The strategies you encourage to help employees get in the habit of recognition will not be that different to those you encourage to drive manager adoption. Offering habit-forming tips like using reminders or sticky notes will work well to help them remember to put aside some time to recognize people.
One thing you may need to approach differently is the amount of guidance you need to give them on when and how to use recognition. While the majority of your employees might be comfortable using their own judgment, there will be a small percentage who aren’t clear on what warrants recognition, and are reluctant to make a mistake (particularly if you are giving employees budgets to send rewards). And since you’re running the program at a larger scale, this percentage equates to a large number of people.
It might be helpful to develop resources which offer clear parameters and examples of what kind of things deserve recognition at your company. This will give those who prefer a more structured approach the comfort they need to start getting involved. You can also lean on your core values, and encourage them to look for things others do that reinforce those values.
One important thing: if you have a strong participation rate but a small proportion of employees still aren’t using the system, don’t just discount them. In a program with large numbers, it can be easy to just assume these are people who aren’t interested in recognition, and just ignore them since your participation from other team members is strong.
But in many instances, they are simply people who need guidance or have questions. We suggest reaching out to individuals to understand where the roadblocks are and gain feedback on how to make the program more meaningful. If you can do that effectively, they could become your biggest advocates.
Getting employees excited about the program
Communicating the value of your program is only the start. If you really want your employees to buy into a culture of recognition, you need to get them excited about it.
Here’s a few ways you build a real buzz around your program.
Pre-launch countdown
In the weeks leading up to your program going live, you can build anticipation by counting down to your launch. Send out emails, share resources, and even put up posters if you’re in the office.
The aim is to make the program visible and get people talking about it. For more information check out our section on launching your program.
Run events
Attaching your program to special events can be an excellent tactic for raising awareness, especially in the early stages of its implementation. You could run limited campaigns in which you encourage people to send recognition tied to certain themes (e.g. ‘Teamwork week’) or even link recognition to specific dates on the calendar (e.g. International Friendship Day).
If you don’t have the time to put together this kind of campaign, you can also just attach recognition to existing events that are happening. For example, you could offer Guusto gifts as prizes in your regular team building events, wellness challenges, or any other event your social committee is already running.
Internal advocates
Lastly, internal advocates can be your most effective tool for getting the word out and building buzz about your program. Recruit people in every department to champion the program, and train them to answer any questions about how and when to use it. You can even have them look for situations where other people in their team should be recognizing their colleagues, and encourage them to use the system. Check out our section on Internal advocacy for more information.
Gamifying recognition
If approached in the right spirit, there’s nothing wrong with building a little bit of healthy competition around your recognition program.
Using Guusto’s Leaderboards, your team can see which employees are being recognized most over a given period of time, and who’s sending the most recognition.
You can highlight your top performers regularly in team meetings and in internal communications, and even offer additional rewards for monthly or quarterly leaders. It’s a great way to celebrate people who are really embracing recognition, and inspire others to up their game.
Another way to add some gamification to your program is to use Guusto’s Draw feature, which randomly selects Shoutouts from all those received during a specific period of time. You can draw a few Shoutouts each week at meetings, and offer rewards to your winners.