Employee Recognition: It’s Important
Simply put, employee recognition improves company culture, thus improving recruitment and retention. And who doesn’t want that? Especially in a climate where “38% of millennials polled would like to see their company recognition program improved.”
Commercial Real Estate firms, among others, are taking note and upping their game. Some are implementing programs, like a Spot Award Program, and utilizing performance software, like Reflektive.
Five Modern Employee Recognition Tips
One employee recognition software provider, appropriately named Recognize, offers five general tips:
- Highlight a specific achievement/action of the employee
- Tie the recognition to a company value
- Publicize the recognition within your team and company
- Aim to recognize your employees on a regular basis (monthly or quarterly)
- Incorporate employee recognition into your performance management plan
Make Recognition a Reality
Historically, the fast-paced, high-pressure culture of a CRE firm has not been known for frequent celebrations, but it’s important to communicate to employees that what they do matters.
Spot Award Program
With Spot Award programs, an employee receives recognition from either leadership or a colleague and earns a financial award.
It’s common practice for supervisors to recognize employees, but the importance of peer employees being able to drive the recognition cannot be overlooked, and the research backs this: “Peer-to-peer recognition is 35% more likely to have a positive impact on the employee experience.”
Although this approach requires time and financial commitment, the benefits can outweigh the costs as it often leads to less turnover, which is common in both the CRE industry and with millennials. In fact, a recent Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Survey makes the case that “investing 1% of payroll in recognition” will ensure program strength and success.
Reflektive: Performance Management Software
The performance management software Reflektive also supports personnel management by offering real-time feedback, goal management, employee check-ins and analytics. Reflektive offers a high-tech feel and includes an online recognition wall, making positive feedback easily visible to all team members. Like social media, employees can add comments and “like” particular posts.
For some CRE firms, Reflektive has improved comradery, collaboration, engagement and appreciation amongst employees. Also, Reflektive’s real-time feedback feature can enable users to move from annual to 30-day evaluations since goal and accountability discussions are visible and more frequent, empowering employees to consistently know where they stand.
Let’s face it: more transparent, documented information leads to more engaged, happier employees.
Employee Recognition Software: A Competitive Field
Of course, with the popularity (and perhaps necessity) of employee recognition programs to bolster company culture, recruitment and retention, the market is flooded with new products.
According to Employee Benefit News, five employee recognition software providers to know are:
Start Recognizing Employees Now!
Since “companies with robust employee recognition programs are known to have 31% lower voluntary turnover than those that don’t,” it makes sense to implement recognition tactics that improve recruitment and retention, especially in the CRE industry.
Stay tuned for other employee engagement initiatives in a future blog.