How to connect employee recognition to core values and culture

A company’s core values tell the world about its brand, beliefs and goals. The best way to bring these core values to life is through employee recognition.

Core value recognition goes beyond a feel-good shoutout. It’s a culture-building tool organizations can use to set themselves apart as they build their business and brand.

Biggby Coffee Co-Founder and Co-CEO Mike McFall said it best on ITA Group’s “Love your people” podcast: "People want to know that their work is contributing to something that is having a powerful and positive impact.”​

When core values resonate with employees, company cultures thrive. Organizations see better retention, attract more candidates and higher engagement. Declining employee engagement costs the global economy $438 billion, as highly engaged teams are more productive and innovative.

Core values define your company culture and what drives your workforce, and recognition gives organizations a way to educate and align employees with these principles.

However, successful programs require the right strategy and creative employee recognition ideas to resonate with your team.

The connection between recognition, core values and culture

Core values foster a deeper sense of belonging at work, leading to a more engaged company culture. However, 32% of U.S. employees describe their workplaces as isolated, feeling disconnected from others in their organizations. That rate increases when applied to Gen Z entering the workforce and to hybrid and remote teams.

When used effectively, core values drive employee motivation and create a shared set of values. It can unite teams, foster a strong sense of belonging and create mutual respect. Recognizing employees for embodying core values bridges the gap between daily tasks and company mission, fostering a deeper sense of purpose and organizational belonging.

Common mistakes that disconnect recognition from organizational culture

Rewarding a positive outcome or saying, “good job!” to an employee inconsistently isn’t strategic recognition.

​Prioritizing outcomes over performance or offering generic praise feels impersonal and lacks meaning. It doesn’t help individuals feel seen or empowered at work. It emphasizes business results over people. Instead, focus on regular, meaningful recognition. This ensures that a person’s progress and choices are the focus.

​At ITA Group, we use a shorthand to help us issue meaningful employee recognitions, TIPS:

• Timely: recognize an employee soon after they exemplify that core value, or make sure to mention that moment if you issue a recognition later.
• Impact: explain the effect that a key action or behavior had on a company win, a team member or a small event at work. 
• Personal: focus on the recipient. It feels good to receive a compliment, so make sure it feels genuine.
• Specific: add details and share the story of that win, big or small.

Related: Employee recognition examples (with writing prompts)

How to align employee recognition program to company values

Organizations should regularly communicate and provide examples of how core values are applied for different teams. For example, Kelly Costanza, Chief People Officer at CAVA told the “Love your people” podcast that the same values apply to its corporate team and deskless workers in its restaurant locations.

However, these values appear differently for a deskless employee than for a corporate employee. CAVA regularly updates examples of core values in action on communication boards at its restaurant locations. They host training and events surrounding core values. They also issue value-driven recognition quarterly.

CAVA designed a program that enabled managers and employees to understand and embody its core values. They established regular communication to demonstrate how values manifest across all roles. And they tie their core values into performance reviews and rewards, so team members clearly feel how the company's core values align with the culture.

Memorable and creative employee rewards and recognition ideas

When you focus your recognition on the recipient, you create a memorable experience and help them feel part of something larger. That means using TIPs to craft a detailed recognition, or sending them a coffee shop gift card and note because you know that they love their lattes. What’s important is that employees feel empowered by your organization’s core values and understand how they can embody them through their contributions to create a positive impact.

An immersive engagement idea helped employees develop new skills and feel aligned with the company’s goals and values.

For example: A major airline partnered with ITA Group to revitalize its customer service. The program paired values with examples across various media, such as videos, messaging and personalized training. This gave customer service agents examples of how the company's shared principles were applied when assisting customers.

To encourage adoption of the new training, agents received recognition and rewards for positive customer feedback. Adding incentives to an immersive training program reinforced how employees can apply organizational values in a memorable way.

Related: Are your employee engagement programs aligned?

Embedding recognition into everyday work and leadership

Employees routinely recognized by their managers feel 40% more engaged at work than those who don't receive praise. Give managers the tools they need to take ownership of issuing recognition. Train them on best practices such as setting a weekly task to recognize a core value or using the TIPS framework.

Managers can also rotate different employee recognition ideas to thank an employee, whether that’s a public shoutout, a spot award or even a small employee gift. Give managers the options to use what method works for them—as long as they include a detailed note to convey their appreciation.

You can also make it easier for managers to recognize early and often with a dedicated tool, like ITA Group’s Cooleaf employee engagement platform.

​Through the platform, managers can tag a core value when issuing recognition, so recipients can see how their work aligns with the organization’s mission. A shared newsfeed allows the whole organization to celebrate in the comments and to see how they can apply values every day.

A manager dashboard enables leaders to review participation, engagement and recognition highlights, which they can add to performance reviews.

Make recognition a living expression of your culture

Encouraging your employees and managers to demonstrate workplace values is a critical piece of your overall employee engagement. Using an array of employee recognition ideas can help you personalize your program so it resonates across teams, from leadership to new hires, corporate or deskless teams.

By issuing or receiving values-based recognition, team members connect their everyday work to an organization’s mission, vision and values.

Learn how employee experience aligns with your employer brand to create a more connected culture. Download our employer branding guide.