Regardless of the industry, you look into, retaining top talent remains a high priority. Understandably, people with a large recruitment budget will always want to retain high performers. But then doing otherwise in this regard often leads to high employee turnover.

And in such cases, the people in charge are usually left wondering what could be the cause of the problem. Unknown to many of these people, the ripple effects of inadequate employee recognition becomes a real barrier to growth.

The interesting fact is that many different organisations have varying cultures when it comes to praising employees and rewarding impressive performance.

And that shows up in almost all of the key performance indicators used by many organisations.

As written by Roberta Matuson in a Monster article, many people, especially millennials leave their jobs when they don’t feel valued. So your responsibility is nurture, praise and repeat as often as possible. Please note that there is a big difference between making employees feel valued and merely believing you value them – only in your mind. Here are some of the benefits of praising your employees at work.

1. Increase Productivity – In simpler terms, it may appear that a higher paycheck is all that is required to make employees more productive. However, that is not always the case. Different from my personal opinion, a research report published on Fast Company found that happy employees are 12% more productive than unhappy colleagues. Now think about your own productivity levels when you are in an unhappy state. So endeavour to praise your employees, make them feel valued and they will become happier and more productive.

 

2. Low Cost and High Impact – There are many different things you can do to achieve consistent growth of your organisation. Some will cost you money like leveraging on HR software solutions. On the other hand, giving timely praise to your employees is just one of them. And it wouldn’t cost much money if any. This is one of the strategies that could have to encompass ripple effects on your company’s key performance indicators.

 

3. Lower Turnover Rate – Here is another great benefit of praising your employees in a timely manner. Across many national economies, the cost of recruitment is really expensive. Add a high turnover rate to this and you will find many companies struggling with low operating margin. The main point here is that having a culture of praising your employees from time to time will make happier workers that will stay longer.

 

4. Sustaining Peak Performance – When some people go out of their way to deliver exceptional output, don’t make the mistake of ignoring them. Beyond monetary benefits, the dopamine experience from time praises is something that many people naturally crave for. And that will motivate the top performers to do even better the next time. On the other hand, this could even make them sustain a noticeable level of peak performance that got them the praise in the first place.

 

Practically, these are some of the obvious benefits and reasons why you need to praise your employees for good work. Moreover, one other thing I want you to note is that you don’t have to wait for exceptional performance outcomes or contexts only. Even good attitude of showing up more promptly than everyone else deserves some praises too.

And as noted earlier, most of these little low-cost commitments could have desirable ripple effects in ways that really matter to you and your organisation.

Probably, you have your own ideas on how to praise employees. That aside, let me share some other ways you may want to try. Hence, there are no fixed strategies or ways to do this in order to get the same benefits everyone is going after.

Before proceeding, please note that the benefits listed above were not meant to be exhaustive. Here are some ways you can actually go about praising employees.

Appreciation Letters

This is the simplest way to do it. When done in a timely manner, it works really well. For one thing, it is personal.  And then it stands as a proof of something that some of your staff may not be aware of – genuine appreciation of their efforts; even in their absence. Try in simple terms to let them know why they are valued and the benefits your organisation is getting from their praiseworthy performance.

Go Public

For some reasons, many people who receive praises may not like to share the experience with their peers. Depending on the size of your organisation, everyone wouldn’t have the same values, beliefs and attitudes that bind them together even outside of the workplace. However, when praises are given in public, company-wide, it affects not just the recipient but everyone in your company. Add a reward to it and the impact will even boost employee morale on to a higher level.

Special Awards

Beyond personal feelings, people like being reminded that they are important. If you do this enough times, that could be a strong reason for someone to stay longer. To put this in practice, design some special awards in addition to praising your high performing employees for the good work they have done. While vacations cannot be affordable for every company, there is something good you can do. Dig into their interests and ignite your creative prowess.

Surprise Bonuses

Positive experiences in the workplace are desirable among most employees but they are emotionally powerful when unfolding as surprises. In practical terms, you can budget for some surprise bonuses in addition to praising your employees at the right time. And then don’t forget to make them aware of the reason for giving the bonuses.

Conclusion

At this point, you have recognised that there is always a need to praise and reward high performers in your organisation. And you have seen some of the derivable benefits too. If you have not been doing these things in your company, try some of these ideas and observe the effects from time to time.