The past few months have brought one aspect of the way we work into the spotlight: remote working. In 2019 around 30% of UK workers were home-based, but this has increased to 50% in 2020. Many employers and employees alike have embraced this ‘new normal’ but it’s not without its challenges.

Employee recognition is more important than ever, particularly where employees have been working harder and longer under challenging circumstances. Whereas previously a simple thank you would have gone a long way, particularly said directly to the employee face to face, away from the office environment it can prove harder to perform these simple tokens of recognition - but it really shouldn’t be!

The positive impact of recognition is fairly obvious, but its inclusion as part of an holistic approach to reward is sometimes overlooked by employers or takes a back seat while the focus is on more ‘important’ reward issues such as pay and bonus. There is much research out there that demonstrates the clear link between recognition and engagement, and, ultimately, increased productivity and profit levels. With this in mind, here are my top tips for recognition during these uncertain times:

Communication
This is key to the success of any Recognition programme. If employees are unaware of how they nominate their peers for an award or how to access the rewards given to them, then the time and effort invested in designing and implementing a recognition programme will be wasted.

360 Recognition
Traditionally recognition was very much top-down, with management presenting an annual award to a select group of employees, but increasingly organisations have been realising the power of peer to peer recognition. This takes some of the pressure from line managers being solely responsible for recognition, raises awareness of the scheme by allowing employees to nominate each other, and places emphasis and value on team working and collaboration. Equally if employees feel their line manager has done a job why not recognise them too!

Frequency
Little and often is key for recognition. This means employees can be recognised for exhibiting a behaviour aligned to the organisation’s values in their day to day work. Timing is everything: if this done ‘on the spot’, as close as possible to the behaviour that this being recognised, this makes the recognition all the more impactful.

Technology
Use the power of technology to bring your recognition programme to life, enabling remote workers to feel connected and to access a suite of recognition options wherever they are, whatever the time. Tools such as Amplify incorporate recognition tools as well as bringing together employee benefits, discounts, communication and learning all in one place, streamlining the process and encouraging uptake.

If harnessing the power of recognition is something you would like to discuss further, please get in touch! You can email me at alastair.cole@innecto.com, or call +44 (0)20 3457 0894.

« Back to Insights