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Employee recognition

A page within Human Resources

The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse faculty and staff are recognized and rewarded for their contributions to the mission, vision, and values of The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Our faculty and staff fulfill a vital role in the teaching of the brightest students, attracting and retaining outstanding faculty and staff and leading the way in the UW System. UWL values the importance of recognizing the contributions and commitment of its community.

Employee recognition resources

Recognition Best Practices
It is no coincidence that many of the world’s oldest, most successful organizations have employee recognition programs in place.  These programs enrich and sustain the cultures in which they are apart.  Most of these programs apply the same basic principles.  These principles can be used by you to help build and maintain a recognition program of your own within your department.

Timely
Recognition is most effective when it is given in a timely manner.  This is when it has the most potential for impact.  The more that time passes from an event, or opportunity for praise, the less associated the contribution becomes with its recognition. 

Frequent
Recognition is more effective when given frequently.  Employees make so many contributions throughout any given period of time.  Failure to provide regular, consistent, feedback eliminates the opportunity for those contributions to be appropriately recognized and rewarded.  Infrequent recognition increases the likelihood of an employee feeling undervalued in their role. 

Specific
Managers must be specific at aligning recognition with an employee contribution.  Simply saying, “Great Job” does not provide appropriate recognition to an employee who went above and beyond.  A more appropriate response would be “Great Job on your presentation to Senior Leadership on the new strategic initiative to increase enrollment.  The feedback from leadership has been positive.  Keep up the great work.” 

Visible
Although private recognition is effective public recognition offers several advantages.  Public recognition magnifies the impact and gives others the opportunity to join in the recognition.  Public recognition also exemplifies commendable behavior, actions, and contributions that can be repeated by others. 

Implementing the Program
Although it may seem like a monumental task to implement a departmental recognition program, Human Resources can help assist by providing you tools and resources to make it effective.  One simple approach to inject recognition into your department immediately is to create a “Kudos” or “Awards” section during your department meeting.  Highlight top-down and peer-to-peer call-outs for recognizing the work of employees that have gone above and beyond since the last meeting. 

Employee Recognition Resources
Human Resources has tools and resources for you to make use of to recognize great work and appreciate your team on a consistent basis. 

Last modified: 07/22/2020

Kudos

Last modified: 08/14/2021