Trick or Treat? Well, that’s a dumb question. Who wouldn’t want the treat? Your employees included. Everyone wants to feel appreciated and receive a simple thanks or a pat on the back. But how are we as organizations recognizing our employees’ efforts? Forbes just completed an extensive study to evaluate employee recognition, and this Halloween, we wanted to share a few “treats” that are especially effective in thanking and engaging employees.

Employee recognition is a $46 billion market, which focuses mainly on thank-you awards, pins, plaques, etc.  Of the programs evaluated, 87% focus on tenure … people get rewarded simply for sticking around. Forbes found that most of these tenure-based rewards systems have virtually no impact on organizational performance. They did however find programs that were able to impact business performance – namely 31% lower turnover rates! A well designed program can achieve great results – here are five best-practices Forbes’ identifies:

  1. Recognize people based on specific results and behaviors.
  2. Implement peer to peer recognition – not top down.
  3. Share recognition stories.
  4. Make recognition easy and frequent.
  5. Tie recognition to your own company values or goals.

When your company embraces a modern recognition program and people start thanking each other, trust and engagement go up – improving employee morale, quality, and customer service. It’s good management and good business.

For more information about the Forbes study and results, click here.