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Telling a co-worker you appreciate them in a private conversation is great — but publicly recognizing their contributions? That’s where the real magic happens. Public acknowledgment takes employee recognition to new heights, and many organizations are tapping into its power with an employee recognition board.
These increasingly digital spaces, powered by a dedicated employee recognition platform, serve as the heart of your company, connecting team members and fostering a culture of appreciation.
In this guide, you’ll discover how to harness the full potential of an employee recognition board — from its powerful benefits to practical use cases. We’ll also show you how to weave recognition into your company culture, making appreciation a core driver of engagement and success.
What is an employee recognition board?
An employee recognition board is a physical or digital space where team members can publicly show their appreciation for one another. These boards feature personal stories, photos, certificates of accomplishment, and positive feedback from clients — everything that celebrates a personal milestone or professional achievement.
The best recognition boards are public, situated in a place where everyone at the company can see and contribute to sharing praise. For in-person teams, this may mean a board in the breakroom or conference room, while remote or hybrid teams will benefit from a digital recognition board, ideally accessible through a mobile-friendly recognition platform.
The benefits of an employee recognition board
There are many benefits to an accessible employee recognition board, from improved talent acquisition to higher retention rates. The root cause of these achievements is a better organizational culture, one that focuses on community and creating a sense of belonging among team members.
Let’s take a look at some of the ways recognition boards can support your organizational goals.
Talent acquisition
According to Achievers Workforce Institute (AWI) research, more than half of HR professionals struggle to recruit and retain talent. With so many companies out there, how will your organization differentiate itself? Creating a culture of recognition and appreciation is one of the best ways to attract top talent. An employee recognition board — and a wide-ranging employee recognition program — speaks to the value your organization puts on each team member by letting them know they and their contributions matter.
Engagement and retention
Recognition boards drive employee engagement by encouraging staff to contribute and thank their co-workers for all they do. They make workers feel seen for their hard work while facilitating more frequent recognition. This is strongly associated with higher engagement: employees recognized at least monthly report twice the engagement of those recognized quarterly or less.
Company culture and values
By encouraging employees to recognize one another publically, recognition boards foster a strong culture focused on inclusivity and appreciation. Whether your company values hard work, teamwork, community building, or all of the above, recognition boards reinforce those values by giving employees a space to call out positive behavior that contributes to business success. Public and inclusive recognition helps to bake collaboration and belonging into your company culture.
Employee recognition board uses
An employee recognition board is a flexible tool that your company can use to facilitate many different types of appreciation. Here are just a few of the most impactful use cases:
Milestone celebrations
Celebrating professional milestones, like an employee’s anniversary with your organization, or personal occasions like birthdays, is a great use of employee recognition boards. Anniversaries and other key milestones are the times when recognition is most needed — and most missed if it isn’t given. An employee recognition board let every team member contribute to making these milestones special and serve as reminders of these events and the accompanying recognition for years to come.
Collaboration station
The impact of creating an organizational culture that emphasizes collaboration can’t be understated. The highest-performing team members do not succeed in a vacuum, and recognizing collaboration will continue to foster it among your team. Create a place where employees can celebrate the collaborative efforts of their team, whether that takes the form of a recognition wall in a conference room, a channel in a chat app, or a recognition platform accessible to your entire organization.
Recognizing professional development
Employees should have plenty of upskilling opportunities that help them advance in their careers while meeting the needs of your company. To demonstrate the importance of professional development at your organization, show appreciation to employees who have taken the time to attend training sessions, obtain a new certification, or develop the hard and soft skills they need to succeed in their role. Publicly recognizing these team members will inspire others to seek opportunities to expand their own skill sets.
How to get the most out of an employee recognition board
When done right, an employee recognition board can be a cornerstone of your organizational culture, serving as a modern public square where all of your team members’ achievements can be celebrated. First, decide if your company’s board will be physical or digital. If your team is largely on site, whiteboards, corkboards, or dedicated wall space can all act as serviceable in-office recognition boards. But if some or all of your team is remote — or if you’re looking for greater reach and interactivity than a physical board can offer — opt instead for a digital recognition board.
Your company can get started with recognizing employees digitally by giving employees shoutouts using your existing communication tools, like Slack or Teams. Over time, however, messages sharing appreciation can easily get lost in the mix of daily chatter, and these tools lack dedicated features to boost the impact of each moment of recognition. That’s why your company should consider creating a unique space for employee recognition that guarantees every message of recognition is visible while making the recognition process simple and engaging.
You don’t need to start from scratch, though. Look for an employee recognition platform that provides a centralized place to provide and view messages of appreciation. It should be accessible across any mobile or desktop device and integrate with the tools your team already uses every day so employees can seamlessly share recognition from within those apps. And your platform needs to keep recognition from becoming just another thing for employees to check off by mixing it up with fun images and GIFs, along with millions of personalized rewards available in a built-in marketplace.
Increase employee recognition with Achievers
Ready to take your employee recognition to the next level? With Achievers’ recognition platform, your organization can instantly start fostering a culture of appreciation that drives engagement and success. Our powerful solution helps you create meaningful, high-impact recognition moments that build belonging while offering best-in-class rewards and measurable results.
Achievers makes it easy to create a culture of appreciation, keep your team engaged, and recognize every achievement.
Key insights
- Employee recognition boards create a culture of appreciation, boosting engagement and retention by making employees feel valued.
- A culture of recognition helps attract top talent and improves retention by showcasing the value your organization places on its people.
- Recognition boards reinforce company values, promoting teamwork, collaboration, and inclusivity through public acknowledgment.
