Social Recognition Trends and Best Practices of 2022

Social Recognition best practices are always changing, but we like to keep you updated on what’s trending right now.  Below are a few best practices and trends we’re seeing currently.

Fun and Inclusive Ecards
We want everyone to feel welcome within your organization! Inclusive ecards can help your employees feel seen and recognized. Many of our clients are asking to add these optional ecards to their programs, as well as “fun” ecards like National Ice Cream Day, as a way to encourage connection between colleagues.

Inclusion of Wellness Programs
Wellness programs are hotter than ever! More and more we are seeing clients choose to add self-reported wellness programs to their offerings. These often include badges such as “Bi-annual Dental Check-Up,” “Flu Shot,” or “Completed an Exercise Class.” But the options are limitless! Employees can choose to report their wellness in a secure environment, which then triggers a badge and points to reward that user.

Using Custom Forms for Trivia, Surveys, and Voting
Forms, trivia, surveys, voting, and much more are all available now within the social recognition system. Most frequently we see the system used for nominations – writing out the criteria to nominate a fellow employee for a high-level award. The system’s workflow solution allows the nomination to flow through the system to each level of approval, rewarding the nominee with a badge and points once the final level has been approved.

Posting Major Company Events to the Newsfeed
It’s always helpful to have visibility in your organization, and especially important to share out any great events. Many customers are choosing to use the “Pinned Newsfeed Post” option to share out a few words and pictures about recent events such as company picnics, awards banquets, or benefit fun runs.

Sweepstakes for Points
Need a great way to engage your employees while staying within budget? A great option is the sweepstakes solution. By using sweepstakes, employees who send and receive recognition throughout a given time period (usually a month or quarter) are entered into a random drawing. At the end of the period, 10 winners (or a number of your choosing) are randomly selected to receive an additional “Sweepstakes Winner” badge and points. A great budget-friendly option.

Badge Programs for Individual Departments
Recognition should be specific, and we are frequently seeing recognition geared towards detailed groups, such as individual departments. With your social recognition program, this is easy. A new category of badges can be added for just your sales force or your IT team which includes badges specific to that group. Those individuals (and only those individuals) have access to send and receive these badges.

Frequent Communication and Education
MTM provides our clients the option to use complimentary content drips, which are targeted and custom-branded email campaigns reminding employees about their recognition program, to keep employees engaged and excited about the program. But we are also seeing a select usage – often a campaign of 4-8 weeks in length, twice per year. We don’t want to overwhelm your workforce, but we do want to keep the program fresh and exciting.

Contests Among Departments
One great way to engage your employees and increase recognition is through some friendly competition between departments. Hosting a competition on your recognition platform is easy. Throughout the month, encourage your employees to thank their coworkers by sending badges and promoting their teammates to do the same. At the end of the month, run a report to view the departments that sent the most recognition. Then, reward each of the folks in your top three departments with extra points for being such a positive culture creator.

“Tell Me Something Good”
It can often feel like we are overwhelmed with bad news. Bring some good back to your company culture with a “Tell Me Something Good” section. This page functions as both a listing of recent happy news and events, as well as a place where employees can submit their own good stories. New grandbaby born? Share out the name and a cute pic! Closed on your first house after a long home buying process? Make your good news known! Each employee can choose to add their name or keep it anonymous. An admin will review each submission, then pass it along to the running newsfeed of good news!

We would love to help you incorporate these trends and best practices into your own program. Contact us to get started.