8 Types of Employee Recognition for a Happier Workplace: Your 2025 Guide

Employee recognition refers to public or private acknowledgment of a job well done, and it may involve an individual or a group of workers. Discover common reasons for recognition and who offers it. Learn about some benefits and challenges of recognizing employees, along with ways to give recognition and tips for creating a recognition program.

Common reasons employees receive recognition

Employees like to feel valued, and a workplace offers a variety of opportunities for employers to give recognition. Some of the more common reasons that employers give recognition include:

• Stellar performance on a project

• Excellent leadership or collaboration

• Superior customer/client or peer support

• Embodiment of a company's mission and values

• Actions resulting in customer or client growth

• Actions resulting in strong personal growth

• Innovative ideas for positive change

• Years of service with a company

Who offers employee recognition?

Employee recognition can come from a variety of sources within a company. To create a work culture that encourages adequate support, consider creating a program where employees receive recognition from:

• The CEO

• Senior leadership

• Direct supervisors

• Peers

Common benefits of employee recognition 

Regular employee recognition offers a variety of benefits to companies and employees. For instance, when employees feel valued by employers and peers for the work they do, they have a tendency to engage more in work activities. Employees who feel highly engaged at work have enthusiasm for their particular roles and stay involved in what goes on in the workplace.

Additional benefits of employee recognition include:

• Higher levels of motivation

• Increased productivity

• Better employee retention rates

• A more pleasant work environment

• Enhanced employee loyalty

• A greater sense of connection and community

• Better client/customer experiences

• Less employee burnout

Potential challenges to be aware of

Although employee recognition offers many benefits, it can also present challenges in certain situations. To make the most of your employee recognition program, become aware of the following potential challenges and how to prevent or overcome them:

Making recognition personal: Employees may differ in the types of recognition they enjoy, so you may need to be creative and put effort into making it personal. Getting to know your employees better can help you determine what type of recognition they need.

Making recognition consistent: Setting up a recognition program can help ensure you're offering it regularly. Inconsistent employee recognition can result in the appearance of favoritism and less employee engagement in the workplace. 

Making recognition known: While it's good to give private recognition sometimes, offering public recognition ensures that employees know you're doing so. Most employees take pride in receiving praise, so a public offering may encourage good performance from peers. 

Making recognition fair: To ensure you're giving recognition in a fair and equitable way, look at measurable employee data. Examples of measurable data include:

• Engagement levels: Measure by looking at absentee, turnover, and retention rates.

• Employee output: Measure by examining units produced, revenue brought in, or customer handling time.

• Teamwork and collaboration: Measure by taking pulse surveys to get peer feedback.

• Training results: Measure by conducting written or verbal assessments on knowledge and skills learned in training.

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8 types of employee recognition to consider 

Offering a variety of methods can help create a work culture that emphasizes employee recognition. Trying several methods can help you find which ones your employees truly appreciate.

1. Years of service awards

To help boost worker retention, consider recognizing your employees for years of service. You could give small gifts or gift cards on each annual anniversary or allow employees to take the afternoon off. For five-year incremental celebrations, add a personalized plaque, award, or framed certificate.

2. Employee of the month award

An employee of the month award recognizes a person who has demonstrated outstanding performance over the course of a month, but some organizations extend the award period to a quarter or a year. A few creative ideas for this award include:

• A revolving trophy that the winner can keep on their desk for a month

• A celebration breakfast or coffee break to announce each monthly winner

• An experiential award like tickets to a concert, festival, or sporting event  

3. Formal annual recognition banquet

If you have a small company or a big budget, hosting a formal annual banquet allows you to recognize many employees at once. You can give out awards for outstanding achievement in various areas like:

• Company values

• Customer service

• Dedication

• Innovation

• Leadership

• Safety

• Sales 

• Teamwork

A formal, catered dinner with good food, music, and entertainment shows your employees that you value them, which helps boost morale. Allowing employees to bring guests also fosters a sense of friendship and community. 

4. Cash bonuses or commission

For some employees, money provides a good incentive for hard work. Offering employees commissions for strong performance or cash bonuses for years of service may help motivate and retain them. 

5. Noncash rewards for employees

Gifts or gift cards make employees feel valued and offer a more personalized alternative to cash bonuses and commissions. Consider a gift card to a favorite department store or restaurant or gift items like like:

• Board games or jigsaw puzzles

• Cooking, coffee, tea, candy, or fruit gift baskets

• Gift cards or online points-based rewards programs

• Grilling supplies

• Plants, flowers, or gardening tools

• Spa-inspired gift baskets

6. Informal verbal recognition 

Sometimes, just a casual "thanks for your effort" makes an employee's day. Informal verbal recognition can occur in private or in public, and people who might offer it include:

• CEOs

• Direct supervisors

• Team leaders

• Peers 

7. Informal written acknowledgments 

Employers and peers can also express appreciation casually with written acknowledgments. Private appreciation can be expressed through notes, cards, or emails, while public appreciation might take the form of an announcement in the company newsletter or a "shout out" on social media.

8. Company-wide recognition

Gestures of recognition that include all of your staff can offer a morale boost for the whole company. Choose your own day of the year for company-wide employee recognition, or celebrate your team on Employee Appreciation Day, which falls on the first Friday in March. You can recognize your employees in a variety of innovative ways, including:

• A trip to a bowling alley, local farm, theme park, or yoga class

• Free in-house services like massages or makeovers

• Creation of a company yearbook for employees to take home that includes photos from the year and fun quotes

Tips for starting an employee recognition program

Starting a formal employee recognition program can help you be consistent in giving praise, but it helps to have a plan. To build an effective program, consider the following tips:

• Sit down with your senior leaders to discuss ideas for the program. Decide what types of recognition you want to offer, when you should give it, and how often.

• Start building a team to help create and run the program. Look for people with leadership skills, interest in employee recognition, and time to dedicate to it.

• Create a realistic budget for your program.

• Make program management quicker and more efficient by investing in employee recognition tools and software.

• Set up your program so that all staff members give recognition, including the CEO, senior management, direct supervisors, and peers. 

Next steps on Coursera

As you've learned, employee recognition provides valuable benefits to your staff and to the success of your company. Now that you've discovered some employee recognition ideas and received tips for creating a program, you may want to explore more ways to make the employee experience better on Coursera.

Consider taking Reigniting Employee Engagement, offered by the University of Michigan. This four-module course takes about 14 hours to complete. It provides information about reigniting engagement in your employees and explains how to spark your own engagement in activities at work and at home. 

Rewarding and recognizing employees is just one piece of the employee development process. You can further promote upward mobility and leadership skills throughout your organization by developing employees who innovate and inspire. In the Leadership Academy from Coursera, employees can learn the skills needed to lead your business into the future. With Coursera for Business, you’ll build effective managers at every level with beginner and advanced-level leadership content, including 40+ SkillSets to drive soft skill proficiency across the entire organization.