Is your employee reward and recognition programme good enough?

Given the cost pressure affecting UK businesses right now, increasing investment into employee reward and recognition might feel unintuitive. Especially for smaller and medium-sized businesses that are especially impacted by a challenging economy.

But supporting the workforce is even more important during disruption – and employee recognition programmes play a critical role.

Let’s look at why rewards and recognition are so important, some ideas for exciting rewards, and the one crucial culture change that’s much more important than any financial benefit you could offer.  

Employee reward and recognition critical to engagement 

Since the pandemic, employees have faced turbulence few could have imagined.

• The world of work has completely changed with many businesses embracing new working models that bring new challenges like isolation and loneliness.
• COVID-19 had a largely negative impact on employees’ mental health, and employers must grapple with escalating mental health issues in the workplace.
• The cost of living crisis has amplified stress for almost everyone. 94% of UK employees are suffering from money worries right now, creating financial insecurity.
• Burnout has worsened for many employees, leaving employers racing to discover new strategies to protect and prioritise wellbeing.

These factors put increased downwards pressure on employee engagement – when engagement is already challenging for the vast majority of workplaces. Only 11% of UK workers are engaged.

In this context, employers must urgently look to reassure and support their people or risk engagement falling further and productivity and retention following suit.  

Employee recognition programmes are a critical part of the equation here.

Employee recognition programmes critical to recruitment 

Employee recognition isn’t only important for retaining your existing workforce. Building a competitive rewards programme is also integral to attracting and hiring great candidates, especially in today’s difficult recruitment market.

• Candidate ghosting is increasingly problematic. In 2021, 76% of employers said they’d been ghosted over the past year. 
• New working models increase complexity within the recruitment process and disrupt the candidate experience.
• 85% of UK businesses have been hurt by 2021’s wave of resignations, leaving unfilled roles and overworked employees behind.
• Skills shortages are as bad as they’ve ever been, with unfilled roles in the UK at a record high of 1.2 million. A 2019 report from the Learning and Work institute found that the UK skills shortage will cost the country £120 billion by 2030.

Employers are navigating a smaller talent pool, with more competition than ever. In this context, a great employee value proposition is critical to hiring the best talent. Your EVP isn’t only about rewards, but your employee reward and recognition programme is still pivotal to convincing red-hot talent to sign on the dotted line.

What does a great employee recognition programme look like? 

It’s important for your employee rewards to be competitive against other organisations. The sky’s the limit: there are loads of examples of rewards your programme could include:

• Company-branded swag
• Additional time-off
• Bonus early finishes or late starts
• Restaurant, cinema or shopping vouchers
• New technology
• Event tickets
• Music streaming subscription
• Video streaming subscription
• Gym and fitness subscription
• Snack, coffee, or cocktail boxes
• Beauty subscription boxes
• Wine, beer, or whiskey tasting
• Experience days – like spa days or driving days
• Flowers
• Houseplants
• A cool book
• Donation to a preferred charity
• Public praise
• Employee wall-of-fame
• Peer-to-peer recognition
• Profit sharing schemes
• Financial bonus
• Lunch with the CEO
• Offsite days

However, rewards aren’t the full story here.

A great rewards and recognition programme should, as Employee Benefits’ Jamie King puts it, ‘motivate, engage and encourage positive behaviours amongst your staff. The best schemes send a clear message that your organisation recognises an individual’s or a team’s hard work throughout the year’.

Whatever the specific rewards you offer, it’s this feeling of lasting recognition you’re aiming for.

The examples above can be excellent but many ladder into significant investment when you scale them across your entire workforce. An employee rewards scheme doesn’t necessarily centre on huge investment so much as a considered focus on how you make employees feel.

‘Reward and recognition [should be] less about novel gifts or perks, and more about asking people how they’re feeling’ comments Mark Fowles, Head of Insight Consultancy at Great Place to Work® UK.

This is critical. Recognition can be monetary, but it needn’t be. Recognition might be as simple as publicly thanking an employee for their hard work – and working to create a culture where employees feel heard and acknowledged.

This culture is the foundation for a great rewards programme, not the money you spend. And realistically, you can’t buy your way out of not having this culture. If your people don’t feel appreciated and acknowledged, throwing a free iPad and coffee subscription at them risks ringing hollow.

How to create a culture of gratitude

Some exciting employee rewards can be a fabulous element of your employee value proposition but think of them as a bonus. They’re the icing on the cake, where the cake itself is your culture.

To create a culture of gratitude:

• Use employee surveys to ensure everyone feels heard
• Encourage peer-to-peer feedback and recognition
• Empower employees to visibly contribute ideas upwards
• Encourage senior leaders to share regular public appreciation
• Feedback positive customer results to employees
• Personalise rewards based on what employees really want
• Encourage and train managers to express frequent gratitude
• Acknowledge hard work, not just results
• Promote sharing gratitude lists within teams
• Amplify individual moments of praise across the company

A culture of gratitude can help your employees not just feel rewarded but feel heard, seen, acknowledged, appreciated and valued.  

Recognition is a force multiplier for productivity and happiness

According to a National Employee Research Survey, over 90% of employees feel recognition is important at work. But 62% said they were hardly ever or never appreciated by their boss. Nearly three quarters (72%) said they would work harder if they felt more appreciated.Imagine if three quarters of your workforce were more productive and happier at work – and all you had to do was show your gratitude more often. That’s the power of a great employee reward and recognition scheme.