How to recognize your team year-round

How would you feel if your partner only told you how much they loved you on your anniversary? The other 364 days, the love is just implied. Would you feel loved or would you feel like something was missing?

If you're anything like me, you likely need regular affirmations throughout the year. One day just isn't enough.

This is how I feel about Employee Appreciation Day. It's pretty awesome that we get one day a year dedicated to being recognized at work. It's even better when you're on a team where there's a culture of recognition year-round. It feels great when your manager and team see you and everything you bring to the table, and they don't just keep it to themselves! They let you know how kick ass you are.

The benefits of recognition

There's a clear link between recognition, engagement, and turnover.

• 82% of employees are happier when recognized at work
• 53% of employees would stay at their company longer if their boss recognized their work
• Employees with managers who recognize them are 40% more engaged than those with managers who don't
• 44% of workers whose contributions are valued say it's the biggest driver of belonging

People are happier, more productive, and more likely to stay when you treat them right. Seems intuitive.

So now that Employee Appreciation Day 2023 is officially over, let's keep that energy going with four ways to recognize employees throughout the year: Reward, Appreciate, Celebrate, and Include. If we can build these four types of recognition into our daily business practices, we're going to see positive outcomes for everyone, employee and organization alike.

Reward: show me the money

Rewards are formal recognition for exceptional performance or results. Rewards can be monetary like a promotion, raise, bonus, or cash award. Rewards can also be non-monetary such as a certificate, challenge coin, badge, trophy, or that highly-coveted swag.

Millennial time-out. Does anyone else have a visceral reaction to the word "trophy" from growing up hearing elder generations deride us for being recognized for participating (showing effort). Or is this just me?

Best way to build rewards into your rhythm of business is to implement a few key awards employees can routinely expect to compete for on a quarterly or annual basis. The prizes should be a mix of monetary awards and bragging rights employees will want to compete for and show off. One consulting company I know of gives out different colored logo jackets depending on the performance level you reach. Cheesy, but folks love 'em.

Rewards tend to be presented publicly with a certain amount of fanfare, are tied directly to company goals, and are limited in supply. So while formal rewards are an obvious lever to recognize employees, they shouldn't be the only tool. One reason, 33% of employees are uncomfortable with public recognition (so some of the benefits may be lost there). Another: people don't need to give an Academy Award-winning performance to deserve recognition.

Appreciate: not just what you do, but who you are

Appreciation is recognition and enjoyment of someone's good qualities. I tend to think appreciation is the secret sauce of recognition.

If a reward is like my husband complimenting me on pulling myself together for date night, appreciation is him telling me he was so glad we got to spend time having an adult conversation with zero Cocomelon in the background. To be clear, I want both. For him to recognize how I struggled into hard pants and brushed my hair, AND to value my company. That's where the real warm and fuzzies come in.

Back to showing employees appreciation. I had a manager who regularly sent handwritten cards for birthdays, work anniversaries, and other big moments. They always included a reference to a specific attribute of mine that she appreciated. Sincere, heart-felt, and wonderful. I still have every single one of those cards and it's a habit I've taken to as well.

Appreciation can also take the form of weekly callouts in the team chat about how each person's strengths have shined that week. It can be an email or video message from a leader during a particularly difficult time recognizing the hard work everyone's put in lately, and encourage folks to take it easy. Send a $5 gift card for a coffee when a project is requiring later evenings or earlier mornings. It can be as simple as checking in during one-on-one meetings.

No need to wait until the project is complete, or to realize massive quarterly earnings, or to solve world hunger to tell your people they're amazing and that you appreciate what they bring to the table.

Celebrate: don't skip the wins

Celebrate the big and small wins. Celebrate the personal and professional moments. I'm talking about work anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, (heck...divorces too sometimes), and births. I'm also talking about overcoming a fear, meeting a project milestone, getting cool feedback from a stakeholder. Celebrate whatever your team is excited about or proud of.

On my team, we each share One Good Thing at the start of our weekly team meeting. There is no requirement for this good thing to be work-related. In fact, I'd say they're only work wins about 30% of the time. We cheer each other on each week. A fancy new jewelry set. Win. Toddler slept through the night finally. Win. Had a blast at a rave. Win.

The key is to bake the celebration into your team norms.

Include: I trust you and your perspective

The last lever of recognition is less intuitive, but stick with me. Let's say you're in a meeting discussing a big challenge. You turn to your colleague and ask how they'd approach a solution. By including them in the ideating and decision-making process, you're demonstrating that you trust their perspective. You're recognizing the value they bring to the organization.

More ways to show recognition with inclusion:

• Assign a stretch project that will demonstrate skills at the next level
• Ask them to review and provide input to a strategy. Or, ask them to draft a part of the strategy
• Send them to represent your team at a meeting with senior leaders

Every day can (and should) be Employee Appreciation Day

If you skipped to the end looking for the Cliff Notes version, here's how to create a culture that prioritizes recognition:

1. Don't wait until someone invents the next best thing since sliced bread. Good steady work that keeps the lights on deserves recognition just as much as groundbreaking work.
2. Celebrate the big and small wins. Get excited about what they're excited about.
3. Think beyond monetary awards (don't get rid of them...just think beyond them). A heartfelt handwritten note goes a long way.
4. Demonstrate how much you trust your people by including them in the big stuff.

If you've enjoyed this edition of Make Work Suck Less, and would like more of my insights around career growth, employee experience, and work-life balance,?join the hundreds of other awesome folks here.