Employee reward and recognition programs are intended to recognize employees’ hard work and dedication that helped the company do better business. These types of programs encourage employees’ loyalty and engagement. These types of programs do more than just reward employees. Such programs cultivate an atmosphere of high achievements, purpose, and drive. It also increases the rate of retention. This article throws a light on the benefits of employee reward and recognition programs and their types.

• Lesser turnover
  It is estimated that more than 55% of employees quit their jobs because of bad seniors or managers. Employee reward and recognition programs can reduce this turnover by improving relationships between coworkers and seniors. These programs increase communication and appreciation within the organization.
• Better engagement
  An employee’s engagement towards an organization can be gauged by the employee’s level of emotional commitment towards the organization. Employee reward and recognition programs make them feel recognized for their excellent work and dedication, and their desire to help the organization achieve business goals grows stronger.
• Boosts customer satisfaction
  Employee reward and recognition programs can be advantageous if a business is centered directly around its customer. Encouraged and recognized employees who love their jobs would make much more effort in keeping their customers happy. It has also been observed that peer-to-peer recognition also increases a company’s customer satisfaction.
• Improves team-spirit
  When it comes to achieving goals, every organization has its ups and downs. Employee reward and recognition programs boost morale or team spirit. Managers can encourage their teams, and team members can encourage each other and help them achieve collective goals. Acknowledging hard work and achievements through such programs can push them to do better work in the future.
• Better hiring
  While recruitment can be a cumbersome task, employee reward and recognition programs uniquely attract talent. It can also be an exciting way of documenting and sharing positive company culture online. These programs create a wholesome and uplifting atmosphere, attracting talent simply by word of mouth, as current employees will talk highly of their organization between friends and encourage them to join the same.
• Improves employees’ well-being
  Interestingly, employee reward and recognition programs can indirectly positively impact employees’ overall mental well-being. This is due to the positive feedback and recognition of employees’ dedication in helping a company achieve its targets and goals.

Based on these benefits, here are some of the best employee reward and recognition programs to encourage a better work environment:

• Public employee recognition programs
  Being publicly recognized in front of colleagues can mean much more to employees. An organization can appreciate employees publicly through an internal employee newsletter, an internal communication platform, social media posts, press releases, organization’s wall of fame, or simply through appreciation celebration.
• Private employee recognition programs
  For employees who do not like being acknowledged or appreciated publicly, programs involving delivering gifts at their residential address, a personalized “thank you” video of colleagues or CEOs, or even an achievement certificate can positively impact their performance.
• Monetary employee recognition programs
  These types of employee reward and recognition programs can be in the form of salary increases, bonuses or incentives, stock options, travel reimbursements, paid training opportunities, gift cards, etc.
• Non-monetary employee recognition programs
  Programs involving job promotion, achievement trophy or medal, flexible work hours and location, days off, employee ambassador, and free health checkups are some non-monetary employee recognition programs.
• Employee recognition for professional achievements
  New deals closed, resolved tickets, and deadlines achieved are examples of celebrating professional or work achievements.