There might be some form of a reward and recognition program, that exists in your company. If it doesn’t, it’s a surprise that your company even has employees. Everyone deserves to be rewarded and recognized for their efforts.

When did you re-evaluate your rewards and recognition program last? If your answer was, “I can’t remember?” maybe it’s time for an overhaul. You need to be on a path of continuous improvement for the prosperity of your business. You need to re-evaluate your plan constantly to see what areas and aspects of the program you can improve upon.

Even with periodic program review, you still need to be aware of some of the tell-tale signs that show that your rewards and recognition program needs a major re-work.

 

• Change the Gifts Being Given

 

Are the rewards and gifts being given to deserving employees the same as when you joined the company?

If this is the case, then you may need to change the gifts. Maybe that restaurant you treat people at has suffered in quality and newer employees would prefer to go somewhere else as a reward for their efforts.

Ask via a survey where your employees would like to go or what they want as a part of the rewards and recognition program. You’ll see that you don’t need gifts that add to the pile of unwanted gifts at the employees’ desks.

The anticipation of getting a gift allows you to motivate employees. If they hate the reward, there isn’t much of a point when you go to their desk and give them something that they don’t like.

 

• Your Way of Recognition is Not Consistent

 

You can’t afford to show nepotism towards your favourite employees, and just reward them when they do well. As a superior in some way or form, you need to make a diligent effort to get to know new employees and recognize and reward them for their efforts and contributions for the company. You need to reward and recognize on the basis on performance, not just knowing and favouring certain employees.

Almost two thirds of people doing jobs in Australia don’t feel valued at their jobs. If you’re giving rewards to the popular people in the workplace and letting the work of the less popular employees go unnoticed, you are essentially creating a disparity between the two and making the less popular workers feel less valued in the company.

Therefore, you should develop key criteria for recognition and be consistent in your rewards and recognition efforts.

 

• The Rewards and Recognition Program follows a Set Schedule

 

You can’t expect the rewards and recognition program to follow a set schedule where you can reward your employees when it’s simply “their turn.” You need to have a robust strategy and defined criteria when your employees will be rewarded and on what basis.

By not doing this, you’re killing what little motivation your employees have, to begin with. They won’t be thrilled to perform if they know they’re not going to be recognized or rewarded for their efforts.