Five Free Employee Recognition Ideas You Can Implement Today

One of the most effective and least costly ways to reduce turnover is by building a culture of employee recognition. The good news is there are a variety of ways to recognize your employees, and some of them don’t cost a dime. Here are five free ways to recognize employees.

1. Let your star employees shine – If you have an outstanding employee, create a new development opportunity for them. You may ask them to mentor a new employee, or to serve on a committee where they can provide input. Let them know you recognize their strengths and contributions and would like to help them continue to develop new skills.
2. Say it like you mean it – A simple note or spoken words of gratitude can go a long way. When you notice an employee who has gone above and beyond or remained dedicated in turbulent times, let them know you see what they are doing and appreciate it. Write a note and include specific details or take the time to sit down with them for no other reason than to recognize their efforts. Include details about what they’ve done that you want to recognize and how they’ve made an impact.
3. Let loose within reason – Every work environment is different, but perhaps there’s something you can do to make things a little more fun while recognizing hard work. If your team just hit a sales goal, let everyone wear jeans one day. If the team is dealing with a stressful time, let them bring in their pets. The key to this is finding the best fit for your work environment. Puppies may not be it, so be creative and take the time to learn what’s most important to your people.
4. Shout it from the rooftops – When a team is successful, share it with the whole department or organization through a timely mass email. Let everyone know what the team has accomplished and how grateful you are for their hard work. Encourage employees to congratulate the team you’ve mentioned in person as well.
5. Build recognition into meetings – Employee recognition shouldn’t always come from a manager or executive. During a regularly scheduled meeting, take the time to go around the room and allow employees to recognize one another. You may consider building 10 minutes into your meeting for each person to have the opportunity to recognize another employee. 

Interested in more employee recognition ideas? Assembly can help. Assembly is a peer-to-peer employee recognition platform that allows coworkers to easily recognize each other with meaningful messages and rewards.

Assembly has a 95% employee engagement rate and can be easily integrated with Slack, enabling companies to manage culture spend with a positive and justifiable ROI.

About the Author, Casey Conway

As a Human Resources professional, Casey specializes in employee recognition and organizational development and training. She is a Certified Recognition Professional and uses her background in communications to strategically develop and brand programs designed to enhance the employee experience.