Employee Recognition Awards – How to Reward and Motivate Staff

Everyone likes to know that their hard work has been recognised. Presenting employee recognition awards to members of your organisation can be a great way of showing your staff that you appreciate what they do.

Employee awards can be used to reward staff at all levels, so they can be excellent for ensuring that the people working for you know that you value the input of every member of your organisation. When people within a company feel that they are valued, staff retention rates can often improve too.

Corporate trophies can be used to motivate staff to reach, and even exceed, their targets, or to go the extra mile in terms of the service that they provide to your customers.

So what milestones and achievements can you mark using employee recognition awards, and what types of corporate trophies and medals are available?

Celebrate a Range of Achievements with Corporate Trophies

There are so many reasons to give employees awards that you may even want to make a night of it and hold a classy presentation ceremony. Here are just some employee awards categories to consider including when planning your event.

Individual Performance Awards

By giving staff awards to mark individual achievements, you can reward both consistent high-performers and employees who have excelled in a particular area or at a specific task. Presenting employee recognition awards to individuals also means you can ensure that everyone in your organisation has the chance to win a trophy, whether they work as part of a team or independently.

Individual performance award category ideas include:

• The Best Salesperson – for the employee with the highest number of sales.
• ‘Greenest’ Staff Member – for the employee who makes the biggest contribution towards achieving your firm’s environmental sustainability targets.
• Rookie of the Year – for your most promising new employee.
• Customer Service Star – for employees who have provided outstanding service to your company’s clients.
• The Employees’ Employee Award – for the employee of the year as voted for by the staff.

If any members of staff in your organisation have recently completed training courses or gained qualifications, you could also present each one with an award to mark their achievements.

Team Performance Awards

Encouraging your employees to work together in order to win awards can be a great team-building technique. Team award categories could include:

• Most Successful Sales Team – if you have more than one sales team, you can encourage some friendly competition by rewarding the one that makes the most sales.
• Department with the Best Team Spirit – for the team that works most effectively together.
• Most Innovative Team – for the team whose members come up with the most creative ideas to maximise performance.
• The Employees’ Team Award – for the best team as voted for by the staff.

Awards to Celebrate Special Events

As well as presenting trophies for performance, you may also want to consider giving your employees awards to mark special occasions and landmark moments. You could give staff members:

• Long Service Awards – for employees who have been with the company for a specific length of time.
• End of Apprenticeship Awards – to mark the fact that an apprentice has been taken on as a permanent member of staff.
• Leaving Awards – to thank employees who are leaving for the time they spent within your organisation.
• Retirement Awards – to say thank you to retiring employees for their contributions.

Practical Plaques and Glitzy Glass Trophies – Styles of Employee Recognition Awards

Once you’ve decided what achievements or occasions you want to mark with the presentation of awards, you’ll need to choose your trophies or medals. You’ll find many different styles to choose from and you can find awards made from a range of materials.

For something contemporary and elegant, opt for a jade glass or classy crystal award. They come in many different designs, so whether you want a stunning star-shaped trophy, a classic circular award or even a flame-shaped piece, you’ll be able to find one. Alternatively, you could opt for a sleek wall plaque or a version that comes with its own stand.

Don’t forget to make sure you personalise each award too. All of our trophies and medals can be engraved with the name of the award and the winner’s details, and we can also add a colour image of your company’s logo to many of them.

Do you present awards to your employees? What benefits have you seen from it? Leave a comment and let us know.