Employee recognition is vital to giving employees incentive to perform their job efficiently. An employer can give their employees added conveniences that are not expensive at all. Applying just a few of these ideas will greatly increase productivity in the work place.

1. Peer-to-Peer Recognition

Every time an employee helps another employee out, add their name on a piece of paper to a bucket list. The one with the most recognition slips is most likely to win a free meal, or whatever prize, at the end of the week.

2. Social Media

If an employer has a social media website, such as on Facebook, they can give their employee free publicity online. Highlight what they've accomplished so that everyone will know. If the employee consents, they can have their picture put up as well.

3. Birthday Celebration

Any employee would highly appreciate a day off on their birthday, so surprise them with a day off on their birthday, plus maybe a birthday cake the next day. Alternatively, they could know in advance, so they can make birthday plans.

4. Surprise Treats

A surprise treat can be something like a candy bar or some other great snack. When they accomplish an exceptionally productive day, reward them with a surprise snack. To be safe, give these surprise treats to the individual privately.

5. Employee Recognition Day

Better yet, the employer can treat it as a group effort, rewarding employees with an employee recognition day, where they spend the day eating, gaining awards and doing team activities. This event could be spent at places other than the work facility, such as a simple park.

6. Wall of Fame

A great, original way to reward employees and increase incentive is to put their name and picture up on an employee of the month wall, or something to the like. This will encourage employees to compete with each other in a positive way.

7. Trophy Award

There are many cool employee trophy awards that one can buy at Express Awards & Specialties. The awards come in many different designs, colors and levels of recognition. If one wants, they can add a bonus check as well, even if it's just 50 dollars.

8. Daily Refreshments

Just daily refreshments alone, such as donuts in the morning and cool drinks in the hot afternoon, will go a very long way in boosting employee productivity in many ways. Breaks have been shown in numerous studies to boost productivity as well.

9. VIP Parking Spot

The employee of the month can get rewarded with VIP parking to their job for the time they're employee of the month. Employees will strive for that VIP parking.

10. Annual Vacation Time Award

This is a great method for employers to increase long-term productivity of their employees. Simply award the winner, however the system may work, with a whole week of work-off vacation time once a year.

Businesses and companies too often forget about the importance of employee recognition and the effects it can have on employees and job performance. Many businesses think they're saving time and money by skipping out on employee recognition programs, but in the long run, they're actually losing out on time, money, work quality, and employee retention. It's important to take the time to appreciate an employee's hard work in order to better improve the company and business as a whole. Here are five reasons why employee recognition is so important.

Improved Productivity

Implementing employee recognition and reward programs can let them know that the company values their work. Exemplary employees can rest easy knowing their extra effort will not go unappreciated. Through a recognition program, employees will understand what standards they are required to work under and what is considered above average work. Knowing these two keys will improve their productivity and work quality since they will strive to achieve recognition through the program. Companies with no recognition programs will always receive the same lackluster work from their employees since they know that hard work is not being rewarded.

Establishes Teamwork

With an employee recognition program, a sense of teamwork among workers is greatly enhanced. Producing excellent and recognition-worthy work to improve the company and business gives them a sense of unity and need for teamwork. Employees who strive to have their work recognized through the program will also be more willing to help out their co-workers when they need assistance. If there is no recognition program in place, employees will be less willing to help each other out and will adopt an "every man for himself policy" when it comes to workload. Their extra efforts aren't being recognized, so they see no point in assisting their fellow co-workers.

Comfort Within Work Environment

There are a number of ways to show employee recognition and it doesn't have to be necessarily through a program or rewards. It can be through free amenities and services offered in the workplace. If employees have access to these facilities, they will be more comfortable in their work setting. This will help in creating happier employees, which in turn will produce better work. Even through the simple employee recognition program, employees will still find comfort and happiness in the work environment knowing their hard work going appreciated.

Friendly Competition

Implementing a way to recognize your employees can help establish a sense of friendly competition among them. In the bigger picture, this friendly competition serves as a way to see who can produce the best quality work efficiently and consistently. This will perpetuate the quality of work, constantly improving it and the skills of your employees. Be sure to implement the recognition program correctly and let your employees know the standards on which they will be judged upon. Picking an employee at random to be recognized will make them grow bitter towards each other since a lackluster and lazy employee could be recognized over one that goes the extra mile.

High-Quality Employees

It's no secret that the best businesses and companies boast the best and happiest workforce. They also have multiple forms of employee recognition implemented. Employees want to work hard for great companies with excellent employee recognition programs and services. They will compete against other potential employees and produce the highest quality work in order to secure their spot in a great company. Recognition programs will also help your business retain hard working employees since they understand their work is being valued. Workers often leave companies because they feel as if they company doesn't care about them, which makes them feel the same way about the business. They want to move onto better companies.

Facts about employee motivation

Approximately 80 percent of employees tied the presence of a rewards program to feeling valued by their employers. Another 70 percent of employees admit that they would work a little bit harder if there were some sort of incentive program in place. In a 2014 survey, 50 percent of employees report feeling valued by their employer.

Importance of understanding the employee

Many employers mess up in offering rewards that aren’t aligned with what employees would find desirable. Personalized rewards will be better received by employees than those provided without giving much thought. Gifts that are a surprise and well outside of the normal incentives expected are wonderful ways to influence behavior. Consider the culture of your staff in addition to the budget.

Benefits of an incentive program

Communicating corporate values is something that is done during the onboarding process. It must be reinforced in order to encourage team members to adopt the culture. Incentives are a good way to tie culture to specific actions that can be taken by employees. You can encourage assimilation with targeted rewards.

When you lose an employee, it costs money to recruit and train a new employee. That’s very expensive for some companies. Research shows that companies with recognition programs experience a 31 percent lower voluntary turnover rate than companies who don’t have a recognition program in place. Companies save money by retaining top talent.

Productivity is tied to employee effort in some cases. Incenting employees to give their best effort through recognition program will improve efficiency and your company’s bottom line. It is much easier to encourage employees to achieve when you have desirable rewards being offered.

Replacing key employees is expensive. Recruitment is costly. Time spent vetting candidates and hiring them requires a significant investment in time and resources. Making a company desirable to employees requires the use of tools like incentive programs. When employees feel valued, they are more likely to remain onboard.

When you hire a worker, your goal should be to keep them for their entire career. While this may not be realistic for every person who becomes a part of your company, lower turnover will result in lower labor costs for the organization. Therefore, it is important that you create conditions that increase the odds that a worker will want to stick around for the years to come.

Recognize Their Achievements

No one wants to work for a company that doesn't recognize the hard work that he or she puts in. Therefore, it is always a good idea to call out your workers when they do reach a sales goal, hit a service milestone or do anything else that is worthy of praise. The best part is that it doesn't take much to thank your people for the things that they do to make the company a powerhouse in its industry. In most cases, a pin, a plaque or a $20 gift certificate is enough to show that the company cares.

Offer Them a Competitive Salary

Most people go to work each day because they need their paycheck to provide for themselves and their families. This means that a person is less likely to stay with your company if he or she can make more elsewhere. If you can't afford to pay a competitive salary, you may be able to make up for it with stock options or other benefits to increase a worker's overall compensation package.

Offer Room for Advancement

One of the easiest ways for a person to increase his or her salary is through promotions up the corporate ladder. While not everyone can go from janitor to CEO, you should aim to help your people get the most out of their skills. In some cases, you may be able to help a worker move up by creating new positions that are tailored to his or her skill set.

Act as a Mentor to Your People

In the business world, there is nothing more important than a relationship with another person. By acting as a mentor, you are creating one of the strongest connections a worker and manager can have. When you choose to mentor someone, you are telling that person that you care about his or success on a personal level. That type of loyalty is likely to be reciprocated, which may lead to lower levels of turnover.

Create an Enjoyable Workplace Experience

If you can provide nothing else to your employees, provide them with an enjoyable workplace experience. This may include a game room, free breakfast on Friday or an atmosphere where colleagues are allowed to be social with both customers and each other. It is not uncommon for people to stay with a company because of the people who they work with or work for even when they aren't being paid top dollar.

The best companies are the one that treat their employees with respect. This is because employees who feel good about their employers will work harder to serve the needs of its customers. Furthermore, people are unlikely to leave a place where they feel valued and appreciated as this can be worth as much or more than any amount of financial compensation.