12 Ways to Effectively Recognize Employee Suggestions

March 19, 2014 By
Email, RSS Follow
Email Email

Happy-Dog-300x300Are you recognizing your employees for their ideas?

Recognizing your employees for their helpful suggestions can encourage them to submit more and better ideas to benefit your organization. Find out why it’s important to recognize your employees’ ideas and 12 effective ways to do so…

Why Recognizing Your Employees’ Suggestions Matter

To continue to receive helpful suggestions from your employees, you need to encourage them. Actively recognizing your employees for their suggestions is a good place to start.

Recognizing your employees for their suggestions can engage and encourage them to submit more suggestions. Your employees will see that you are noticing their ideas and are taking the time to consider them to be implemented.

Taking the time to recognize your employees can also help you to develop a positive relationship with them. Employees who believe that they have a positive relationship with their supervisors are more likely to be engaged. 

12 Ways to Recognize Employee Suggestions

Begin recognizing your employees for their suggestions and build a recognition culture in your organization. Here are 12 simple ways to help you get started with recognizing your employees and their suggestions…

1. Say a sincere “thank you.” Show your appreciation with a simple thank you. This is probably the simplest thing you can do to recognize your employees but it has a huge impact.

2. Post a “thank you” note near the front of the building.  Don’t hide recognition from the rest of your organization. Seeing fellow employees being recognized can encourage your other employees to do their best as well.

3. Recognize your employees specifically. It’s one thing to just say “thank you” and another to say “thank you for doing ____ well.” Letting your employees know how they did a good job shows specific appreciation.

4. Invite an employee to lunch. Take time to get to know your employee  by taking him/her to lunch.

5. Start a company “wall of fame.”  Dedicate the wall to employees who have suggested great ideas that have been implemented or took a risk with their suggestion(s). Add their photo to the wall accompanied by details of their suggestion(s).

6. Plan a surprise achievement celebration. Recognize an employee or a team of employees for their suggestions and hard work with an achievement celebration. Have an ice cream sundae bar, donuts, or pizza to celebrate.

7. Give employees a personal thank you note. It seems simple, but a personal thank you note can mean a lot to your employees. Just make sure to keep it simple and personal so that your employees know that you care.

8. Give an employee a subscription to their favorite magazine. Show that you pay attention to your employees by gifting them a subscription to a magazine that interests them.

9. Recognize employees as soon as possible. The sooner you recognize your employees, the more impact your recognition will have on them. Immediately is never too soon.

10. Provide special opportunities. Ask an employee to sit in on a panel discussion, send them off to a conference, or give them an educational or mentoring opportunity. Offering a special opportunity can show an employee that they’re valued by the organization.

11. Recognize employees at staff meetings.  Staff meetings can be a great time to recognize your employees. Recognizing your employees in front of their colleagues can also encourage fellow employees to submit their own suggestions.

12. Gift your employees with a small gift such as flowers, a book, or notepad.  Be thoughtful about these gifts. If you know a certain employee loves great notepads, get him/her a nice one. This will easily let your employees know that you’re paying attention to them.

Are There Ideas To Be Recognized? What Are You Waiting For?

Begin recognizing your employees’ ideas and suggestions better to engage and encourage your employees to submit more and better ideas. Read about the secret of employee recognition and how it can really benefit your organization in more ways than one.

Suggested Next Steps:

Email, RSS Follow
Email Email

Leila Durmaz

Hello, I'm your author, Leila Durmaz. I spend a lot of my time researching the best practices for Employee Suggestion Programs, and writing articles to share them. I hope you find them helpful! I work at Accompa - one of our products is IdeaGlow Employee Suggestion Program Software.

More Posts - Website

Filed Under: Employee Suggestion Program Tagged With: ,