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How to Revive a Fading Employee Recognition Program

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How to Revive a Fading Employee Recognition Program


Many organizations fail to sustain the level of employee participation in their employee rewards and recognition programs. This results in even the best employee rewards programs gradually fading into obscurity. This article examines how to revive a fading employee recognition program.

What are the Signs of a Fading Employee Recognition Program?

Most organizations fail to recognize the early signs that might indicate the commencement of the downfall of their recognition programs.

They ignore these signs as a passing phase and do not take timely corrective actions.

So, to avoid such situations, organizations should pay attention to any signs of decreasing employee interest in recognition programs.

These are the top 4 signs:

How to Revive a Fading Employee Recognition Program 2

1. A Gradual Decline in Employee Participation

Why switch from In-house Employee Recognition Platforms?

One of the earliest indicators of a fading employee recognition program is a gradual decline in employee participation. 

This can be due to repeated rewards, a lack of variety, poorly designed policies, a lack of interest from management, and other factors.

Hence, organizations need to gather more information about factors and find ways to rectify them.

2. Reduction in Employee Satisfaction Levels

Customer Experience

When there is a sudden increase in dissatisfied employees, organizations should take it as a warning sign.

Hence, they should try understanding employees’ unhappiness with the recognition program. 

They should interact one-on-one with such employees to better understand the reasons for their disappointment.

3. Increase in Absenteeism Rate

Paid-Leave

If more employees take leave for frivolous reasons, management should consider this an indication of a fading program.

Employees skipping office frequently may be because they do not care much about the organization’s success.

Hence, managers are responsible for interacting with such employees to understand the reasons for this behavior.

How to Revive a Fading Employee Recognition Program?

Acknowledging that their employee recognition program is fading is the first and the most crucial step towards reviving it.

The next step is to identify the strategies to get the program back on track.

So, here are a few such strategies:

How to Revive a Fading Employee Recognition Program

1. Let Go of Obsolete Aspects

Provide Time and Resources to Employees to Explore New Ideas

Based on employee feedback, the organization should list aspects of the program that have become redundant.

Obsolete parts of the program should be replaced with more interesting and creative options that also find favor with the employees.

2. Introduce New Recognition Practices

Employee Benefits

Also, introducing new rewards regularly is a great way to maintain the recognition program’s novelty and excitement.

Apart from incorporating the changing needs of the employees, new awards can help in reviving their interest in the program.

Organizations can even seek suggestions from the workforce members about the new awards they want to be introduced.

3. Ensure Active Involvement of Management

Best Ideas for Recognizing Top Performers

Often, the fading of a recognition program is due to the management’s lack of interest.

The management must continue to take an active part in the recognition program.

Their involvement ensures employees are valued by people who matter the most and keep motivating them.

Bottom-line

Reviving an ailing recognition program can be quite challenging, but when handled in a planned way, it can deliver the benefits and the return on investments for which it was designed.

Sagar Chaudhuri

Lead author: Sagar Chaudhuri, the Co-Founder and CEO of HiFives. He is an HR Tech Evangelist with over 25 years of corporate and entrepreneurship experience. In the past, Sagar has worked in leadership roles with companies such as Genpact, Infosys, and ICICI Bank. He has an engineering degree from IIT Kharagpur and an MBA from IIM Lucknow. Connect on LinkedIn

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HiFives is a global employee rewards, recognition and engagement SaaS platform that enables organizations to digitize, automate and transform their employee experience. It is used by 100+ large enterprises, small businesses and startups in manufacturing, retail, technology, financial services and media, across 25+ countries.