How to Boost Healthcare Team Morale & Performance through Employee Recognition

In a time when healthcare workers experience a great deal of stress and new challenges, employee retention has become a major concern for HR professionals. While monetary compensation is important, many workers tend to prioritize appreciative workplaces.

Individual employee recognition is an excellent approach to increasing employee engagement while improving performance. Creating a culture that embraces the unique strengths and accomplishments of each worker can be beneficial for the entire team. 

In this article, we’ll look at the importance and effects of employee recognition. We’ll also share some useful tips on creating a highly successful culture of recognition. 

Why Employee Recognition Is Important

In the last few years, job quits have been at a record high in the U.S. According to a report from Morning Consult, nearly 20% of healthcare workers have left their jobs since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Reasons for leaving the industry include a lack of appreciation, career growth opportunities, and intellectual stimulation in the workplace.

This is where proper employee recognition comes into the picture. A report by Gallup shows that employees who feel recognized are 56% less likely to search for other job opportunities. When their efforts are acknowledged, workers are four times as likely to be engaged and recommend their organization to others. 

Another survey conducted by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services reveals that more than 70% of executives think of employee engagement as a very important factor in achieving overall organizational success. Almost three-quarters of the respondents said that recognition given to high performers is the most critical factor in improving engagement.

Individual employee recognition boosts team morale and performance too. Acknowledging your workers helps to create a more cooperative, friendly environment with strong interpersonal connections.  

How To Create a Culture of Recognition

Employee recognition is important, but how do you incorporate this into your organization?

Keep in mind that creating a culture of recognition requires strategic thinking. While these steps provide a great starting point, you’ll need to make sure that they remain relevant in the long run by adapting them to any special circumstances your company faces.

Provide Regular Personal Feedback

In many cases, workers feel like they can’t trust their employers and managers enough to turn to them with their problems. The lack of transparent communication in the company results in poor performance and negative team dynamics.

Personal feedback is the most straightforward way to build honest relationships with your colleagues. A regular monthly or weekly meetup strengthens the connection between the manager and the employee. By providing constructive, positive feedback, you can ensure that the worker feels valued and understands their responsibilities. 

Ask Your Employees About Their Needs

There’s no better way to gain insight into an employee’s needs and feelings than by asking them directly. Inquiring about their interests, plans, and fears regarding the workplace helps you understand how they prefer to be treated and rewarded.

One-on-one meetings allow room for detailed, personal conversations to build trust with your team. On the other hand, employees may feel more comfortable being honest in anonymous or third-party surveys. Whatever you choose, make sure to remind workers that they can always turn to you when facing problems.

Emphasize the Importance of Health

The healthcare sector is one of the most demanding industries for workers. According to PressGaney, about half of U.S. healthcare professionals suffer from at least one symptom of burnout. 

Caregivers often feel exhausted, and forget about their own well-being. However, mentally- and physically-healthy employees can perform better and achieve more successful teamwork. 

Personalized wellness events, health coaching and screening can all be useful to create a less stressful environment. After an extremely challenging period for your employees, you should also consider providing a few extra days off.

Never Underestimate the Power of a Small Gesture

When we talk about rewards, we tend to think about monetary compensation. However, sometimes the small gestures are the ones that really count. 

Even a symbolic gesture like a thank-you note, or a little surprise can remind the employee that their work is being acknowledged. This creates a happier workplace and deepens the relationship between the worker and management.

Talk About the Future

In today’s ever-changing world, employees may feel insecure about their future in the organization. From time to time, it can be beneficial to sit down with them and discuss their growth opportunities. 

Lifelong learning is essential in the healthcare sector. Through regular training, workers can adapt to changes and stay current on relevant topics. If your employees have some educational events or courses in mind that they’d like to attend, you can offer to pay for them. Don’t forget to reward their efforts by promoting them according to their qualifications. 

Celebrate Every Achievement

Work-related and personal achievements can all be good reasons to celebrate your employee’s engagement. Don’t be afraid to show them how proud you are of them. Recognizing and embracing even smaller accomplishments helps to build a stronger connection and better teamwork.

There are many great ways to acknowledge your worker’s achievements. You can create a wall of fame, post about it on social media, or throw a little party. However, keep in mind that some employees may prefer to celebrate privately. To prevent unpleasant situations, always ask for permission before going public with your recognition.

Focus on Growing with Empeon

Acknowledging your worker’s accomplishments improves their performance and satisfaction while boosting team morale. However, it also requires a lot of time and energy. To create a successful culture of recognition, you need to build a strategy that fits your healthcare organization in the long run. 

With Empeon’s flexible, user-centric, robust system, you can spend more time implementing employee recognition steps and less time worrying about the daily obstacles of staffing, benefits, and payroll management tasks. Our customizable, unified payroll and HCM software records and processes all the data and tasks you need so your organization can focus on growing instead. Contact us today to see how we can help you.