Top 25 Employee Recognition & Appreciation Ideas from the Pros

Tom Turner, Co-founder, CEO & Steward of Purpose, DSi

DSi has done something somewhat different than a wages bulletin board — a recognition system for employees known as the Applause Board. This system recognizes workers who embody the core principles of DSi.

Once an employee sees a co-worker residing out a value through a job, job, etc., the employee fills out an applause card and articles it for all to see.

In addition, this Applause Board also nominates that individual for DSi’s Hall of Fame (which selects one winner each core worth every quarter!) .

Nate Masterson, Marketing Manager for Maple Holistics

Step up your java match. The average employee consumes a whole lot of java, and taking care of the cost and hassle for them is a MAJOR quality-of-work and quality-of-life upgrade.

The existence of a Keurig or even Nespresso machine with free capsules and milks can literally change the perception of an employee concerning how much their company enjoys them. Tea bags for the non-coffee drinkers is a nice touch as well.

Samantha McCreery, Director, Precision Arts Challenge

My favorite low cost recognition notion we utilize are appreciation cards. Each team member receives 1-3 cards each week.

The cards are worth $2 and can be redeemed for gift cards to Starbucks, Amazon, and Target.

Here’s the matter, you need to present your cards off. It boosts co-worker recognition and a giving culture within our organization.

Darren Green, Founder and CEO, Wooden Blinds Direct

If an employee goes above and beyond the call of duty, we make sure to include a bonus in their pay packet, which we maintain secret until the morning of payday.

In addition, we give our employees rewards in the form of shopping vouchers, again, unexpectedly; we call them into the workplace and tell them just how much we really do enjoy their hard work, and then hand them an envelope of, usually, $50 worth of vouchers.

Jason Markowicz, CEO, Fitness Premier Clubs

My favorite low-cost worker appreciation idea we’ve performed are scratch lottery cards.

They give our team an opportunity to win big and have fun.

We had a group member win 50 and the entire team went nuts.

Brad M. Shaw, President and CEO, Dallas Web Design Inc..

Whenever you are working for a big company, it is not normal to get flexible working hours. Depending on the volume of job you have to do for the day, most companies would require their workers to come in on a predetermined schedule.

In my case, I use this to my advantage. My business requires our employees to come in at fixed working hours, so we use flexible working schedules as a means to inspire them to become better.

Since this new reward came into play, I’ve observed an 80 percent growth in earnings from our employees in contrast to before. It means, that this reward does function.

Our own study showed that bend hours are a highly appreciated pastime.

Emily Sidley, Senior Director of Publicity, Three Girls Media, Inc..

Since our entire team telecommutes, we locate virtual parties are a great way to connect with each other and recognize employees for a job well done.

For example, management will send everyone coffee gift cards, and we are going to meet on a video conversation with java to talk with each other for a half hour. We’ve also had virtual pizza and craft parties, and we’re holding our first virtual white elephant party in December for the holiday season.

Virtual parties cost us around $250 each. At Three Girls, we really try to show our employees we appreciate them and their hard work. We’ve found recognizing them as people goes a long way in driving motivation. Our current team is the strongest it’s ever been. They’re taking care of our clients well, producing high excellent work very effectively.

Tammy Bjelland, Founder and President, Learning in Bloom

One of the ways I suggest small companies recognize employees is by making their own workers the subject matter experts in designing their training.

By way of example, select a top salesperson to make a sales script to utilize in onboarding a new hire. That clinic fulfills two purposes: recognizing the worker for their strengths and creating invaluable assets to compile in a company-wide training regime.

Recognizing workers as subject matter specialists improves employee participation in training efforts along with daily operations. This practice contributes to zero additional cost to the company besides the time invested in creating the training assets.

Nicole Marie Harris, CEO & Co-founder, One Last Frog

We invite the team for champagne and appetizers in a nice local restaurant to get a quick happy hour.

The results I’ve observed are a increase in morale at another workers — for instance, following these recognition happy hours others wish the spotlight so they will step their game up significantly and build healthy competition.

Each joyful hour is quarterly and costs around $300; a little price to pay for the huge results we get out of it, which can be longevity with the company, less time spent hiring and training, and a more joyful office culture and surroundings.

Amanda Ponzar | Chief Marketing Officer, Health Charities

Among the best and priciest employee recognition tips I received was education — my master’s amount was paid for by my company, and yet another company I worked for compensated for my executive education as part of their high potential high performer employee program.

That is investing in me to do a better job where I am as well as in the future, and providing professional development is highly appreciated as employee recognition.

Tiffany Servatius, Human Resources Manager, Scott’s Marketplace

Every month, each team member is given Bonus.ly points (an app designed for employee recognition) to reward their peers for all kinds of things — going over and beyond, coming up with creative ideas, supporting local businesses, helping different sections, birthdays, anniversaries, and much more.

We wanted our recognition program to become 100% clear, so the entire company gets to see exactly what their peers are being recognized for. Additionally, other staff members can add on things if they too would like to realize that peer for the same thing.

Once a team member accomplishes a certain point level through Bonusly, they qualify for a twist on the prize wheel for gift card prizes for example: Scott’s Marketplace, local breweries, local coffee shops, local restaurants, and other local activities.

Bret Bonnet, President, Quality Logo Products

I think our most unique perk is that our employee retention program. Quality Logo Products rewards employees with a cash bonus of $1,000.00 once they reach and celebrate 3 years in the business.

It is the 5 year mark though when things begin to get REALLY interesting. After 5 years all employees are rewarded with an additional five days of PTO and an all-expenses-paid vacation. We FORCE the employees to take the additional time and go on vacation.

Since implementing the program, we’ve seen employee tenure/retention improve by important steps (25%), and while pricey, it is proven very powerful. We intend to continue to offer you this unique perk for many years to come.

Mike Smith, Creator, SalesCoaching1

The excellent offender is it’s always money. Sure that is a motivator but personal appreciation goes farther and is better remembered.

Most bosses don’t see themselves because they watched their favourite supervisors. But to their workers they are at the same level — so personal time with the boss is valued. [Setup ] lunch/dinner together with the boss. This one-on one time is obviously excellent.

Patricia Shook, HR Director, Factor

Financial incentives operate with most employees for virtually any issue.

For people who share rides you might want to think about providing a reserved parking spot close to the entrance, or [compensated ] gasoline card towards purchase of gasoline every month.

Several business leaders suggested having a parking place as recognition. Obviously, any type of transportation advantage can get the job done. What’s significant is showing appreciation to the employee or the staff by making their life easier in some manner.

David Moncur, Principal, MONCUR

At Moncur, we’ve got a biweekly employee award program where team members pass a modest wooden statue we call Peggy to another member who has done excellent work or showed incredible acumen.

Being a digital and creative service, we carry it to another level by requiring each member to groom Peggy up in a fashion that reflects the awardee and inviting them to place her”experiences” on a designated Instagram channel.

The results have been hilarious, remarkable, and great for camaraderie–I have gotten lots of positive comments from my employees around this experience.

Ginger Geldreich Jones, Founder/CEO, Jones Therapy Services LLC

We request employees monthly to nominate a colleague they think has gone over and beyond and been an extraordinary instance of a few of our core values of”And then Some”.

That listing is read at monthly staff meetings and whoever received the most”votes” is awarded a $10 gift card. So the men and women that are residing our core values in a way which make others take note are awarded the public praise.

And the individual that has done the maximum that month has a little something extra as a thank you by the company.

TINYpulse notes that peer recognition can motivate employees to go the extra mile. Here’s how one CEO can it:

Kristin MacMillan, President, Imprint Plus

Adding employee recognition sayings or stickers to name badges is an excellent way to make workers feel unique.

In Imprint Plus we create cheap re-usable name badge systems which can be personalized on-site with a individual’s name, name and company logo.

You may easily include”employee of the month” or a pole on decal to it. Everyone gets to see it and it functions as a fantastic inexpensive way to honor top staff members and encourage others.

Tyler Butler, CEO, 11Eleven Consulting

Employees crave positive reinforcement. Share stories about the great work internally (or externally from the community) that your workers are doing through a normal company-wide email.

By showcasing what folks do right you promote the exact same type of behaviour in others. You also empower a member of your employees to feel significant and ultimately most men and women yearn for this feeling more than anything else you can do to them.

Christy Hopkins, HR Advisor, Fit Small Business

If you have a great deal of characters on your team, you can not necessarily motivate all of them the exact same way. Some might want money, while others would find a half day off means that a lot.

Set a budget for every worker and provide them the alternatives to pick their award if they meet a certain goal or marker — i.e. a bonus test versus a gift card to a spa day. If the employees get to pick the prize, they should be more motivated to get there!

Kirk Herzog, Office Manager, Expert Plumbing & Rooter, Inc

A inexpensive thing that works is making a certificate (Worker of the Month) even with a $20.00 Lunch card, it’s still affordable.

[Then], go to the 99 cent store and find a Acrylic Awards stand, and add it (Top Revenue, Best Tech, etc.).

Justin Lavelle, Chief Communications Officer, BeenVerified

Create a Charity Donation in Their Title.

If you’ve got a small group, ask each worker via email to mention a charity near and dear to your own heart, then make a donation in their name on Employee Appreciation Day.

Candice Simons, President & CEO, Brooklyn Outdoor

Last year I incorporated Kudos into our firm culture at Brooklyn Outdoor to benefit and recognize hard work within the organization.

Team members deliver Kudos to another to honor hard work. Points accumulate and may be used for gift cards to stores such as Amazon and Whole Foods.

Employee awards and recognition applications, such as YouEarnedIt & Kudos, are currently all over the area. Many allow you to award points that employees can redeem for actual items or to get cash. They usually allow peers to award points to each other, which is a wonderful motivator among team members.

Dave Berndt, Senior Client Advocate in G&A Partners

Businesses may opt to spend a substantial quantity of money to recognize their workers. In part, they see this as an chance to reunite a number of their organization’s earnings back to the employees who helped them.

For example, some businesses have employees enter their name into a drawing whenever they hit certain targets. Subsequently, once a quarter or every six months, then they draw a name from this bowl to see who will win the excursion.

Ultimately, employers need to tap into what their employees believe are great forms of recognition. They could ask new employees for examples of what previous companies have done that meant a lot to them. This will aid a company to begin building lists of things to appreciate their employees.

David Waring, Co-Founder, Fit Small Business

You will find web-based software employee games, including Badgeville & WooBoard, and there are also just plain old home made scorecards.

Create a game of benefits by incorporating a business Bingo game or tic-tac-toe where team members must do specific things to get a mark, like get a 5-star customer review or make a sale.

Jason Vissers, Website Builder, Merchant Maverick

I worked the registers at a busy crafting retailer. One supervisor in particular always made sure that the break area was stocked with donuts and other snacks. It was a small gesture but one we appreciated, and then boosted our morale.

Never pass up an opportunity to demonstrate that you care about people you rely on!

Brianna Rooney, Founder, Techees

Just this last Christmas, I took all my employees on a”pretty woman” trip. All of that was a surprise. Firstwe went to the Beverly Hills Four Seasons for a pool and massage couch time. Subsequently, remained at Mama’s Shelter where we dined/hung out to the rooftop all evening.

The next morning, took them to some very trendy breakfast on another rooftop overlooking Hollywood. Then I had a Rolls Royce limousine pick us up to begin our very long day. The Rolls dropped us off in The Grove where I told them I was planning to dress all of them from head to toe. Had a blast finding everyone an outfit. Back in the Rolls and directly to a blow out bar so everybody could get their hair done.

Afterwards, we moved to a wonderful dinner and had a celebration bus pick us up with everyone else’s others. That celebration bus then took us to a Cirque Soleil show, Luz, that was mind blowing.

The night was not over, then went into a secret night club and danced before it was time for our two long days to be finished.