Is your hybrid workforce falling behind when it comes to building a culture of recognition? Building a thriving culture takes a lot of work, especially when some of your employees work remotely. Recognizing employees for their hard work can help you create a successful company, even when you have team members who never set foot in your home office.
Why You Need To Recognize Employees In A Hybrid World
When some of your employees work remotely and others go to the office, it’s easy for employees to get disconnected at work. Recognition programs help your employees stay connected and grow as a unit, no matter where someone is.
Key Recognition Program Elements In A Hybrid World
There are some key things that organizations can incorporate into their recognition program when building one in a hybrid environment. Here are some ideas to consider:
1. Make It Digital
In the past, recognition might have happened when managers walked around the office and let employees know about the great job they are doing. As employees move to a hybrid workplace, there are some worries that remote workers will get left behind. Using a digital platform allows praise and recognition to be entered into a space where everyone can see who makes an impact.
Make sure your recognition program is integrated with tools you already use, like Slack or Microsoft Teams. You want this program to be simple to use.
2. Open It Up To Everyone
Peer-to-peer recognition has an enormous impact on work in a hybrid environment. When you create a recognition program, make sure that a variety of people can get involved. For example, some of your employees might not have a lot of communication or involvement with high-level managers. Allowing their peers to share recognition about them ensures that a variety of people can get to know each employee.
3. Participate At The Executive Level
At the same time, employees want to see examples of executives using their recognition program. Make sure you get buy-in from the executive level to keep up with the use of your recognition program. You could even set up a 30-minute block per month on each executive’s calendar to add praise to your organization’s recognition program. Encourage executives to praise people who work in the office and those who work from home.
4. Create A Great Catalog Of Employee Rewards
If you want employees to use your recognition program, they need something to get excited about. Make sure that you have a great catalog of employee awards that don’t get too specific. For example, if your headquarters is in New York, but you have employees in Florida, your company’s reward catalog can’t be full of only New York items/opportunities. Give other employees a chance to feel excited about your rewards catalog, even if they don’t live near company HQ.
5. Use Recognition To Inform Larger Company Decisions
As you get more data pulled into your recognition program, you can start making larger company decisions with your data. For example, you can begin to make decisions about:
● Who deserves upcoming promotions and opportunities.
● Connections/lack of connections at work.
● Which values your employees resonate with.
Conclusion
Recognition programs have value, even in a hybrid environment. If you want to create a recognition program at work, we have you covered with our recognition program Elevate. Request a demo if you would like to see this software in action.