Recognizing employees for their sincere work and effort is a core activity for top management. This is true for almost all companies, without which they find it extremely difficult to manage, guide, and motivate employees. But, there’s a type of recognition that is known to be more effective than others: peer-to-peer recognition.
In this article, learn why such recognition is essential for your business. For other types of recognition programs, you can check out platforms like power2motivate.com.au.
What is Peer-to-Peer Recognition?
Peer recognition is a recognition system where colleagues in the same team or department appreciate the employees rather than higher management.
Even if the appreciation comes from a colleague, it is genuine and well-backed up. So the teammates have good reasons to recognize and appreciate someone’s work above others.
Peer recognition has gained prominence across industries. And there are many reasons behind it. In the subsequent sections, you’ll learn why peer recognition is important for your business.
Peer Recognition is Immediate and Specific
When recognizing the efforts, timing is crucial. It’d be less effective if you reward an employee for something they have achieved previous month or year. But if you reward the same week, it might just be a turning point for the recipient. And that’s where peer recognition scores a point.
The team members can review the week’s performances and reward the deserved members on Friday, before the weekend. So, peer review is immediate, and thus, more effective.
Another reason is specificity. The team members know why they are being recognized and rewarded. Thus, they’re more likely to repeat the same work in the future, which would benefit the company.
It Promotes Transparency
Bias, grouping, and bureaucracy often end up hurting the company and its culture. Teams operate more opaquely and distinctively, none of which do good.
There will always be dissatisfaction with rewarding a particular employee in opaque companies, even if it’s justified. But in peer-to-peer review, everything is transparent. It’s the team members who decide the deserved candidates. So there’s less room for bias and grouping to happen.
It Fosters Team Collaboration
The biggest feats in business are achieved by teams and not individuals. Therefore, every manager looks for ways to improve collaboration.
A peer-to-peer recognition program might be the thing you’d ever need. Since it forces team members to appreciate each other, it fosters a culture of collaboration. Employees will be more open to work with each other and share a workspace.
The Recognition is Consistent
In an article published on HBR, JetBlue reported a 10% increase in employee reporting being recognized. This leads you to another undeniable benefit of peer recognition, which is consistent recognition.
When it’s the higher management’s job to recognize and reward employees, they might miss the dates because they have so much to do. Furthermore, it might not feel personalized. Thus, employees feel that they’re being rewarded half-heartedly.
But when it’s a team member’s job to do the recognition, they do it better and consistently. It always frees up time for higher management. So it’s a win-win for both.
There are digital programs in place that allow you to implement peer-to-peer recognition easily and swiftly. You should consider these seriously if your company is undergoing turbulence and is looking for ways to improve things.