Employee recognition is important. It increases employee engagement, improves employee retention, and decreases burnout.
But,
Coming up with creative ways to recognize employees can be difficult and time-consuming. Most managers and HR Directors simply don’t have time to reinvent recognition. That’s why we’ve covered 161 ways to easily recognize your employees for a job well done in this article!
1. Time In Service Awards
The vast majority of employee recognition programs focus on the time of service awards. But, most employees don’t feel very special from the time of service awards. That’s because service awards are usually not personal. A 5 or 10-year service award simply doesn’t motivate employees to hang around.
That’s especially true of today’s workforce. Most employees stay at a job for just over 4 years. (US Bureau of labor statistic)
But, there is a way to make service awards more rewarding. Offer personalized gifts. The Thanks platform allows employees to redeem points for the reward they want.
You can also collect memories and create a yearbook of photos and videos to recognize and celebrate your memories.
Or, allow other team members to publicly recognize employees for their time in service on social media.
Use time in service awards to recognize new team members. Recognize new employees that have completed orientation, stuck around for 90 days, or had their first success.
- Orientation Master
- Newbie of The (Week, Month, Year)
- Champ of Orientation
- Fast Adapter Award
- Rising Star
- Superb Beginnings Award
- First Star Award
- Newbie of the Month
- New Kid on the Block Award
- Incredible Hire
- 90 Day Tough Guy Award
- 90 Day Stick It Out
- 90 Days of Progress
- First Success Award
- 6 Months of Excellence
- 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years service awards
- Loyalty award
2. Award Employees By Department & Responsibilities
In many organizations, sales and customer service employees become the primary recipients of recognition and awards. That’s because the sales and service teams are usually the employees that interact with your clients and customers. It’s easy to see the impact they have.
But, it’s also important to recognize employees that work behind the scene to make a huge impact on your organization. Consider the following departments and brainstorm to make sure you’ve included all the various departments within your organization.
- IT Department
- Manufacturing & Production
- Safety
- Research and Development
- Quality Assurance
- Marketing
- Events Coordinators
- Purchase Department
- Finance
- Distribution
- Management
- Workers
3. Customer Service Awards
It costs many times more to acquire a new customer than it costs to retain an existing customer. Recognizing employees that make a difference to the customer is a critical step to creating loyal customers.- Five Star Service Award
- Loyalty Builder Award
- Customer Hero Award
- Problem Solver Award
- Customer Care Award
- Consider-It-Done Award
- Service Honor Roll Award
- Diamond Service Club
- Platinum Loyalty Maker
- Consultant of the Year
- The Extra Mile Award
- Firefighter Award
- Kudos Service Award
- Happiness Spreader
- Mountain Mover
- Calmer of Storms
- Customer Whisperer
4. Top Performer Awards
Many top performers excel in a sales role, but there are other roles where high performance can be recognized. Try watching for those who really put in extra effort and recognize it!- 110% award
- Excellence award
- The Great Performer
- The Superb Guru Award
- Perfect Performer
- Quality Achievement Award
- Rockstar Award
- Presidents Club
- Star Sales Award
- (Year) Million Dollar Club
- (Year) Top 10% Club
- Crush It Award
- Executive Choice
- Standing Ovation Award
- Circle of Supremacy
- Hall of Fame
- Victory Club
- Summit Award
- Growth Driver
- Top Dog Award
5. Management & Leadership Awards
Managers make a huge difference in the engagement and satisfaction of their teams. Great managers inspire loyalty, decrease turnover, and inspire. Recognize the great leaders in your organization.- Confidence Infuser
- Leadership Award
- Manager of the Month
- Incredible Chief
- Stunning Director
- Best Big Boss
- Wonderful President Award
- Unbelievable RIngleader
- Role Model of the (month / year / decade)
- Fascinating Ruler
- Marvelous Manager
- Made A Difference to Me
- Circle of Greatest Impact
- Manager Hall of Fame
- Be A Hero Club
- Circle of Champs
- The Motivator
6. Above and Beyond Awards
When an employee does the unexpected and goes beyond the call of duty, recognizing them shows them you care and are grateful for their efforts.
- The Extra Mile Award
- Beyond Expectations
- Wow Award
- High Five Award
- Made A Difference
- Excellence Circle
- Difference Maker
- Power of One
- Crushing It Award
- Goal Crusher
- Game Changer
- Super Hero Award
- Beyond The Call of Duty
7. Teamwork Awards
Great teams make an organization. Teamwork is key to success. Reward great teamwork with these creative awards.
- Make Others Great Award (for excellent collaboration)
- Helping Hands Award
- Difference Maker
- Chief Collaborator
- Super Synergy
- Sensational Unity
- Perfect Partnership
- Harmony Hero
- Pulling Together Award
- Incredible Alliance Award
- Marvelous Team Award
- All For One, One For All
- Perfect Project Award
8. Creative And Innovative Ideas Awards
Consider rewarding your innovative employees. Provide a way that any employee can provide feedback on ideas to improve your company processes or save money. Reward research and development teams for their creativity. Or recognize an employee that came up with an incredible solution to a problem.
- Einstein Ideas Awards
- Obstacle Conqueror
- Key Contributor
- Incredible Innovator
- Outstanding Visionary
- Groovy Original
- Gifted Creator
- Ingenious Collaborator
- Original Idea Award
9. Perfect Attendance Awards
Employees who make an effort to show up every day are rare and deserve to be recognized.
- Perfectly Present Award
- Best Attendance Award
- Showed Up Award
- Never Missed a Beat
- All Day Everyday Award
- No Missed Opportunities
- Highly Dependable
10. Safety Awards
Encourage safety practices by recognizing employees who consistently follow safety guidelines and don’t take shortcuts.
- Consistent Caution
- Perfectly Protected
- Injury-Free of the Year Award
- Out of Harm’s Way Award
- Safe Driving Award
- Superbly Safe
- Admirably Alive and Well Award
- Breathtakingly Free of Danger
- Magnificently Protected
- Diamond Safety Award
- Best in Class Safety Award
11. Look at Other Types Of Awards
Check out these ideas for recognizing other departments and employees in unique rolls.
- Marvelous Networking Award
- Challenge Conqueror Award (For a difficult problem solved)
- Demanding Execution Award
- Do the Right Thing Award
- Mountain Climber Award (Overcoming Obstacles)
- Warrior of Words (Complaint Resolution)
- Most Improved
- Rising Star Award
- Ace Employee
- Keeping Us Safe Award (IT Award)
- Key Communicator
- Cyber Defender of the Year Award
- MVP Award
- Greatest Impact Award
- Keeping us On Point Award
- Greatest Savings Award (Finance / Purchasing)
- Outstanding Safety Award
- Mistake Free Award
- Round of Applause Award
- Fist Pump Award
- World Changer Award
- Round of Applause Award
- Made a Difference
- Marketing Master
- Chief of Marketing
12. Encourage Peer to Peer Recognition
Your management team is busy. If you rely only on managers and top execs to recognize employees, you will miss a lot of opportunities for recognizing greatness. Engage your employees in recognizing their peers and saying “Thank You!” to a job well-done.
Conclusion
Once you’ve decided on a few awards to recognize employees, you’ll want to launch your employee recognition program. Check out this article to learn How to Launch a Successful Employee Recognition Program.
About Thanks
Thanks is a leading provider of a recognition-based platform that increases communication, builds teamwork, and makes recognition a part of company culture. Fast, easy and simple Thanks makes it easy to bring data-driven employee recognition to your entire organization. O.C. Tanner purchased the Thanks platform in 2019 to fulfill the recognition needs of smaller businesses.
Thanks customers benefit from the same decades of research in employee motivation and company culture that O.C. Tanner enterprise clients enjoy, but in a product that is geared for fast, easy and simple deployment. Whether you’re starting a recognition program or improving and expanding on what you already have, Thanks has everything you need to engage your people with effective, scalable recognition. Thanks is a subsidiary of OC Tanner.