We get it, you have been doing your job for a while now and it’s gotten a bit repetitive. In fact, 66% of employees that feel bored or underappreciated at work will quit their job. That number jumps to 76% in millennials. The bottom line? Boredom and lack of recognition is a big deal to your employees and if you want to keep them around, you need to shake things up.
Recognition – A Science
According to a 2014 APA survey of the U.S. workforce, the principles of recognition, rewards, and reinforcement are linked to higher levels of motivation, engagement, and productivity. They also result in lower turnover and the ability to attract and retain top talent. The point is, if you want to keep your best employees, or any employees for that matter, recognition is important. In fact, in the same study, they found that only 51% of working Americans said they felt valued by their employers. More than a third (36%) had received no form of recognition in the past year, and only 47% said recognition was provided fairly. This is a major problem and it’s up to management to make a change; 70% of an employee’s motivation is influenced by his or her manager.
Now that the importance of recognition has been exposed, I am here to let you in on some “tricks of the trade” to make your employees feel motivated and engaged.
Gamification
Gamification is the act of using game elements to make non-games more enjoyable. Using gamification can fight boredom during repetitive tasks while improving productivity. Do this by setting goals for your team, helping them to focus in and work harder to reach said goals. This prevents boredom and slacking behavior by keeping the team’s heads in the “game.” Winning these games provides an employee with office-wide attention. This recognition transfers into an improved work ethic. Getting recognition out of one closed deal makes your employee crave more recognition, eventually resulting in increased pipeline activity, and more closed deals! Use small prizes to motivate your team, such as Amazon gift cards, tickets to a sporting event, or even lunch with the boss!
Make a Point to Personally Congratulate
Many organizations fail to realize the importance of recognition. Those that do value recognition must realize that it needs to be an organization-wide effort. One way to do this is by providing employees with personal congratulations from their supervisors. To fully immerse recognition into your company’s culture, a CEO must reframe employee recognition as a business imperative. Starting this initiative from the top down helps to ensure that it sticks. Good managers understand the manager-employee bond is a fragile one. It may not take too much appreciation to keep someone happy, but it does take some.
Find What Works For Your Office
Recognition can be personalized based on your organizational culture and what works for your specific team. Some ways to accomplish this is by using a whiteboard to celebrate wins each week. This is an excellent way to celebrate small deals – it isn’t distracting but it is effective. Place the board in an area of the office that gets a lot of traffic to ensure maximum recognition from coworkers. If a larger celebration is more of your office’s style, use technology like Channel11 to broadcast wins with personalized splashes!
Outside of the office, happy hours are a fantastic method to celebrate employees. This is a great idea after large deals are closed. Take time outside of the normal office day to celebrate big wins. An added bonus to this is an opportunity for team bonding.
Lastly, use quick shoutouts in meetings to celebrate wins. This provides recognition in a public way by getting everyone in one room to celebrate accomplishments. Most companies have regular meetings so taking a few minutes each time to recognize employees can easily become a part of your company’s culture.
Now that you know how important recognition is to motivate your employees, use these suggestions to skyrocket productivity and employee satisfaction.
