Peer to Peer Recognition Program

10 Peer to Peer Recognition Rules you need to know about

The importance of peer-to-peer recognition, one colleague recognising the efforts and achievement of another, and the positive benefits this brings for business performance have been studied and proven. Companies with successful but more traditional service or ‘top down’ recognition programs are actively evolving their recognition and reward programs using easy to install and maintain platforms like Redii. Let’s have a look at 10 rules to get peer to peer recognition started.

1. Involve your employees in creating it

Employee-led designed recognition programs are far more effective. If it’s rolled out by the HR team there is always the danger of it being ‘yet another boring system’. Involve your employees and let them have a say for example in naming the awards, deciding the name of the program and the look and feel. Redii can be customised in many ways and the more involvement your employees have the more they are invested in its long-term success.

2. Complement digital recognition with physical stuff to make it social

Our client Horticulture Innovation has a great way of doing this. It is called the “Golden Ticket”. If a colleague has done something significant that deserves more than a “You Rock” (one of their award names) the employee is sent 100 points on the recognition platform. But, also he/she gets a big bar of chocolate! So when a giant chocolate bar is on someones desk, the social buzz is just amazing. It means that someone has been recognised for something extraordinary and everyone know’s who!

Here’s how Horticulture Innovation view behaviours deserving of a Golden Ticket:

a. Working through challenges/scenarios using the business values as the barometer for decision making and communication.

b. Innovation or initiative applied to an issue/project resulting in improved outcomes.

c. Exceeding the expectations of your role to deliver great results to peers, stakeholders or others.

3. Opportunities for everyone.

Every employee should have an equal opportunity to give and receive recognition. Make sure to include everyone as part of your recognition and reward program.

4. Recognition has to be super specific

Make sure your employees are recognising each other with specific actions or for specific behaviours, not just a general well done’s, or simple thank you’s so that they and their peers digest what positive behaviours or specific contributions are being recognised.

5. Give a special meaning to that awesome recognition.

Meaningful recognition helps to associate positive memories with their peers and the company, as well as builds team spirit and co-operation. So make it personal too, what personal value did the employee show? Remember, what gets recognised gets repeated.

6. Make Peer to Peer recognition immediate not an afterthought

Today’s business moves so fast, that you’ve often moved on to the next thing after celebrating a win. Make sure you recognise and reward your peers immediately. It is NOT ok to leave it to next week, month or even worse to the performance review. Make sure it happens straight away or the moment is lost.

7. Leaders should ‘lead’ by example

If you want your peer to peer employee recognition program to succeed you must ensure that managers and executives lead by example and recognise each other, otherwise it’s unlikely that a culture of positive peer to peer recognition will be adopted across your organisation.

8. Communication is key

Communication is paramount to the success of a Peer to Peer recognition program. Make time to schedule announcements reminding people to recognise weekly, monthly or quarterly.  Once it becomes embedded in your culture, the need to do this will decrease. School your leadership team on pointing out great opportunities for their team members to recognise their peers. This agains helps people get into the rhythm.

9. Less is More

Peers are more likely to recognise their colleagues if it is easy to do – so don’t over complicate it. Start with one or two simple awards like ‘everyday thanks’ or ‘extraordinary thanks’. You should be able to have recognition sent and received in less than 3 minutes.

10. Get this party started! Celebrate every day, Recognise every day!

Make every moment of recognition feel like a celebration for the person receiving it. Then take the time to look back over the month, quarter or year and celebrate what the team has acheived.

Improve Employee Retention

Tis the season to engage your people and stop the January job search surge

Improve your Employee Retention. With a new year looming on the horizon, the history of job search data tells us there is always a surge of job searches as people return to work.

The holiday period is time for reflection and resolution and prime time for great employees to start considering their options if they are not getting what they want from their job with you.

If you are running a growing SME, this is bad news as churning through your people sets you back significantly.

1. Productivity nosedives. If someone has decided to leave, even before they officially hand in their notice, they have already checked out, even those who promise to give you the best hand over ever, have turned off their radar for future opportunities to grow your business. Onboarding new people and getting them up to speed takes time.
2. It costs you, a lot. Two currencies get affected here, your time and your money. If you choose to do your own recruitment the opportunity cost is time that could be spent growing your customer base. If you choose a recruiter, it’s money you could have invested elsewhere. Stats show on average it costs 150% of someone’s salary to replace them.

It takes your eye off the bigger picture. Every time a people issue comes up it distracts your focus, it can stop you implementing a strategy, from reaching goals and from being able to see the great work the rest of your team are delivering. (which may lead them to consider that their contribution isn’t noticed…causing poor engagement). And so it continues.

“A huge thank you for all your efforts in 2016!”

This one little sentence could make all the difference to how your people feel about their jobs as they end the year. It’s often the smallest moments of positivity in the workplace can enhance efficiency, motivation, creativity, and productivity.

Studies show that managers who provide frequent recognition and encouragement see a substantial increase in their employees’ productivity. And not just by some small amount; one study found that project teams with encouraging managers performed 31 percent better than teams whose managers were less positive and less open with praise.(1)

Employee Retention can be achieved applying best practice employee recognition:

Employee Recognition creates positive emotions.
Positive employees are more productive and healthier.
Healthy, productive and engaged employees drive the growth of your business.
Their positivity will filter down to your customers.
They are less likely to leave.

“I have always believed that the way you treat your employees is the way they will treat your customers, and that people flourish when they are praised.” Sir” ― Richard Branson

1.For more on what best motivates us, see: Deci, E. L. (1996).