ABSTRACT
The key to success in any firm is the dedication of its employees. To achieve this, it's crucial to find a balance between what each employee gives to the business and what the firm gives to each employee. It is one of the reasons why businesses nowadays understand how important it is to reward and recognize employees in order to get the most out of their job. The goal of the study was to ascertain the connection between rewards and recognition and how it affects workers' job satisfaction. According to the study's findings, there is a considerable link between employee job satisfaction and rewards and recognition. The improvement of performance is a natural result of increasing job happiness by rewarding or acknowledging an employee's good practices. The study discovered that providing benefits, appreciations, tangible prizes, and recognition to employees has a positive impact on their motivation.
Keywords: Rewards, Recognition, Job Satisfaction, Motivation, Performance
INTRODUCTION
The company's greatest asset, or even the backbone, is its workforce. They are the ones who supply the knowledge and expertise needed to keep the business afloat. Without the assistance of its employees, a company will undoubtedly fail and lose everything. Additionally, without them, a business would not be able to function; therefore, human capital can only function effectively and efficiently when properly motivated. Motivation comes from the potential to satisfy this need. It has an impact on job satisfaction, which contributes to improving performance.
As a result, every company's objective is to hire highly motivated employees. An adequate system of rewards and recognition has a direct impact on how motivated employees are.
According to Mabaso (2017), a reward is something that is given or acquired in return for an achievement or success. As a result, as a way of showing appreciation for a particular behavior that helped lead to a success or accomplishment, rewards are offered in the form of monetary or non-monetary incentives. This includes financial bonuses, flexible work schedules, scholarships, promotions, and other concrete and intangible rewards. The goal of employee recognition, on the other hand, is to promote better behavior that leads to better performance. Recognition is the acknowledgment of exceptional performance. Positive reinforcement includes providing compliments, awarding certificates of gratitude, and other actions that promote staff morale.
The majority of business owners have predetermined goals in mind, such reducing costs while raising the caliber, and occasionally quantity, of work performed by their team. In a cutthroat business world, there are a few things to keep in mind while trying to get more out of your employees. Increasing employee productivity and attracting and retaining top talent may be done in a number of ways, from work benefits to increased flexibility.
Employee appreciation is a tried-and-true tactic that may be utilized in both small and large firms, however new ideas shouldn't be discounted either. Because they can motivate employees to change their daily routines and working habits for the benefit of the company, programs for rewarding and motivating employees are becoming more and more popular.
To fully succeed as a business owner or entrepreneur, one must understand the value of being acknowledged. The fundamental guidelines for employee appreciation must be adhered to when rewarding workers for their contributions. You must not only make this a habit for yourself, but you must also encourage others to follow your lead so that they may apply it to their everyday interactions with coworkers. Simply put, according to Dr. Ashley Whillans of Harvard Business School, "What actually matters in the workplace is making employees feel appreciated."
This not only highlights the value of employee recognition but also outlines one of our most fundamental human desires.
Since receiving praise is a basic human need that should never be disregarded, workers will generally respond favorably to it. When people appreciate their effort, it increases their satisfaction and productivity.
Establishing a successful workplace will require a number of key components, including praise and recognition. As long as their efforts and contributions are recognized, people will feel a sense of success, and they will seek to achieve this in all of their work.
A timely appreciation of an individual's or a group's work or behavior is known as employee recognition. Whether they have performed wonderfully or helped the firm achieve one of its goals, they will have undoubtedly gone above and beyond what is often expected.
90% of employees, according to a survey, believe that their recognition program positively affects their motivation and engagement. It goes without saying that every company should frequently include appreciation into the workplace.
Business owners and managers might think that implementing a recognition program involves a lot of extra labor. This is particularly important given that the results of their employees' achievement aren't usually apparent right away. Of course, many workers welcome financial incentives for great work, but many others just want to be acknowledged when they go above and beyond. When you have less money and more creativity when it comes to inspiring your staff, this is the ideal strategy to implement.
Employee awards and recognition have been found to improve organizational values, teamwork, customer satisfaction, and employee motivation for particular activities. To ensure that the lines between rewarding outstanding work and performance and recognizing it remain distinct, a business owner or manager must first set them apart from the organization's reward programs.
It is impossible to exaggerate the significance of timing when it comes to acknowledgment.
When the excellent performance is still fresh in your mind and the employee's mind, you should acknowledge it. The frequency of appreciation should increase if good performance is maintained among the same team members. However, it must be timed exactly to prevent sounding robotic and losing its meaning. The praise must be appropriate for the accomplishment in question if the best performances are to receive the best types of applause. If you maintain flexibility in your approach to recognition, it will always come across as genuine rather than forced or compelled.
Employee recognition programs can be seen of as a more concrete approach to thank your staff members for their excellent work or high levels of performance. Because incentives and profit-sharing are so popular, it may be said that rewards cost businesses a little more money. It has been demonstrated that this method can boost motivation and engagement just as effectively as employee recognition. Depending on the size of your business, you might give different rewards to your employees. Always stay within your budget, and whenever you can, come up with innovative ways to reward employees at work.
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