How employee recognition and rewards strengthen connection and core values

Employee recognition isn't an achievement award. Positive reinforcement motivates employees to continue key behaviors that lead towards larger wins. Specific and meaningful praise builds employee confidence to take on new challenges or bigger goals.

Employee recognition creates an emotional connection that reinforces company values and improves individual and team performance. Building that authentic connection starts with personalizing your organization’s recognition strategy and rewards.

Why employee recognition builds company culture

Employee recognition reinforces core values, creating the foundation for your company culture. 

Shared values such as diversity, innovation and sustainability guide team members as they make decisions and address challenges at work. Core values also help employees develop a stronger sense of purpose, engaging 50% of employees, who report feeling more connected to their work. 

Values-based recognition encourages employees to interpret and embody shared principles. When employees see a core value tied to a recognition, it signals that this ideal behavior aligns with company culture. 

Manager-to-peer recognition also inspires others to follow by example. It can encourage the development of new skills, creativity and collaboration. 

A recognition-driven work culture opens the workplace to more ideas and opportunities to grow. As a result, we build more resilient teams that feel confident and purpose-driven. Recognized teams see 60% higher performance and 2.2 times more innovation. 

Related: 10 ways to promote core values in the workplace

3 steps to design a recognition program that drives connection

Employee recognition and rewards go beyond asking managers to give shoutouts more often. Recognition, rewards and incentives need structure and goals to keep managers and employees accountable. The novelty of a new program might get people on board at first, but without a plan, you won't see long-term success. 

Use these steps to create a structure. 

1. Set goals

Use specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and time-bound (SMART) goals to frame your plan. 

2. Engage leadership

Engage supervisors and managers. Educate them on the benefits of recognition as a tool. Guide them through meaningful recognition practices and behavior. 

3. Measure success and iterate

Is it eNPS scores? Or even a business benchmark? Whatever your goal, routinely track progress and identify opportunities that would engage the team. 

Example: A company aims to reduce traffic incidents among its drivers by 50% this year. This aligns with the business's core value of "Safety." To ensure alignment, they work with managers to provide additional training on safer driving practices. 

They use a "Safe Driver" award for those who complete every 800 miles without incident. Every month, managers recognize drivers who achieve this. The company evaluates the number of recipients recognized each quarter. If numbers decline, they re-evaluate the incentive and offer alternative training. If there are repeat achievers, they find additional ways to recognize them. 

The recognition aligns everyone with the company value, "Safety." The process includes different ways for team members to interact and interpret what it means for them at work—whether through training, writing a recognition or receiving a meaningful note. Together, the team prioritizes safety. 

Managers can review these recognitions and incorporate them into the employee performance review or evaluation. It gives a broader picture of that individual’s growth and development, which should also be celebrated. 

Making employee recognition more personal and meaningful

When recognition, rewards and incentives are personalized to the team and their goals, they feel more genuine. This encourages participation, builds excitement and gets results. 

How to write a meaningful recognition 

Effective recognition is timely, shows impact, feels personal and has specifics, also known as TIPS. A detailed recognition highlights the recipient's work and helps them feel valued. Train managers on this best practice to set the tone for your organization. 

How to get leadership buy-in for recognition programs 

Get leadership buy-in by understanding their challenges and goals. Show the ROI of recognition, whether that's meeting sales goals or boosting engagement metrics. Give leadership the tools to track growth so they can own part of the program's success. 

How to increase visibility of your recognition program 

Meet your team where they are. Deskless staff are more likely to engage with mobile notifications and real-time feedback. A corporate team might use more formal channels. 

How to find recognition rewards that resonate 

Most people default to gift cards, but a digital storefront can create a more meaningful experience and offer a variety of options so employees can find something that feels more personal.

Having a tangible reward associated with that recognition reminds employees of their achievement and the company's appreciation. It creates a lasting connection that generic gift cards can't provide. 

Related: Employee recognition examples (with writing prompts)

Examples of real teams using employee recognition

Organizations range in structure, industry and goals. Teams have different personalities, lifestyles and demographics. A successful recognition program speaks to these nuances. 

How core alues engaged a disconnected healthcare staff 

After a company-wide restructure, Stability Healthcare wanted to rebuild culture and community with its dispersed staff. ITA Group helped leaders gather feedback with an employee survey. They found an opportunity to centralize communication across facilities with a mobile recognition app. 

Using peer and manager recognition, team members connected everyday wins to core values. They implemented service and milestone recognition to build community. They routinely used quarterly surveys to track satisfaction. Shared values and consistency brought Stability Healthcare's staff together, and 97% of employees call their facility a good working environment. 

How a personalized incentive program drove sales and improved customer service 

Exceptional customer service can elevate a brand's perception and increase sales. When a manufacturer saw its customer approval scores slip, it turned to personalized communication, training and incentives to motivate its teams. 

With 900 service locations, the organization segmented awards to align with those areas' needs and goals. They also designed new employee training and launched mixed-media communications to target key groups. As a result, participation reached 96% redemption across six months, and the manufacturer achieved an average NPS of 9 (out of 10) across all participating roles. 

How engaged leadership paved the way for global connection 

A global organization needed to redefine its core values following an acquisition. Working with ITA Group, they developed an employer brand campaign with new core values and a recognition program to enhance their culture. 

The key was engaging leadership. Through hands-on activities, they saw that celebrating day-to-day wins and collaborating cross-functionally brought teams together around shared values and yielded richer results. This created a ripple effect across seven departments, from human resources to the global business development team, and extended into their customer service.

Create a recognition program that resonates with your team

Core values help employees and managers emotionally align with their work and responsibilities. When team members give or receive meaningful recognition tied to core values, it reinforces what those values look like in practice and helps embed them in the daily culture. 

Meaningful recognition emphasizes a company’s shared values and goals, motivating individuals and fostering connection throughout the team at all levels. An employee engagement platform like ITA Group's Cooleaf engagement platform can make personalization easier. 

AI tools can help managers and peers draft a timely, detailed shout-out. Teams can see recognitions on the main feed and receive mobile alerts. Employees earn points that they can accrue and redeem for tangible rewards from a curated storefront. Managers can access a dashboard to track participation and key engagement metrics. 

By understanding how meaningful recognition empowers employees and drives goals, teams can create a winning strategy that connects its mission with its people. 

Create your successful recognition program with an engaged leadership team. Download our leadership buy-in guide.