If your organization doesn’t prioritize employee recognition, you’re missing out on a big boost to your bottom line. Organizations provide various benefits and compensations to employees for their splendid work. From lunches to gift cards small goodies always seem like the right package. But do employees really want and appreciate these small goodies?

First of all randomly giving out gift cards usually does more damage than good. Often we see a companies do this and they have these recognition programs around performance. It usually happens once a year which leaves many employees demotivated with reduced productivity. So a better way to do a recognition program is to identify a set of values, for example, and what are the behaviors of those values look like that you would expect of someone who actually deserves a recognition award.

Secondly it is important for companies to realize that monetary benefits alone wont motivate employees or make them happy. Recognition in front of others is what matters the most to employees. A simple ovation, as simple clapping in front of others can pull it out quite nicely in order to have sustainable engagement of stainable motivation of people. This video also talks about the importance of recognition to be peer drive. 

Lastly, the reward system is actually in the brain located in the amygdala, where we feel emotions, to start or stop doing a particular task based on how it makes us feel. So when something feels good a fall, of course, we want to do more of it, be better at it and get that feeling again, and when we experience something unpleasant, our brain is not a fan of that. So it will steer us away from that activity in the future to the best of its ability. So by giving recognition to your employees simply put an even better peer recognizing them.

This episode on Recognition at Work is hosted by Elena Agaragimova and Ivan Palomino.