5 Easy Employee Recognition Ideas

It requires such a small investment to make employees feel recognized and appreciated, and the return on that investment is great. One report found that 90 percent of companies with values-based employee recognition programs have better engagement, with 68 percent seeing improved retention, happiness, and internal branding.

There are a few simple ways to acknowledge employees, no matter what your priorities and objectives. Here are 5 easy employee recognition ideas to get you started:

1. Acknowledge birthdays and work anniversaries

Everyone wants to be remembered on their birthdays, and it’s especially important that work anniversary milestones don’t go unnoticed!

Studies show that the more personal the acknowledgement, the more goodwill employees will feel toward their company.

You could make a donation in their name to a cause that’s close to their heart, gift them an experience—like rock climbing or a wine tour—you know they’ll love, or get the whole team to sign a card or make a video. Make sure everyone in the company knows it’s a special day by putting a message and photos on your digital displays in common areas.

At CustomInk, employees’ work anniversaries, or “InkerVersaries,” are posted on their workplace digital signage. According to Grace Spalding, an internal communications coordinator with CustomInk, this program is “our most popular and successful program… It creates a wonderful sense of community when teams are distributed across multiple states.”

2. Recognize teammates’ achievements on social media

When a member of your team goes above and beyond on a project at work or accomplishes a personal goal, give them a shoutout on social media to commend their hard work. This is one of the newer employee recognition ideas out there, so it’s not used as often but can have a great impact.

Whether they worked until 10 p.m. to get a job done, blew past their sales goal, or volunteered at a local shelter on Thanksgiving, give employees the credit they deserve. You can even snap a photo and create your own hashtag for when employees achieve something especially commendable.

Publicly recognizing great employees reflects well on your company for customers, investors, and your team. You can even display this social media recognition on your office’s digital displays to make sure the whole team sees it!

3. Display sales leaderboards and metrics

Nothing motivates a sales team like seeing their numbers as a deadline nears. Inspire a little friendly competition by displaying a leaderboard on your office screens to show the sales team’s progress and how far they have to go to meet their goals before month’s end. When someone makes a sale, announce it to the whole team, and reward whoever comes out on top.

4. Feature an employee spotlight on your company blog

What’s one unique (and cost-free!) way to engage and recognize your teammates while also coming up with great content for your site? An employee spotlight series on your blog. Come up with at least 10 interesting or silly questions for a rapid fire-style Q&A, and do a quick office photoshoot that shows off each teammate’s personality. Even if you only have 20 employees, that’s 20 weeks’ worth of content!

You’ll learn so much about your team just by asking them interesting questions, and they’ll get a kick out of being featured on the company’s home page. It’s a good customer-facing content strategy, too. Customers and clients like to know that they’re working with real, live people—not just a brand. With Enplug’s digital signage software, you can easily show off your blog feed on your office display.

5. Create a culture of daily recognition

For the biggest long-term impact on your company culture and employee loyalty, make recognition and appreciation a regular part of your office communication. This starts with management: A “thank you” or “nice work” from the boss really goes a long way, and it tends to have a trickle-down effect, especially when combined with some of the ideas above. Call out good work during your all-hands meetings, host a quarterly happy hour, and don’t forget the people who are introverted or unlikely to boast but no less great at their jobs.

Most of all, never stop thinking of new ways to show your appreciation. It costs very little yet goes so far.

Want to put these employee recognition ideas to work in your offices using digital displays? Learn how Enplug’s modern digital signage can help.

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Enplug digital signage software was co-founded by CEO Nanxi Liu and CTO Tina Denuit-Wojcik in 2012 to enable organizations to use customized real-time streaming content to create engaging external and internal communications.