Simple Ideas to Keep your Recognition Program Fresh

How long has it been since you’ve assessed how your recognition program is doing?

Whether it was last quarter or last year, the fact of the matter is every recognition program needs a refresh to make sure it stays as productive as possible.

Re-engineering your recognition program can have a huge impact on business performance.

So you may be asking yourself when should I refresh my recognition program?

The answer for this will be different for every organization. To help determine if now is the time for your company to update your program ask yourself these questions:

How much has your organization changed since you last revamped your program?

Do you currently offer a variety of programs that cater to all generations?

Does your team get excited about giving recognition and more importantly do they use your current program to its fullest potential?

Is your program aligned to your company’s current values and culture?

Are you receiving the best overall value in your current recognition strategy?  Be sure to consider all additional costs and fees. 

If the answer to these is no or you’re unsure, chances are you need to see what you can do to jazz up your current program.

Here’s a simple roadmap on where to start revising your program

1. Start by looking at your list of recognition goals in your current program and assessing the effectiveness of each goal
2. Gauge the areas where your program is strong and look for the major weaknesses.  One way to do this is by sending out a survey to ask employees and staff what they like and don’t like about the current program. You could also create a committee of employees and management staff to help you plan, collaborate and gather data. You also want to ask them for suggestions of ways they’d like to be recognized in the future.
3. Instead of creating a whole new plan you may decide to refresh your current program. In this case, you want to focus on applying employee feedback to the weak areas. Be sure to decide if you’re tracking the right behaviors or activities.
4. Make sure to adjust your goals to align with any new changes in your program

Simple Ideas to revamp your recognition program

Aside from the ideas that you gather from your team, here are a few ideas that will assist you on your journey.

• Add new rewards and gifts to your program: be sure to keep up with modern gift trends
• Give your program a personality: Give it a catchy name or theme in line with your organization’s culture. Be sure to add program logo to all communication, cards, etc.
• Include a peer to peer boost: if you aren’t using a social recognition platform and your organization is a good mix of generations you may want to consider it.
• Consider monetizing your program:  For example, if employees don’t have the option to earn or send points to each other, this is a powerful way to get employees engaged. This social recognition platform offers budget controls to monitor dollars spent.

Spreading the word about program changes

Effective communication is key to the success of your new and improved plan. All changes and promos should be communicated to everyone across the organization. Set a roll out date and build up the hype across your company before the program re-launches. Be creative in how you plan to get others excited about the new initiatives. You could hold a company launch lunch training party and recognize those who helped with the plan. You could hold a contest awarding a prize like free lunch. The contest could be at random to people who are actively recognizing others.

Plan for follow-up meetings

Once the program launches, plan meetings with upper and lower management to check in with them and have them have meetings with their teams to catch any hiccups that need to be addressed. If there are kinks, you want to know about them early so you can iron them out and maintain the momentum of your program.

If you have any questions during this process or you want to chat with a recognition consultant, we’d love to help. Cheers to happier employees and a more efficient recognition program.