Employee Recognition
In 2024, we ran an employee engagement survey and an area we discovered needs improvement is our approach to employee recognition. Employees scored the statement “the recognition I receive is commensurate with the work I do” an average 8.2, and “the work I do is valued and appreciated” at 8.1. While not dire, the scores were markedly lower than other surveyed areas, and they indicate that leaders at the company can do more to ensure our teams are feeling seen and their work appreciated.
Why recognize employees?
Employees want good pay and benefits first; but they also want to be treated well, make impactful contributions through their work, and be appreciated for their efforts. Properly and consistently showing that you value your report’s work raises team morale, retains your key employees, enhances productivity, improves work quality, and reduces employee stress and ultimately turnover.
What do we value?
When we recognize people, we should ensure that what we’re recognizing is aligned with company and team values, or that we’re rewarding work done in the service of overarching goals. If we don’t consider values and goals, our recognition rings a little hollow. For example, you might appreciate on a personal level that your report is friendly. But examine what about their attitude reinforces or advances your team’s goals, and focus your recognition there.
We have some undeniable company values. Technical competency and excellence are at the top of the list. We value employees who are diligent, clever, and highly skilled. We value self-reliance & autonomy, and the execution of work without oversight and correction is a marker of success. We also value curiosity and learning. It’s rewarded, culturally, to ask for not just an answer to a question, but an explanation of why and how the answer came to be.
You should define team values, as well, and recognize your reports’ achievements that reflect your team values. On the People Ops team, we value personal connection. So we share appreciation with each other when our efforts toward relationship building result in specific achievements. That might not matter on another team where cross-team connections aren’t front of mind, but it’s vital on our team to build & maintain working relationships across the company.
What to say?
Sometimes we neglect to recognize achievements because we don’t know what to say. There’s a simple template:
- Say ‘thank you’ or ‘great job’! “Thank you, Andrea” is powerful in its directness.
- Name specifically what your report achieved.
- Explain how you felt about their achievement and how it had a positive impact.
Opportunities for recognition
- Speak at the peer appreciation session at the meet-up. Don’t sign up just for the sake of it. Make sure you have a legitimate reason and are referring to specific high-quality work when recognizing your employee.
- Volunteer as team lead to highlight your team’s achievements at meet-up or cross-departmental team calls like the Programmers or Designers hangouts. Give a short talk about the great work your team has been doing, highlight the individuals who made it happen, and offer your appreciation.
- Give a shout out in the People Ops Kudos Chat. Again, refer to something specific your report did instead of offering vague congratulations or gratitude.
- Use your auto check-ins and team heartbeat. If you had a particularly positive interaction during the course of your day, recognize that in your daily check-in. And heartbeats are a deep dive into our cycle work. Take the opportunity to not only attribute your report’s work, but also explain the positive impact it had on the team, products, or company.
- Share private notes. Public recognition is a great way to highlight your report’s great work, but sometimes a quick private note is just as valuable to the person on the receiving end. When you notice something great, shoot them a ping to name what you saw and say ‘thanks!’ or ‘nice work on this!’.
- Come up with a team-specific way to recognize each other. Maybe you have a quarterly team call where you could set aside some time to appreciate each other’s work. Engage the people on your team to make recognition part of your team culture.
If you have ideas for what we can do at the company level to improve our public recognition practices, please share them with People Ops!