Work 
  • Adaptability and quick learning skills 
  • Creativity 

Keeping The Rewarding Not Frequent 

A mistake that most companies make when they are given recognition is they are not consistent and regular. 

Sporadic recognition offers little opportunity to their employers to acknowledge their daily efforts. 

Employees might feel like their efforts, whether big or small, are not appreciated.  Not just that, you need to pick the right time. 

It might not be effective if the employees are getting recognized for the work that they did months ago. 

Leaving Some People Out Of It 

Recognizing the top performers in the company can help in motivating and boosting the morale among the employers. 

However, it might make some people feel undervalued, and they will put in even less effort. This impacts productivity. 

So the people might feel alienated from the rest of the workforce as they are not receiving their appreciation which is due. 

So you need to design a recognition program that should be inclusive and genuinely acknowledge the effort. 

Keeping The Rewards Which Are Only Yearly 

Well, the annual employee reconciliation program is not ideal when it comes to boosting morale every day. 

You want to make sure that employees are motivated and also committed the whole year. 

You want a culture that supports the smallest efforts, which leads to accomplishments in bigger ways. 

An effective employee recognition program rewards the employee weekly, biweekly and monthly. 

However, you should run on a daily basis in order to keep the employees feeling motivated. 

Not Making The Awards Personalized 

Recognition programs should not be one size fits all; this is why most of the awards programs end up failing. 

So giving standardized gifts which are not enough and has no impact on their employees. 

The whole point that you should be running the employee recognition is to make the employees feel valued and special. 

You need to motivate them and find them what helps in boosting their morale.e 

There are some people who like to have handwritten notes, while others like to have recognition in public. 

So the company should learn what their employees tick and help in incorporating that into the feeling of appreciation. 

If you do that, it will help in connecting with the employers and making the program’s impact. 

Doing No Follow-Up 

While implementing the employee recognition program seems like a good idea, it might require dedication from the entire staff to succeed. 

Well, the first step is developing the program, and the second here is to persuade the management to take action. 

It’s Just Not The Money 

When it comes to the company’s employee recognition,  having the whole concentration on monetary compensation can be lousy. 

If they are working for the money, then you might end up losing the top staff competitors to those who offer them a much higher salary.

However, another incentive that you can follow is to give them exclusive movie tickets, meal vouchers, family holidays, etc., which can help in satisfying the employees. 

More To Explore:

Was this article helpful?