Employee recognition takes many forms. From managers expressing their gratitude privately to those hosting company-wide award shows, there have been a lot of different trends in employee recognition over the years.
In 2024, however, many of the tried and true methods of employee recognition have undergone significant changes. Find out which trends in employee recognition are still popular, which ones are just now emerging, and which ones have fallen to the wayside below.
Employers are Embracing Real-Time Employee Recognition
According to a recent survey by Nectar, 77.9% of modern employees believe they would be more productive if their accomplishments were recognized more frequently. For workers who are between 18 and 24 years old, however, this number jumps to 85%.
The same survey continues to state that 49% of current employees receive feedback on a daily or weekly basis. However, this still leaves 51% of employees who don’t receive such consistent feedback. Often the solution is real-time recognition.
Real-time recognition empowers your senior-level staff by giving them the opportunity to recognize employee achievements as soon as they happen. There’s no need to seek the approval of executives or follow an antiquated process. If an employee accomplishes something significant, managers and supervisors should feel free to acknowledge them on the spot. The same goes for peer recognition.
If you do decide to embrace real-time recognition in your organization, however, try to establish some rudimentary guidelines. There’s no need to acknowledge employees who are just fulfilling their day-to-day responsibilities and calling it a day. Real-time recognition should be reserved, like any other form of recognition, for top talent who surpass certain milestones or those who go above and beyond the call of duty.
Conversely, it’s important to provide real-time recognition on a fair and consistent basis. Repeatedly acknowledging the accomplishments of one employee while ignoring others could come across as favoritism, even if the employee in question is outpacing other workers.
Remote Employees Love Virtual Rewards and Recognition
Spurred by a combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and advancements in consumer technology, remote and hybrid roles are here to stay. As such, it’s important that employers are able to recognize the contributions that originate from this type of work just as fairly, easily, and consistently as they do for on-site accomplishments.
Health and wellness company Veyl Ventures, for example, regularly acknowledges their employees via the company’s official Slack channel. SurfCT, a dental IT company, uses Instagram similarly. Recognition efforts like this make it easy for the entire staff to celebrate the achievements of one another – whether their colleagues maintain in-person, remote, or hybrid roles.
Given the versatility of remote and hybrid roles, most managers have plenty of options to consider when it comes to virtual rewards and recognition. Social media is a great way to provide public recognition, but smaller accomplishments can easily be recognized through direct or personal messages, too. For larger, more significant achievements, consider distributing digital gift cards, website memberships, software, and even new hardware as a way of expressing appreciation to remote or hybrid employees. When done correctly, this sort of gamification can strengthen the overall employee experience while providing worthwhile rewards for your staff.
In some cases, you might consider hosting an online or virtual event to express appreciation for your entire staff. Not only does this let you recognize individual contributions as necessary, but it gives everyone the opportunity to attend – even if they can’t make it to an in-person event.
Millennial Employees Prefer Team-Oriented Recognition
According to studies by O.C. Tanner, approximately 88% of Millennials are actively seeking collaborative work environments rather than competitive ones. With that mind, it makes sense to acknowledge their contributions on a team-oriented basis.
The University of Waterloo also completed a field study to gauge the effectiveness of team-oriented recognition. According to their study, which covered six fast-food establishments, overall employee engagement and effort both increased after implementing team-oriented recognition. Not only did the study highlight some direct benefits of recognizing entire teams, but it uncovered some indirect benefits, too.
While you certainly don’t have to stop recognizing individual contributions in the workplace, you should try to find a way to acknowledge team-based achievements, too. Expressing your gratitude in this manner can go a long way when trying to build successful teams, improve morale, and increase productivity.
However, team-oriented recognition can have some drawbacks, too – especially when it’s implemented incorrectly or incompletely. In some cases, it could create unhealthy competition between teams that are assigned to the same projects. Although this could drive day-to-day productivity in a positive manner, employees who are in constant competition with one another will ultimately suffer from greater workplace stress, fatigue, and burnout when compared to those who are working collaboratively with teammates to achieve the same goal.
Companies are Building Stronger Bonds with Branded Rewards and Recognition
Are you looking for new ways to build stronger bonds between managers and subordinates? Do you also want to increase awareness of your employer brand or workplace culture? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you’ll probably benefit from offering branded company swag to build a culture of recognition and reward your top employees.
Branded merchandise can take many shapes and sizes. Hats, shirts, and jackets are a great way to advertise your company’s logo, while branded ink pens, USB drives, and duffel bags typically see plenty of use. Feel free to get creative with your branded company swag and, if necessary, ask your employees what kind of merchandise they’d like to see.
You might also consider displaying something other than your company logo. Branding merchandise with a famous quote, a few inspirational words, or even your organization’s mission statement will all attract more attention to your brand.
In some cases, branded experiences can be even more effective than tangible rewards. Instead of company swag, for example, you might partner with a local restaurant to offer free or discounted lunch to your team members. You might even consider taking the team to a local concert, amusement park, or sporting event. As long as it matches your overall brand, company culture, core values, and organizational goals, nearly anything is fair game when it comes to rewarding a job well done.
Nearly All Employees Appreciate Personalized Recognition
Personalized recognition is a hit amongst employees from all walks of life. It’s one thing to receive a generic thank-you note at the end of a tough project, but it’s another feeling entirely when an employee receives a personalized letter alongside a small gift that they’ll actually use. Not only does this let them know that their efforts are being noticed and appreciated, but it’s another way to help build stronger bonds between managers and their staff.
There are many ways to deliver personalized workplace recognition. Addressing employees by their first names, nicknames, or even their preferred pronouns is a great place to start, but you can take the concept of personalization even further by inquiring about individual hobbies and tailoring your rewards to match their individual interests. It’s a great way to get to know your team members outside of the workplace while boosting employee morale through rewards and recognition.
Like with all trends in employee recognition, however, you need to maintain a sense of consistency. Repeatedly recognizing the contributions of a few select employees while ignoring others or basing your rewards off the individual preferences of one or two staff members is bound to come across as favoritism – even if it's unintentional.
Which Types of Employee Recognition are Becoming Less Popular in 2024?
Now that we’ve covered some of the most popular and recently emerging trends in employee recognition, it’s time to look at some that are falling by the wayside. Whether it’s due to a lack of effectiveness, budgeting constraints, or something else entirely, these employee recognition strategies might become extinct sooner rather than later.
One-Size-Fits-All Recognition and Reward Programs
While boilerplate employee recognition programs might have worked well for prior generations, many of today’s employees just cannot be lumped into generic categories. Between remote and hybrid workers, full- and part-time employees, and everything in between, it’s not always possible to maintain standardized recognition and reward programs. As a result, many employers are doing away with their standard programs in lieu of something more versatile.
Monetary Rewards
Staff always appreciate cash bonuses and monetary incentives, but many of today’s workers value experiences and other, non-monetary incentives even more. Providing your team with tickets to a sold-out concert or event, for example, is a great way to express your appreciation – as long as you have an inside connection to secure the tickets in the first place. Other non-monetary rewards include additional PTO, increased scheduling flexibility, career development opportunities, and office parties — all of which will have a positive effect on your employees’ overall health, happiness, and well-being.
Competitive Rewards and Recognition
Although there are some benefits to healthy competition in the workplace, many employers are doing away with rewards and recognition that promote too much competition. Pitting teams and employees against each other in this manner isn’t conducive to the team-oriented environments that are becoming increasingly popular in the modern workforce, so it’s not surprising to see employers shunning competitiveness in favor of collaborative incentives and initiatives.
Making the Most of New Employee Recognition Trends
Between real-time recognition, company branding, and virtual rewards, it’s safe to say that the strategies behind employee recognition are changing. It’s no longer enough to create a rigid recognition program that applies to every single employee in the company. Today’s employees want a fun, creative, and flexible program that meets their needs – and that’s exactly where high-quality employee recognition software comes into play.
Not only does employee recognition software help increase employee retention, engagement, and productivity, but these recognition platforms also help you track the achievements and contributions of your entire team – regardless of size. Moreover, most platforms support various ways to reward employees, so you’re sure to find a solution that matches your current recognition and rewards strategy.
