fbpx
1300 28 29 63 Make An Enquiry

As the end of financial year looms, we often see heightened levels of stress and anxiety in workplace teams, impacting on employee productivity, retention, and staff morale. None the less the months from April to August will be important for your business and will likely bring additional demand upon your operations and staff so it’s important to find ways to support your team to cope during these often-testing times.

This is where employee recognition programs come in. Employee recognition programs are vital in today’s workplace environment.  Research shows:

  • One of the top reasons why employees leave their jobs is that they don’t feel appreciated, according to Gallup’ research
  • Gallup’s poll also found out that 65% of employees haven’t received any form of recognition for good work in the last year

Aiming to recognise employees hard work so the end of financial year can be a time teams look forward to is a great place to start. As a specialist in this area, we have identified 5 employee recognition ideas for companies looking to treat their staff to some ‘time out’ during the EOFY period.

Benefits

  • employer of choice
  • team and personal development
  • boosted employee engagement
  • improved employee satisfaction
1: A CSR Event

CSR programs are not only extremely beneficial to local and global communities, but they will also significantly contribute to making teams feel rewarded and appreciated. CSR activities enable staff to be involved in a cause they are passionate about or learn something new which can enrich their own perspectives. These projects can come in all shapes and sizes; it could be something as simple as participating in a charity team building activity that gives back to the local community twice a year. The impact of this is two fold – your team gain a deeper bond from the experience together, and the experience helps to build a bigger conversation.

Companies that engage in CSR often benefit from a myriad of benefits that impact their workplace culture too, including becoming an employer of choice, providing more opportunity for team and personal development, boosted employee engagement and improved employee satisfaction.

2: A Reward App

An emerging trend is the use of employee recognition apps. Providing a platform for leaders to recognise achievements and offer incentives, the use of employee recognition software is designed to benefit the whole team.

The top leading apps offer the functionality of peer-to-peer recognition, self-chosen reward schemes, celebration of employee milestones, social media integration and even the ability for high performing employees to donate to charities they are passionate about. 

Want to know more? Here are some recommended providers to explore

Reward App

%

companies with a strong learning culture have employee retention rates that are 30-50% higher than those that don’t.

3: Team Development

You will find career growth, opportunity and challenge in many articles by industry professionals and scholars as three leading reasons why employees stay with an organisation.

Staff like to learn to be better at what they do. The more you upskill staff, the better they will perform for you. Thus, regularly educating and training staff will lead to improved performance and a more rewarded team. A fundamental part of improving a team’s culture is to help everyone better understand themselves, the role they play within the team and importantly each other.

By offering employees opportunities to grow through personalised development plans, team building workshops, continuing education and skills training, and mentorship programs, it shows employees that they’re respected and appreciated. In fact, companies with a strong learning culture have employee retention rates that are 30-50% higher than those that don’t.

4: Hold a Staff Conference

As the saying goes ‘a change is as good as a holiday’.

If you want your team to feel rewarded and appreciated, a new and fresh environment can be a simple way to do this.

Like school excursions create fun and excitement amongst students, an offsite conference will also build excitement and positivity which are essential ingredients for an employee recognition program.

An offsite conference does not always mean an overnight stay or a regional retreat. There are many funky meeting spaces that could transform your day-long meeting into one of the best planning sessions you have had.

Need help finding a venue? Read our blog on finding the perfect venue which includes a free site inspection checklist…. You’re welcome!

Staff Conference
Belbin Team Roles
5: Profile Your Team

You don’t have to love every single person you work with but you do need to respect and appreciate what each person brings to the team.  After everything we have been through with the adjustments Covid has bought about; it’s a good time for self-reflection on the strengths each individual brings and how that fits in with the value that your team bring to your clients and to your company.

On a basic level, behavioural profiling is all about greater understanding; greater understanding of yourself, your employees, and how your team can work more effectively as a unit and also what else you may need in your team.

One of the best models used today for behavioural profiling is Belbin.

A Belbin behaviour profile is a simple yet very clear explanation of what a person’s strengths are within a team and what others within the team value in that person.

It’s an incredibly effective tool for identifying who you need on which team to get a specific outcome in the fastest possible time frame and with the right amount of people.

The power of this knowledge can be used to positively impact employee appreciation, help build high performing teams and allow businesses the ability to fill new and emerging job roles.

In today’s workplace, employee recognition programs are no longer just nice to have – they’re crucial to enriching and maintaining a positive workplace culture.

If you can create a culture and environment where your team feels respected and appreciated, they will deliver the commitment you desire and some very impressive outcomes.

As Richard Branson says… “Your clients are not the most important, your team is most important. Look after your team and they will look after your clients”.