36 Great Employee Recognition Ideas Your Team Will Love!

 Update! Check Out this Great New Short Video Explainer on The 3 R's off Effective Employee Recognition:

The hottest new research into the art and science of effective employee recognition has a clear message for managers and team leaders who will otherwise find themselves fighting epic levels of active employee disengagement and plummeting morale into 2017.

“On the other hand if you go through a big torturous process of giving them more recreation, nicer place, more privileges, all sorts of stuff and the boss still treats them as a non-entity, then you are not going to get anywhere." - Edgar Schein

For example, did you know that real-time, heart-felt verbal praise from the boss can be far more effective than even a large performance-based cash bonus?

(scroll down to get to the tips list fast!)

The implications of these new insights are incredible, not only for sustainable acceleration of individual and team performance levels but for energizing your organizational culture and even positively transforming your most difficult employees.

New! Here's [short video] Why Employee Recognition is Becoming a Top Disruptive Leadership Best Practice! 

There are 2 critical components to an Effective Employee Recognition Program. These correspond to and integrate the 2 major organizational dimensions of business strategy and culture.

As a deep-engagement manager you need to be frequently recognizing high-value work, team and leadership behaviors:

1. Immediately: Old fashioned employee recognition programs don’t work. Having a long service award or even an employee of the month award does little if anything to teach, coach and reinforce outstanding work behaviors and healthy organizational values.  

How does “Your Incredible Work in The Last 10 Minutes Award” sound to you? It might seem funny, but it’s more consistent with the kind of recognition that’s driving active employee engagement and sustained discretionary effort across organizations of all shapes and sizes! (Even at The Department of Motor Vehicles!).

Must Read: The Top 10 Leadership Tips for High-Performance Team Building!

High-recognition managers are in a constant state of “positive behavioral scan”; always looking for and actually catching their employees in the very act of high-value work behaviors, including those that grow and sustain positive organizational cultures. 

What makes these managers and team leaders so good at connecting with and motivating their employees and teammates? 

First, they embrace the hard motivational science best-practices, beautifully summarized in “The 3 R’s of Effective Employee Recognition”.

Must Read:  Your Ultimate Guide to High-ROI Business Blogging!

 Second, high recognition managers understand the extraordinary value of ROR or “Return on Relationship”. If you really want to bring your team performance levels to the next level you need to ROR like a lion!

To put it simply, deep-engagement managers and team leaders know how to share their positive feelings through praise:

2. Authentically – We all know that people leave managers, not organizations. 

Sadly, just like the bad bosses who run them, the vast majority of formal recognition programs are dry, delayed, passionless and bureaucratic: just another formal work process.

The most powerful source of motivating recognition comes from a boss or co-worker who has a real heart-felt sense of genuine gratitude and appreciation for the behavior they’re praising or rewarding. 

 Their smiles and positive tone are genuine and spontaneous. They're truly thankful for the value their employee or co-worker is creating for them and for others in the moment, not to mention the relief from organizational and team pain points being solved. None of this is taken for granted and it’s a choice of positive thinking styles.  

 So you understand ROR and the value of building empathy-based high trust work relationships. But you still need specific action steps so you can start effectively recognizing great value-adding employee behaviors right now. That’s why you started reading this post in the first place right? Ok - Here are:

36 amazing employee recognition ideas you can start doing right now with your department team or even a single employee.

I did a major online search for the most practical employee recognition tips, tricks, and strategies.

Surprisingly, the best list I could find was from The University of Washington’s Human Resources Department.

It’s a good list of suggestions, broken down into cost-free, low cost and higher cost strategies. But just like with all the other online resources for practical employee recognition tips and strategies, I was really disappointed by the seeming lack of awareness around what's really been proven to work.

I went through that and similar lists of employee recognition tips and created a much shorter list based on my work as a leadership development and team-building coach and cognitive behavioral counselor. I also wanted to share highly practical tips and strategies based on what I've learned applying the best motivational science.

Here's how you get started:

 1. Get into real-time positive behavior scan. You might call this: “recognition by walking around”. Did you know that many of the world's top leaders and managers actually keep up to half of their schedules free so they can devote as much time as possible building and maintaining high trust, deep-engagement organizational cultures?

Whether you prioritize being physically present with your team much of the time or you have other tools and strategies (i.e. enterprise gamification) for monitoring employee workflow, what’s key here is that you frequently show up (in person or at least virtually or by phone) just when an employee is actually doing or completing the “right kind of work behavior”.

   Then you:

2. Describe the specific behavior you’re recognizing, followed by the value it creates or the problem it solves. Next share your genuine positive feelings. Then deliver your message in real-time with a real smile that comes from how you’re feeling about the work or values-creating behavior being praised. 

3. Important Recognition Tip: Don’t embarrass or stress out your introverted employees or teammates with loud public praise. This is why team performance rallies with loud clapping and hooting often fail to get shared positive results. You need to know and be able to speak to each employee's' personal "language of recognition".

4. Smile Genuinely. Why? Because it’s genuinely contagious! And remember: a real smile comes from an honest and highly intentional assessment of the value your employee is creating through their work and positive interactions with others. If you don’t feel it they won’t - and that’s ineffective recognition!

5. Make a thank-you card by hand and deliver it right while an employee is doing or completing a great job. For example, you can:

6. Use 3x5 cards or large post-it notes to write “I love how you… (state the specific observable behavior and the value it creates, and how you feel about it)” or “You Did an Amazing Job…at” statements. Writing and sharing your behaviorally descriptive praise can be an incredibly powerful form of employee recognition, but it will only be as powerful as the sincerity, immediacy, and authenticity you invest. 

The great thing about "thank you" and descriptive praise notes is that employees can enjoy reading them more than once. And each time they read it, it reminds them of the time you took to really acknowledge a job well done; this way, it’s kind of like you’re giving them that recognition all over again.

 7. Arrange a “Praise Ambush” with your company CEO or another very senior manager. That means you show up to the employee’s office or team meeting with the senior manager as close as you can in time to actually catching them in the very act of doing or just finishing an amazing job. Ask the CEO or senior manager to follow steps 1 and 2 on this list. (again remember to be gentle with less extroverted folks).

8. Arrange for an outstanding employee to have lunch with a CEO or Senior Manager. This can be a seriously effective form of recognition you can use for a truly amazing accomplishment. One major global tech organization I know of was able to increase objective employee innovation and engagement levels by almost 1000% by making informal, one on one time with the company's CEO the motivational centerpiece of its employee-facing gamification initiative. And that brings me to the suggestion to:

9. Use Gamification as rocket fuel for your employee recognition initiative. Bunchball has an amazing and surprisingly affordable platform you can use to monitor, coach, grow, reward and recognize high-value employee behaviors in real-time.

I'm not a salesperson for Bunchball but I have become a digital brand ambassador. Their list of business accomplishments and consistent winning of top industry awards is beyond impressive. I think Bunchball represents the future of behavior-based performance and change management. You need to see the Bunchball Nitro Platform to believe it!

10. When you hear a positive remark about someone, repeat it to that person as soon as possible! (Face-to-face is best as in step 1; if not a descriptive handwritten note, e-mail or voice mail).

11. Leverage your organization’s social media presence, blog or eNewsletter by publishing “kudos” posts based on peer-nominations from your team. Also, build social sharing into your recognition program generally. For example, a #praise Twitter tweet can be RTed by the entire team or department as an extension of your digital employee advocacy strategy.

With so many hiring managers taking the quality of a prospective candidate's digital brand into account for prospective positions or advancements, most will love having this kind of positive social media recognition. 

12. Call an employee to your office to thank them. Don’t discuss any other issues. You want to avoid one of those “praise sandwich” backfires. Never mix praise with corrective or negative feedback. 

Corrective feedback needs to be delivered separately as part of your employee performance coaching process. As always, with positive praise, try to catch them right in the act of a specific high-value work behavior (say one you're coaching them around) or as close to them in time as possible.

The most effective managers and team leaders meet with each employee at least once a month to coach them around 1-3 key performance goals. There is no more effective strategy for helping employees quickly meet and exceed those goals then through real-time recognition of the development steps towards mastering the new behaviors that lead to the fulfillment of each new performance goal.

13. Express serious interest in your employees’ career development dreams. One of the biggest drivers of employee engagement is a strong sense of positive career development.

Deep-engagement managers and team leaders always have a clear idea of what each employee’s “dream job” is within the organization and they do everything in their power to help them realize that dream.

For instance, a growing number of companies are integrating MOOCs based learning into their leadership development strategies.

 Employees can get certificates, diplomas, “nano-degrees” and even fully accredited online college degrees through MOOCs providers like , Coursera, Udacity, 2U EdX and Academic Partnerships; - often for free.

And we're talking everything from project management certification, learning to code Java from scratch to coaching and team-building strategies based on the latest research in emotional intelligence and organization development.

14. Encourage employees to identify specific areas of interest in job-related skills. Then arrange for them to spend a day with an in-house “expert” or leader to learn more about the role.

15. Design a “Stress Support Kit” that included aspirin, a comedy CD, relaxation training CD/MP3, and a stress ball – or design your own based on what you know each employee will love.

The stress support kit is such a great idea! Not only for employees in obviously high-stress jobs in the human and protective services but for sales teams struggling to meet stretch goals and for apps development, programming, data science and other tech teams who work long hours to create state of the art online products and services. Not only do they get practical tools to help them fight stress, but they also get a clear message from you that you care about them as people.

Another great, cost-effective way to help your employees learn to manage stress and develop amazing high-quality sleep and other critical positive health habits is to hook them up with an industry-leading Digital Wellness Coach for as little as $20/week! 

16. Always be scanning for and recognizing behaviors that result in clear positive business results. These can be process improvements, product or service innovations - any solutions employees devise for key business challenges.

Rule of Thumb: If it creates value big or seemingly small - recognize it!

17. Support informal (unless you can afford formal) “flex-friendly” work schedules. According to the Harvard Business Review “the ability to carve out small, informal flex solutions can be really important for employee well-being, engagement, and retention.”

What does that mean? If one of your employees has an urgent family appointment or even just needs the afternoon off – don’t make them take it off their vacation time. Of course, you need to ok this first if you're reporting to higher-ups.

18. Encourage employees to participate in community volunteer efforts. Another powerful source of motivation you can tap into is your team’s strong desire to give back and to have a strong positive impact on their communities, the environment and the world in general. There are so many amazing ways to give back or pay-it-forward - even if you’re team is always in the office.

For example, according to Ryan Scott of Causecast there are literally endless “Corporate Philanthropy” opportunities “for the Desk-Bound”. For example, consider hosting your own “onsite volunteering parties” or “skills-based and virtual volunteering program”.

19. Share recorded verbal accolades – forward positive voice mail messages or emails about an employee to that employee immediately – with the sender’s permission of course.

20. Actively listen to employees and co-workers, especially when discussing their accomplishments and contributions. It's often helpful to ask open-ended questions to really help draw out a clear picture of what was accomplished and how it was accomplished.

Next, verbally praise and reinforce those accomplishments with genuine positive emotion just like you would with regular verbal or written recognition statements.

Catching teammates in the very act of peer recognition is one of the most powerful ways to increase and get more of that, oh so valuable peer-recognition flowing.

21. Coach Your Team to Develop Their Own Peer Recognition Program: Set up a few high-involvement program development meetings before rolling out your new employee recognition program. That way you can get direct input from the employees themselves on the most effective recognition strategies.

Share some of the most interesting and positively inspiring programs used by other companies such as giving back to the community. Get each employee to write a top 10 list of their favorite low-cost rewards for example free specialty coffee, free eBook or music downloads.

Give as many choices as possible and carefully watch for high interest and inspiration levels. Encourage brainstorming. Use a flip chart to display organize and prioritize people’s thoughts, feelings, and suggestions. Have short process improvement meetings once a month to see what’s working and what’s not; and of course, make the need changes.

When people are inspired to actively co-create an initiative like this, it generates a real sense of ownership, motivation, and buy-in. This will significantly increase your likelihood of success.

Employee involvement in program development is one of the critical success factors that leading companies are using right now to build their world-class high ROI strategic recognition programs (you need to see the new video I added at the top of this post with amazing stats and case studies). 

22. Regularly ask for workflow and process improvement suggestions. As you walk around in positive behavior scan mode, ask how people are doing work-wise. Ask if they have any suggestions for improving work quality or workflow. 

Make sure to explore cost-effective process or work design improvement opportunities during your monthly 1 on 1 employee performance coaching meetings as well.

Then widely publicize and reward the most helpful suggestions along with the positive impact they're having on your department or team.

23. Let Family In on The Praise! When someone has done a truly amazing job that involved spending long hours at work, send a letter of thanks to his/her home.

24. Acknowledge and creatively celebrate birthdays. (no-brainer)

Allow an employee to choose his/her next assignment. In many different work environments, there are different tasks and responsibilities. Let the employee being recognized choose his or her preferred tasks for a set period of time. 

25. Recognize those committed to personal health and wellness. According to OfficeVibe.com every dollar spent on employee wellness results in a savings of $3.27 and on-site employee wellness programs result in savings of $264.00 per employee per year and 70% fewer sick days!

As a certified corporate wellness coach, I can tell you that the leading corporate wellness programs actually have an ROI of up $6 per year on every dollar spent and maybe one of the most important organization development strategies for 2016 with sky-rocketing health care premiums anticipated to be a major disruptive force in the corporate world! 

26. Get to know each employee’s unique reward language and currency. When it comes to selecting free or low-cost rewards to help boost your recognition effectiveness, it’s really important to make sure that you rewarding people with what they really love.

Try handing out a quick checklist of possible tangible rewards. Find out what people's top hobbies and interests are so you can tailor their reward items for maximum positive impact.

Also: if you have the budget for it try experimenting. For example, Baudville.com has some amazing and surprising affordable work-related prizes and other tangible recognition tools you can use once you have a clear sense of the kinds of rewards each employee will really love. It’s important to experiment.

One of my favorite employee coaching questions to start the conversation to discover each employee’s unique rewards and recognition language is:

What’s your #1 passion in life?

You can try:

27. Giving a personalized coffee cup. This a great idea for coffee lovers. And why not add a free specialty coffee gift card?

28. Give a deserving employee a mug filled with treats.

29. Give a framed poem (poster or card) as a thank you. 

30. Serve popcorn and lemonade on Friday (especially after a particularly hard week).

31. Treat a serious top-performing employee and a guest to dinner at their favorite restaurant. Most restaurants sell gift certificates. If you have the budget for it, why not add a chilled bottle of fine wine to the meal? This is top-performing employee after all.

32. Give the person a membership or subscription to a journal that relates to their work role, dream job or hobbies (self-explanatory!)

33. Bake/bring a gift (healthy foods are best) for your team.

34. Serve ice cream sundaes (or better yet an equally rewarding healthy alternative if you can think of one!) to all of your employees at the end of a project.

35. Name a few high-frequency recognition awards after some of your most outstanding employees. In fact, this is a great peer-to-peer recognition strategy. You can have your employees decide on the name of some of 2 or 3 awards and define the criterion for winning them. They can then vote for the winner.

36. Using employee names in status reports to acknowledge individual achievements. Then let them know about it right away.

Bonus Tip:

 Post a large interactive “celebration calendar” in your work area. This is an especially great idea if you’re taking the “team-involvement to maximize employee ownership and buy-in” approach to developing your recognition program described in #19 earlier. 

That way you can post reminders and recent recognition strategy developments, meetings, and events. Make sure there's a space for new suggestions and even a prominent place to post formal statements of recognition for top-performing employees.

What's your most important question right now about how to set up an effective employee recognition program?

Do you want to learn how to really rocket fuel employee performance levels by learning some powerful motivational coaching strategies?

Contact me via email at: P2PEnage@Gmail.com or via LinkedIn messaging.

Make sure to join my community of 73K+ mainly business, tech, startup, marketing, and HR followers on Twitter @LeadHealth