Driving better employee performance with recognition

Employees need the support of their leaders. When people have an adequate foundation, it opens the potential for them to provide the best work they can, and it helps them to grow into better and more valuable members of the team.

From management, this support needs to come in the form of feedback and staff appreciation. When you provide the necessary feedback, and recognize the contributions and achievements of employees, they will be more engaged and more productive. So, what are some of the best ways to provide your employees with this acknowledgement?

Bonuses and Rewards

While financial compensation should not be the sole motivation for your employees, it is one of the ways that you can acknowledge performance. Financial incentives like bonuses can be a powerful way to show that you appreciate a person’s efforts, and it can be great for letting a person know that they are valued.

Compensate your employees well for the work that they do. Pay them a fair market rate, and make sure their pay is aligned with their skill level and abilities. If employees are underpaid, they are going to feel underappreciated. Even if you give them performance bonuses, it is not going to feel like reward. The employee will see the bonus as a way of making up for the low pay they are already accepting.

Show Appreciation

Appreciation is more than simple recognition. When you show appreciation, you are not only letting someone know that you recognize their efforts, but also that you value them as a member of the team. When employees know you are aware of their efforts and that you value them as a team member, it provides them with an internal motivation to achieve more.

Without this kind of recognition, employees might have a hard time judging their own performance. They won’t know if they are meeting the standards that are expected of them, and it will be hard for them to define their place in the company. This can lead to frustration and erode morale. When you recognize people for their work, and show them additional appreciation, it can boost their morale and make them more productive.

Recognize Growth

Financial compensation and showing appreciation are important parts of acknowledging your employees, but the most fulfilling stages in a person’s career are when they move on to achieve something greater. These are the times when a person’s years of experience have taken them from a beginner to an expert, or when a person has gone from being a team member to a team leader.

When these transitions occur, it is a good opportunity to provide the employee with recognition of this growth. Tell the employee that you recognize them for the better and more valuable individual that they have become. When people see that they are being appreciated as something that is more than what they were, they will embrace this new identity within the company more fully.

People are driven by all sorts of different motivators. Money is obviously one motivator that will affect your employee’s performance, but people also want to feel valued and get recognized for their achievements. When you acknowledge employees in this way, it helps them to grow into better versions of themselves, and it will make them more productive and valuable to the company.

Workplace Wizards regularly assists employers with employee performance, and tailoring bespoke reward, recognition, engagement and workplace culture programs for our clients. To find out how we can turbocharge your business, contact us at Workplace Wizards support@workplacewizards.com.au or 03 9087 6949 

* With thanks to Miz and the team at www.15five.com for assistance with this article. Go their website to find out more about their incredible performance management software.