Your employees have been hard at work, and you want to recognize their impact on your company, but the problem now shows itself. How exactly do you do that?
With a lot of our employees working from home, a simple pizza party doesn’t cut it. Finding the recognition programs that work best for your employees and your company can be the difference between a good attitude from an employee and a bad one. Also, great recognition can help increase your team’s overall performance.
Transparency And Communication
With many of our employees working from home, it’s challenging to keep employees motivated when they feel like their work doesn’t matter. Especially if they’re worried their company is about to be downsized.
Employees are, first and foremost, loyal to their managers over their companies. If you’re impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and losing significant accounts and work, tell your employee.
They know things are tough, but being honest with them is key to keeping them invested in your company. This keeps rumors and distractions down and helps keep your employees positive, even in the face of downsizing or potential layoffs.
Give Your Staff Freedom
One of the things you will have to accept as a good leader is that some of your employees may hold resentment regardless of the situation. Things like flexible work hours or the option to come in early and take extended lunch will be dealmakers in keeping good employees invested.
Especially if you have a lot of your team working from home, offering flexible work schedules may be extremely helpful in keeping them invested. Give them the freedom to work in ways that work best for them, and they’ll do their best work for you.
You also should be thinking ahead on ways to appreciate your workforce remotely. What if your business is allowed to reopen, but an employee needs to be able to stay home with a child taking online classes? You should be finding ways to keep flexible for as long as the COVID-19 pandemic affects your employees.
Recognize Your Staff Often
Your staff members are tired. They are submitting work to you in what feels like a vacuum, and they may not be getting the feedback and recognition they once were. Employees are 74% more likely to stay with a company if they are recognized for their work.
Recognition, though, doesn’t just come from the top-down. Peer-to-peer recognition helps as well, and you as a leader can foster this sort of recognition.
What should you do for this recognition? Well, research finds cash may not be as great of a motivator that you think it is. Instead, you will need to think critically about your employees and what would positively impact them.
Make It Into A Game
Gamifying your staff objectives is one way for your employees to feel the need to achieve what you want them to achieve. If you’re setting realistic goals and offering incentives at the end of them, your employees will want to challenge themselves to take on the tasks.
You can offer “badges” of sorts to employees or “points” in a larger reward system for going above and beyond. Think of it as achievements in a video game. If your employees are doing extra, find ways to make it worth it to them. Let them collect “points” and trade them in for a day off, even.
Need Help With Ideas?
At Bench Builders, we offer business coaching to help you find what works best for you and your business. We can provide you with the assistance you need to get your workforce happy even in the face of adversity.
Curious about what we offer? Let’s talk. Click here to schedule a quick call. Let us help you give your employees the work environment that they truly want.
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