By Michael W. Hill, Mobius Vendor Partners Executive Consultant, Author of Measuring to Manage
If you are like most companies, you have a mix of employees working full time from the office, others working fully remote, and a third group working in a hybrid environment. Whatever your situation, you need to make sure your employees are receiving adequate recognition. Without recognizing your employees’ contributions, they can feel disconnected from your organization. Disconnected employees are often the least productive.
In this article, we will concentrate on employees working from a call center. Without face-to-face contact, recognition can be challenging, but it can be done.
Recognition has been described as a “core” human need. So what can recognition do for your organization?
- First, it can boost the employee experience, helping employees feel more competent and improving self-esteem.
• Second, it can help lower turnover. When employees’ achievements and efforts are recognized, they feel connected and valued. This acts as motivation to repeat excellent performance.
• Third, when you become known as a company that recognizes employees, you will attract the kind of talent that helps make your company successful.
So how do you take advantage of an employee recognition program for call centers? You can use many of the same techniques you use to recognize any employee:
- Make sure employees understand what results will be recognized.
o Think about measurable criteria.
o Ask employees if they understand the criteria and how performance will be measured. - Decide what the rewards will be.
o Ask for employee input. - Make the announcement of an award personal.
o Call the employee or recognize them in person when possible. - Then announce to the rest of the call center who is being recognized and why.
Finally, and this is particularly important to call center employees, a recognition program helps employees find their “why.” Author Simon Sinek states that when employees understand the “why” behind their work, they become more engaged, more motivated to perform at a higher level, and more inspired.
How do you know when you are meeting or exceeding your employees’ desire to be recognized? You need to ask them. Do not assume you know what they are thinking or feeling.
You may have noticed that I emphasize asking employees for their input. A survey could help. You might be making assumptions that are not correct. Get your employees involved. A lack of recognition may be affecting them more than you think, and they may already be considering other employment opportunities because of it.
You may want our help.
At Mobius’ Employee Experience (EX) Consulting, we provide software to survey your employees so you can make informed decisions and respond to their needs. Contact us to get started.
Mike’s book, Measuring to Manage, is available on Amazon:
https://a.co/d/7TLrPuQ
