Thinking about an Employee of the Month program? The truth is that many formal employee recognition programs don't work.

Some get started and then put on the back burner, becoming a source of resentment and loss of trust in management. Some are so frequent and small that they lose their effectiveness—if everyone's in the club, it's no longer special. And some can feel like favoritism from management, creating a sense of us. vs them and prompting some high performers to become lower achievers to avoid the award. (I've seen it.) 

I was speaking about this at a conference, however, and I asked if anyone had a formal employee recognition program that did work. One hand went up (out of 125+ in the room).

This hand belonged to a store manager at REI and she graciously shared with me (and said I could share with you!) their process for a formal employee recognition program that is truly honoring, meaningful, and inspiring. If you're thinking of creating an employee recognition program, or making yours more powerful, consider what works so well with REI's Anderson Award.

5 Key Aspects that make this employee recognition program successful:

1. It is a peer to peer award—employees nominate other employees. This avoids a feeling of management favoritism and makes the award more meaningful.
2. It takes place annually, not on a monthly or ad-hoc basis.
3. Only about 1 in 100 employees receive this award, so it’s truly a special and unique honor.
4. It recognizes team members whose contributions exemplify REI’s core values and support their mission.
5. Everyone except for managers, directors, and VPs are eligible to receive this award, ensuring that it goes to lower profile work that might not otherwise be recognized.

5 Key Logistics of this employee recognition program:

1. Anyone can submit a nomination form (that then goes to the store/unit manager).
2. The manager then selects a peer committee to evaluate the nominations and select a recipient; the manager does NOT sit on this committee. The committee chair is often last year’s recipient.
3. This committee not only makes the final selection; they also decide how to announce each nominee to make it unique and innovative every year. This ensures the award is never routine but reflects the current circumstances and committee that chose the winner.
4. The final announcement of the recipient, as well as the honoring of nominees, occurs at an official event such as a holiday store meeting. This demonstrates the company’s commitment to the award, and it allows the company to recognize not only the award winner but also the nominees and the effort of the committee themselves.
5. The recipient goes to REI headquarters for three days to interact with other recipients and leaders across the organization. A stone, engraved with their name, is added to the walkway at headquarters that is made up of prior Anderson Award recipients' stones. They become a permanent physical part of the history of the company—talk about a sense of ownership and leaving a legacy!! The recipient also gets a physical award at their store, but this is an item (engraved with “Anderson Award”) that is chosen because it is useful and will be used regularly rather than put on a shelf.

Does your company have an employee recognition program? What can your company learn from/apply from REI's employee recognition program?