Employee Recognition Solutions
“People work for money but go the extra mile for recognition.”

Why do you need recognition?

Recognition boosts people's esteem and performance. This is a concept as old as Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, which essentially shows that, beyond meeting basic, safety and belonging needs, all people have self-esteem and self-actualization needs - and need to feel important, satisfied and inspired to perform to their fullest potential.

Recognition signifies that someone notices and someone cares. It satisfies a person's essential needs and leads to new motivation, improved performance and higher self-esteem.

Recognition is increasingly important in today's changing business environment. With record low unemployment, competition for the best workers is intense. At the same time, the importance of human resources is paramount - a company needs to obtain extraordinary results from ordinary people. Yet another factor is the changing attitude among today's employees - who value job satisfaction over most other criteria.

Bottom line - an organization that wants to be competitive absolutely needs to make employees feel valued so they perform their best work on a daily basis - and stick around to make a continuous contribution.

Recognition isn't just for the person who performed well. It's also a message to other employees about the type of performance that gets noticed in an organization. Management consultant Rosebeth Moss Kanter says, "To the rest of the organization, recognition creates role models and heroes - and communicates the standards of the kinds of things that constitute great performances around here."

AWARDS vs. MONEY
In studies dating back to the 1940's, employees have always ranked things other than money--such as being shown appreciation for work done - as being more important to them than their salaries.

What Do Employees Really Want? Interestingly, managers and employers employees want, first and foremost, good pay. Actually, workers themselves say that appreciation for their work is more important.

A recent national survey by Robert Half International found that "limited praise and recognition" was ranked as the primary reason why employees leave their jobs today - ahead of compensation issues.

In a research study of 1,500 employees by Wichita State University, recognition from managers was reported to be the most powerful motivator of the 65 potential incentives they evaluated.

Cash awards have some definite drawbacks, even a demotivating effect. Compensation is a "right"; recognition is a "gift." People will do their jobs for a necessary income, but money will do little to get them to do their best work or go above and beyond what you expect of them. The most important factor is (instead of salaries, bonuses or promotions) individual recognition. "An employee's greatest reward is receiving acknowledgment that they made a meaningful contribution," says consultant Paul Cook.

When cash is always the reward, employees tend to treat the rewards as part of their normal compensation. When this happens, they become dependent on the reward income and the pride associated with recognition for special accomplishments is lost. It is easy for money to become the only motivator that gets the attention of employees - and therefore the only way that productivity and performance are improved.

Non-Monetary Awards are seen by supervisors, peers, spouses, relatives and friends. They are everlasting symbols of success; they are not spent and forgotten.

THE BENEFITS OF CUSTOM DESIGNED AWARDS
Custom designed awards reflect the image of an organization in ways that retail merchandise cannot.

• They can display meaningful and inspirational symbols to the people involved in a particular program.
• They are immediately identifiable by peers, thus reinforcing their value as builders of self-esteem and motivation.
• They cannot be purchased outside the organization; therefore, they must be earned.
• They are designed to be highly personalized, not only with the recipient’s name, but the name of the program, and details of the accomplishment.

ENDLESS APPLICATIONS FOR RECOGNITION
A recognition program of any kind and purpose can be created. Here are the primary types that apply to the corporate environment:

Sales Incentives: This is the number one application for award programs. Recognition here focuses on improving performance and self esteem.

Service Award Programs: These are designed to positively reinforce actions that increase quality and productivity and/or meet other corporate goals.

Safety Programs: Here the emphasis is on reducing accidents and injury costs.

Additional Applications: The reasons to recognize are endless.

WHO BUYS RECOGNITION?