Looking for ways to motivate and reward your employees? Here are our top 25 employee recognition and appreciation ideas gathered from human resources (HR) professionals and small business owners. Many of these employee recognition ideas will put a smile on your employees’ faces without putting a strain on your budget.
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1. Upgrade Your Rewards Bulletin Board to an Applause Board
2. Use Appreciation Cards to Say Thanks
3. Offer Secret, Surprise Bonuses
4. Let Them Hit the Jackpot with Lottery Tickets
5. Spin the Wheel for Prizes Earned with Bonus.ly Points
6. Provide Flexible Hours
7. Celebrate Online with Virtual Parties
8. Recognize Your Employees’ Expertise with Training Responsibilities
9. Host Rewards-Driven Happy Hours
10. Help Pay for Employee’s College Education
11. Build an Employee Retention Program with Milestone Rewards
12. Schedule Employee One-on-One Time With the Boss
13. Reward Top Performers with Commuter Benefits
14. Create a Company “Mascot” to Do the Recognition For You
15. Start a Peer Recognition Program Using TinyPulse
16. Decal Their Name Badge
17. Send a Company Wide Congratulatory Email
18. Customize A Specific Reward for Each Person
19. Create a Certificate or Plaque
20. Support their Cause With A Donation to their Favorite Charity
21. Use a Website to Give Kudos
22. Host a Periodic Drawing with Big Prizes
23. Make a Game Out of It
24. Just Feed Them
25. Go Overboard and Recognize the Whole Team with a Big Event
The Bottom Line
Recognizing employee performance can go a long way toward keeping employees engaged and improving retention. Need more ideas? Check out our articles on employee appreciation gift ideas, incentives and perks to offer.
What do you do to recognize your high achievers and great teams? We would love to hear more employee recognition ideas from you.
Matt
Number 20 comes close – but go one step further and get a caricature/artwork/cartoon drawn of the person who is the person receiving the recognition!
We have many clients who have been doing this for years and if the same person comes around again, a new photo and funny depiction means it and other great personal and custom recognition. In fact some businesses have staff trying harder so they get another to add to their collection!
Its easy and fun.