Employee recognition: how to thank good work
Recognition does not need a budget. It needs you to notice the right thing, say it soon, and use words that show you understood what the person did.
Updated
Notice the work that is easy to miss
Launches and big fixes get thanked. The steady work around them often does not.
- Reviewing other people's work.
- Answering questions so others can keep going.
- Writing things down so the team does not depend on one person.
- Covering for someone who was away.
- Doing much more than usual for a week or two.
Say what they did, and why it mattered
"Great job" is easy to forget. "Thanks for reviewing everyone's work while we were short this week. It got the release out on time." is not.
Name the action and what it made possible. One sentence is enough.
Say it soon, and say it where it counts
Thanks given in the same week means more than thanks saved for the yearly review.
Thanks in the team channel shows everyone what good work looks like. Some people prefer to be thanked in private, so ask if you are not sure.
Employee recognition ideas that cost nothing
- Name the person and the work in the team channel, in one sentence.
- Tell their own manager or a senior leader what they did.
- Give them the next piece of work they asked for.
- Ask them to show the team how they did it.
- Write it down, so it is in their next performance review.
Check who you thank
Managers thank the people they see most. Once a month, think of who you have not thanked for a while, and ask yourself whether their work went unseen.
The signals behind this guide
- How to spot good work nobody is talking about
Someone is doing more than usual, or helping others a lot.
- How to tell if someone could take on more work
Someone has had much less of their own work than usual, and could take on more.
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