Only one-in-three employees feel recognized for their hard work. This recognition is important though, as 40% of employees surveyed said they'd put more effort into their job if they felt recognized.
If you find ways to show you see the effort your employees put in, you can have a better-engaged staff that wants to put more effort in. The good news is, it's easy to show employee recognition.
With a corporate award program, you can show employees you appreciate them. You can get creative with these corporate awards too. Let employees have some fun with their recognition with 15 creative award ideas.
Creating a Corporate Award Program
Recognition programs decrease employee turnover by 31%. This is important for companies that want to retain their high performers. You can make them feel valued with creative award titles and awards that feel special.
Take some time to come up with fun titles for employee award categories you want to recognize.
1. Awards for Employees that Put in Extra Work
Your best employees are the ones willing to go that extra mile to get work done. These are the employees willing to help out with jobs not in their job description. You can also recognize employees that do more than what's required of them in their own department.
You can recognize these employees with fun awards such as the WOW Award. If this doesn't appeal to you, consider
- Ace of Initiative
- Crushing It Award
- Excellence Award
You can also think of a title that's specific to your company. Let these extra milers know you see the effort they put in.
2. Awards for Your Workplace Coaches
Do you have an employee that's always willing to to help train new hires? Maybe they're also willing to help out coworkers who are struggling with an assignment.
Show them you notice with a Role Model award or maybe a Quality Enforcer award. These people need to know their willingness to teach is valuable.
3. The Mr. or Mrs. Fix-It Award
You also want to recognize those people you can depend on to help keep things running smoothly. This is the award for the person willing to do maintenance or repairs on equipment, even if it's just the coffee-maker.
You can go with the Fix-It Award. You could also make it a little more fun by presenting them with the McGyver award, if you know they'll understand the reference.
4. Cleanliness Award
Do you have an employee that keeps their workspace tidy? Or, do you have someone who's willing to tidy up after messier coworkers? Consider showing recognition for these efforts.
You can present them with an Organizer award, or a Mr. or Mrs. Clean award. You can even get their coworkers in on coming up with a fun title for their efforts.
5. Recognize the Peacemakers
Another fun idea to recognize initiative is to show appreciation to the peacemakers in the office. This can include people that go out of their way to make new hires feel welcome.
This can also include the people able to keep peace among coworkers. You can give them the Blessed Peacemaker award, or get a little more fun with the Referee award.
6. Creativity Award
You can have fun with a creativity award. This can go to someone who has an artistic flair that adds value. Or, this can go to someone who can find creative solutions to problems.
Consider giving these creative employees the Easel award or the Producers award. Think of ways to introduce creative jobs into the title to make it more interesting. You can even initiate them in the company's Artist Guild with a pretty plaque.
7. Recognize the Efforts of New Hires
Awards aren't just for long-standing employees. If you have a new hire that's standing out by showing a quick aptitude or a willingness to learn new jobs, you want them to know you appreciate these efforts.
Consider giving them the Rookie of the Year or Rookie of the Month award, depending on how many new people you hire regularly. You can even present them with the New Busy Bee award.
8. Award Volunteerism
Sometimes recognition can come for activities outside the office. Employees willing to volunteer outside of work are useful to your business reputation.
Show them you appreciate their willingness to volunteer or donate to a cause with a volunteer award. You can create award titles such as Constant Contributor or World Changer. You can also present them with the Making a Difference award.
9. Safety Awards
You can present safety awards for people or teams that go without work accidents for some time. You can also present a safety award to someone who goes out of their way to maintain a safe work environment.
You can give them the title of Safety Specialist or Safety Star. Or you can create a Safe Space award for a team.
10. Recognize Top Performance
Performance isn't just about profit. Your top performers are those people that have the best productivity in their jobs.
You can present awards for an overall performer, or you can award based on department. You can recognize their performance with a President's Circle or a Leadership award. You can also create a leaderboard.
11. Recognize Excellent Customer Service
Customer service is the key to a successful business. When your employees are positive, your customers will reward you with loyalty.
It's important to let employees know you value the time and energy they put into keeping customers happy with special levels. You can create a Platinum or Diamond Service award. You can also give them a First Class Service or Customer Care award.
12. Award Sales Performance
If you want to recognize people based on profits, you can create competitions with your sales teams. Consider awarding teams or individuals based on sales numbers to keep them motivated.
You can award the title of Chief Closer to top sales members. You can also come up with team titles based on performance.
13. Perfect Attendance Awards
If you want to highlight the importance of attendance, consider an award for perfect attendance. This is for the person that shows up every day and on time.
Give employees with perfect attendance a Prime Participation award. This is a great opportunity to recognize multiple employees.
14. Team Awards
Sometimes it's a good idea to recognize employees as a team rather than as individuals. If you have teams that work well together or have high productivity as a whole, show that you notice.
You can present a team with a Team Impact award. You can also give them a fun title to represent who they are and what they do.
15. Peer Recognition Awards
If you want to make the recognition program more interesting, let employees get involved. Let employees come up with their own awards for their coworkers they can present.
These can include goofy awards or awards for adding value to their coworkers. Examples include the Team Player or Key Contributor award. Or you can let them give the Fashionista or another fun award.
Find the Right Awards for Employees
Once you have your corporate award program in place, you need to find the best way to present these awards. Whether it's a plaque, trophy, or designer award, check out the options available to make your recognition program special.