Comprehensive Guide to Different Types of Employee Awards

The importance of rewarding and recognizing employees in a proper and timely manner is well understood by most organizations today. At the same time, organizations also feel overwhelmed with so many different types of awards to choose from. Deciding on the types of awards to include and the criteria for each of them are the critical aspects of designing the employee rewards and recognition program of an organization. The types of awards chosen should reflect the objectives of the program. This comprehensive guide to different types of employee awards can help organizations design their employee rewards and recognition programs.

Overview of Types of Employee Awards

There are many ways that awards can be classified:

• Who is being given the award?
• Who gives/ recommends for the award?
• What is the reason or criteria for giving the award?

Organizations need to be aware of the different types of awards and should be able to choose the ones that are most relevant to their business goals and environment to maximize employee engagement and motivation. Organizations can come up with innovative names for these awards to create a sense of excitement among the employees.

Given below are the most common types of rewards prevalent in modern organizations:

Important Facts to consider while deciding on the Types of Awards

There are some important facts that organizations need to consider in deciding on the most appropriate award types for employee rewards and recognition programs. The following are a few pointers while selecting the right ones from this comprehensive guide to different types of employee awards:

• Most experts are of the opinion that organizations should reward and recognize their employees as frequently as possible. Organizations should decide on their own reward schedules based on the size of their workforce, their budgets, the profile of the employees and most importantly, the business outcomes desired. They can thus choose to reward them instantly or even monthly, quarterly, or annually based on the above factors.
• In addition to the frequency of rewarding, organizations also need to consider the most appropriate method for rewarding the employees. They can choose from a wide range of options in this context including intrinsic and extrinsic awards, monetary and non-monetary awards, and tangible and non-tangible rewards.
• Another important aspect that organizations need to consider is the way the awards are decided. They need to decide whether to follow a more top-down approach, a peer-based approach or using a reward and recognition panel or committee. The transparency of the decision-making process impacts the credibility and fairness of these awards.

There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution to deciding on the most suitable types of employee awards for an organization. It is the ‘horses-for-courses’ approach that works best — a combination of different award types to fit different situations within the organization.

To stay updated on the latest HiFives blogs follow us on Twitter (@MyHiFives)

Comprehensive Guide to Different Types of Employee Awards

Originally published at https://www.hifives.in on June 10, 2020.