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As we know how much impact employee recognition by team leads or managers can have on each employee, peer-to-peer recognition can also positively impact the employees.

Peer recognition is the genuine expression of appreciation shared between colleagues. It helps to praise each other’s achievements and give the spirit for employees to cross miles. Peer recognition can thus encourage employees and act as a welcome way to introduce more positive communication into the workforce.

Importance of Peer-to-Peer Recognition

Peer-to-peer recognition has the power to bring tangible results to the organization. This type of recognition comes from colleagues who have frequent interaction and share interpersonal bonds. Employee recognition from the side of managers can be seen as a part of the to-do list. At the same time, peer-to-peer recognition may seem like an approach to recognize employees for the excellent works they handle. An employee appreciating his/her colleague can be as simple as saying ‘thank you’, it can be done during team meetings, monthly stand-up meetings, etc.

Peer-to-peer recognition creates an atmosphere of gratitude and is beneficial for the employees and organization alike. Studies have shown that peer recognition can strengthen both the giver and recipient in many ways.

The power of peer-to-peer

Peer recognition is compelling, and it enables team members to show appreciation to each other and ensures that the hard work does not go unnoticed or unpraised. Co-workers will have a better idea about what their colleagues contribute and can help give the recognition they deserve. Peer recognition can be made genuine by making it fully embedded with the organization’s culture. A clear predefined idea about how recognition is given, what behaviors should be recognized, what rewards are in place etc. This will enable that peer recognition and reward are meaningful for everyone involved.

Making it personal

Employees should be explained the reasons to nominate them. This will make the peer recognition journey far more engaging and rewarding for participants and recipients. Every employee in an organization should be given a chance to receive and give recognition. If the process is just open to a few selected employees, then the whole process will adversely affect productivity and employee morale.

Moreover, the peer recognition process should not have many hoops to jump and must be an immediate process. And the whole process should be transparent by allowing employees to nominate anyone in the organization.

Peer recognition in the Pandemic

In the Covid-19 scenario, as the workforce moved remote, employees started working from the comfort of their homes. All the employees were working in silos, and they lacked teamwork. During these times, keeping the workforce engaged and maintaining the team spirit was challenging. At these times, peer recognition turns to be one of the factors to enhance employee productivity.

Peer recognition paves the way to boost the dispersed workforce and empowers employees to bring out their best.

To sum up

Businesses will realize that implementing a successful peer-to-peer recognition program is not difficult if they follow these basic steps. Even better, those who do take the risk will benefit in a variety of ways.

Boosting employee and customer satisfaction ratings, building trust, and lowering turnover rates are just a few of the benefits. The latter is very important and can have a significant impact on a company’s bottom line.