Who knew one of the best ways to recognize employees can be with food, especially when you know their favorite items! Your employees feel seen, and—better yet—known. Cupcakes with their favorite sports team colors, a breakfast surprise with a pan au chocolate that reminds them of their recent vacation to France, or a take-home meal kit for the busy parent who would appreciate surprising their family (and a night off from cooking).
We recently interviewed Mike Byam, Chairman of Terryberry, an employee engagement organization focused on transforming companies’ culture through employee recognition, wellness, and reward programs. The company was started by Mike’s great-grandfather and has led the way in employee recognition platforms for the past 100 years. As an expert in employee engagement and recognition, Mike shared some insights in ways to recognize employees beyond food.
Why is employee engagement important?
Mike shared that organizations with engaged employees have:
24% Less Turnover
10% Higher Customer Ratings
21% Higher Profits
17% More Productivity
Employees who aren’t recognized are less likely to be engaged – therefore are more likely to look for greener pastures.
How do I get my employees to be more engaged?
This is the big question. Thankfully, Mike has some proven answers to share. Let’s start with the current trends.
Four Key Trends in Recognition
While traditional tenure recognition is alive and well, Mike tells us it has evolved. Employees still value the plaque representing decades of dedication to the same company, but real-time, shorter-term (daily, monthly, weekly) recognition has become a trend helping companies harness the power of praise.
KPI Recognition
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), such as sales leads or customer satisfaction rate, are important goals for individuals and teams to shoot for and a way to gauge their progress. Tying recognition to hitting targets like KPIs is an opportunity to celebrate as an organization while highlighting the efforts of teams or individuals who excel. This isn’t a new concept, but as Mike explains it’s a concept that’s more common today than ever before.
An increasing number of organizations have KPIs for more than just sales or leadership and incentivizing employees to hit these goals involves more than just compensation. Mike explains that Terryberry developed the Be Recognized platform to recognize these achievements through social recognition, employee incentives, and service awards.
“Not only are you engaging the people that are being recognized, you are also encouraging others to work toward that level. They are more likely to elevate their game if they know it will be recognized by others in the business.”
Peer Recognition
Mike explains that over the last decade, the biggest growth has come in the category of peer recognition. Employers are looking for programs that empower all employees to recognize their co-workers when they see the mission, vision, and values lived out.
At Creative Dining, we use KUDOS cards for spot bonuses where supervisors can give a monetary thank you to a team member who has gone above and beyond. Additionally, employees can be acknowledged through internal communication channels, such as Microsoft Teams, for company-wide accolades.
“When employees see this come to life in other employees, they are encouraged to recognize those folks. That’s something that has blossomed as the Millennials have become a larger part of the workforce. That group grew up in activities where they were encouraged to recognize their peers in a way different than previous generations.”
Because of this, employee engagement events and communication platforms have blossomed over the last 10 years. Traditionally, recognition happened face to face. Today, more organizations look to remote ways to develop a culture with employees not in the same location.
Remote Worker Recognition
Social media and texting have created a megaphone with which to get a message out to a large group of people quickly reaching remote and in-office employees. Using an interoffice social media style platform where people can post about an achievement or positive behavior, and their peers or managers can comment amplifies the recognition.
Mike stated that talking specifically about what an employee contributed elevates the recognition to a positive memory, which for some is more powerful than a certificate left at the workstation.
Recognition and the Generations
Do all generations appreciate recognition? If so, do they want to be recognized the same? Mike shared they have found Millennials are more vocal about wanting recognition and that Gen X wants it but is less likely to ask for it.
“Initially when starting the Be Recognized platform, we thought we were building it for Millennials and Gen Y, but we found regardless of your age, people like to be appreciated and recognized AND will participate in it. We also found that giving recognition could be as impactful as receiving it.”
Dining Rewards Continue to Be Popular
Another trend is earning points based on achieving goals and redeeming them for rewards. Mike told us that regardless of whether the employee’s fully remote, hybrid, or an in-office worker, they are seeing similar selections on what to redeem as in 2018 before most of the world went to a remote working model.
Popular selections include bringing people together to break bread which continues to be a cornerstone for a memorable event.
“From the standpoint of dining as an award, redemption that includes dining experiences is popular. That includes something smaller like a $25 coffee gift card or a larger scale item like sending the employee out for a special meal with a significant other. Team recognition can include transforming a space to reflect a theme complete with a menu to support it. You see people do a variety of things offsite or onsite to transform a space thematically. We see that happen frequently.”
Recognition for a job well done continues to be a driving force in employee satisfaction and engagement and dining options can play a significant role.
