Out of The Box Ideas to Enhance Peer Recognition

PeerFives is undoubtedly the one-stop solution for your organization’s peer recognition, rewarding, and gifting needs. PeerFives offers you all the conveniences you could probably wish for from a peer recognition tool. Ease of use, customizable pricing plans, a dedicated marketplace which houses the biggest brands from across the globe, and direct Slack integration that permits you to use all the features even when you are on the go. Using these features, your organization will surely benefit, and the results will be self-explanatory.

However, we must understand that peer recognition programs at the workplace are often a long game. They may yield immediate results, but sooner or later, you need to go the extra mile and ensure that the peer recognition program feels fresh and intriguing enough to keep the employees engaged and part of the system. Keeping them active participants of the program will need you to look inwards, tap into the brightest minds at work, and come up with out-of-the-box ideas to enhance your peer recognition program.

To put it quite simply, everyone enjoys something new, a change. Whether visiting a new restaurant every weekend or trying out a new destination for vacationing, the monotony drives us away from repetition. Similarly, a good peer recognition program, if not timely refreshed, may stop being effective and engaging, and your organization may not be able to reap the benefits. Hence, in this week’s blog, PeerFives suggests you out of the box ideas using which you can make your existing peer recognition program much more engaging:

Every organization has a few creative writers hidden in the mix. As a leader, you must try and hunt such employees or deploy your HR team to find them. Once you have them, try establishing a bi-weekly or monthly newsletter. In this modern-day age, it simply need not be a printed copy, and you could just curate a newsletter and send it to every employee of the organization via email.

This newsletter must have contributions from different employees, teams, and leadership. The tone of the newsletter must be informal, and the content must primarily revolve around funny anecdotes, casual takes of employees on non-controversial topics, and other current affairs pertaining to the office. This shall not only make it a fun read, but it shall also encourage individuals to engage and contribute. Using the newsletter, you can help employees express themselves, thereby contributing to better employee satisfaction.

Additionally, this newsletter can be a platform to highlight achievements by employees, congratulate them on achieving personal milestones, and so much more. While Slack channels are often instant, and the same can be replicated on social media platforms as well, sometimes a more personal newsletter can help the employees bond over some internal jokes and anecdotes. The newsletter can truly be their space to have some fun while also recognizing good work and rewarding their peers instantly with the help of PeerFives.

The soft power of pop culture has been ignored for way too long. In the recent past, some organizations have used pop culture to thrust their peer recognition program into hyperspace, but well, that is an approach that a larger number of organizations must have.

Star Wars, The Marvel Cinematic Universe, Breaking Bad, The Lord of The Rings, Jurassic Park, Linkin’ Park, Nirvana, and Guns N’ Roses all of these have had a huge cultural impact on the current generation of employees. In addition to popular film franchises and music superstars, Anime, Manga, and Literature have also captured the attention of individuals across the globe.

Organizations and the various teams within them must take note of the interests of the employees. These can later be used as a point of increasing engagement between the employees. For example, pop culture related titles can be assigned to the employees upon completion of complex projects, they can be rewarded with gift cards or related merchandise from the PeerFives Marketplace and for team bonding activities, fun virtual quizzes can be organized where all participants can be rewarded with PeerFives.

Organizations realize that the way to every employee’s heart is either through the work they’ve been given, their paycheck, or through their stomach. In a world where cuisines from every corner of the globe are readily available around you and can even be delivered at a marginal premium, the stigma of exploring dishes from different cultures no longer exists. Surely enough, much of it may be customized to suit local tastes, but that’s a whole different topic.

We urge every organization to understand power lunches aren’t just to discuss business, team dinners aren’t to celebrate achievements, and annual gatherings aren’t only to party your heart out. These must be used strategically and positioned in the annual calendar to constantly motivate employees.

Teams must try and organize these meals more frequently, in smaller groups at a time, or even in one-on-one sessions to understand individuals better and explore something new. Management teams can encourage employees by promising them Sushi lunches or Italian dinners for achieving targets. These incentives can be easily delivered by using PeerFives’ marketplace, which has gift cards to some of the best global restaurant chains.

Alternatively, employees from diverse backgrounds can take their peers for an authentic dining experience at a restaurant that serves their native cuisine. Not only shall this help make the workplace more culturally sensitive and accepting, but it shall also help every employee bond better while learning something new.

While we have dealt with the three best out-of-the-box ideas in our weekly blog, organizations can also explore different rewards to recognize their peers or subordinates:

• Giving out company-branded merchandise.
• Sending bi-annual care packages.
• Award rolling trophies.

To know more about peer recognition, rewarding, and gifting, head to our website, avail of our FREE 30-day trial or schedule a demo now to unlock the full potential of your team.