Most companies in this day and age run some kind of employee shoutout program, and rightly so. The problem is, these good intentions can backfire if your shoutouts come off as half-baked, insincere, or inconsistent. While they may seem positive on the surface, company recognition programs often fall flat, come across as hollow and forced, or get forgotten about over time.
Recognition doesn't just consist of a high-five or a pat on the back. There’s tone, transparency, and timing to consider for every employee shoutout, and to make a sustained impact they need to be consistent and systematized rather than off-the-cuff. As a result, too many managers struggle to nail the execution and make their employees feel that their talents and contributions are truly noticed and valued.
We’re simple creatures sometimes. It needs little explanation to say that being recognized for our hard work and achievements boosts morale and motivation. It makes us feel valued and appreciated, leading to increased job satisfaction.
As a result, shoutouts shouldn’t just be seen as goal-oriented. They’re a way of appreciating everyone at your company and creating a culture of belonging — and that doesn’t have to mean rewarding your team for smashing their KPIs. Rather than saving your praise for those pulling up mountains, it’s equally powerful to celebrate the everyday. Commend your team for efficiently doing simple, consistently completed tasks. This makes team members know that even their little efforts are appreciated.
Ultimately, you’re using employee shoutouts to create positivity in a time when a negative workplace atmosphere costs companies $3 billion annually.
Regular recognition helps employees feel more connected to their work and the organization. Engaged employees are more productive and committed to their roles.
According to Gallup, employees who reported that their managers were great in providing positive recognition demonstrated a 41% lower level of absenteeism compared to those whose managers did not display a similar level of recognition.
The knock-on effects here are huge. Recent studies from Gallup have unveiled the global cost of disengaged employees has skyrocketed to an eye-watering $8.8 trillion per year… so there’s that.
Recognition culture isn’t fluff; it’s a competitive advantage as a business. With that in mind, here are a few ways to make sure your employee shoutouts are consistent, impactful, and sincerely felt.
It might seem inefficient to touch base with every person on your team, but these interactions are valuable. They help your employees feel seen and appreciated. This doesn’t mean launching into a long, formal employee shoutout every time — sometimes, a simple "Good job" or “I really liked your feature proposal last week. Are you blocked on anything from me?” means as much as formal recognition does. By creating routines that encourage employees to share what they're working on, you help them feel acknowledged and stay informed about what's happening in your team.
It’s important to build consistent internal processes around your shoutouts. Keeping a trail of progress and milestones means you won’t have to dig through months of emails to recall the achievements of your team.
Formalizing the way you celebrate wins is a cornerstone to building a culture of recognition, and this is a process issue as much as anything else. For example, it’s a good idea to set up Slack channels or use tools like Candor specifically designed for wins, accomplishments and employee shoutouts so you can maintain a positive environment—even on a remote team.
Setting up weekly reminders to keep up your cadence of recognition is another key way of integrating with your day-to-day and ensuring no one gets forgotten.
Employee shoutouts can feel random and unnecessary if they aren’t in some way pointing towards common company goals. Shoutouts should be seen as an intentional way to celebrate teammates, and a way to live and breathe your team’s goals authentically.
For example, try to align shoutouts with your company and team values. When employees embody the company's core values, recognize that. After all, that’s what values are there for, so when staff members understand what the company stands for, rewarding that with positive reinforcement only strengthens those values. Which is why, when we built Candor, we wanted to make sure you’re able to link shoutouts back to your team’s values. This way, you’re celebrating behavior that truly represents your culture.
Make sure shoutouts are timely. Celebrating employee wins is most effective soon after it’s happened, when the buzz is in the air, spirits are high, and your gratitude will count for something. There’s no sense in waiting weeks before giving teams and individuals shoutouts.
You have to be proactive and on the ball: if you see someone doing something well, give a shoutout while the recipient still has the time and mental space to log and appreciate the feedback. If we were to draw it up in a graph, it’s a simple equation: the more time that passes between the behavior and recognition diminishes the value of said recognition.
Besides making the shoutout as impactful and morale-boosting as possible, a high-tempo and consistent recognition system also has the welcome side-effect of increasing cross-company transparency and keeping everyone in the know.
Shoutouts improve relationships between employees and management, as well as among peers, creating a more cohesive and supportive team environment. Don’t just keep it work or task-oriented – celebrate the little things, both professional and personal. Highlight birthdays and key anniversaries as well as celebrating any new milestones.
Shout it loud and proud too, for the world to see. Employee spotlights on LinkedIn are a great way to publicly acknowledge an employee’s milestone or accomplishment to encourage pride in what you're all achieving together. The shoutouts you give on Candor are public, so your whole team can see when you’re celebrating someone. This creates a domino effect of motivating your team to shoutout their teammates, too.
Encouraging peer-to-peer employee shoutouts is a huge part of this. Recognition can’t simply come from above — for it to be deeply embedded in your culture, shoutouts should come from not only from executives down through the organization but also organically from peer to peer.
Recognition without any reward can feel… kind of empty. Employees want to know what the future holds for their careers. When managers take time to explicitly discuss growth potential or provide opportunities, employees see it as proof that they’re valued and their managers want them to take on more responsibility as a result. Conversely, when managers neglect to address people’s development, employees take it as a sign that they are not.
It’s not a good look if you’re constantly giving your employees shoutouts but failing to follow through with helping them level up in their career. With Candor, past shoutouts are saved within your Team Space so managers can always refer back to them when they’re thinking about adjusting compensation, or advancing their team through promotions.
As you might’ve realized by now, employee shoutouts require some thought. The more targeted and specific it is, the better. So we’ve put together some examples of great shoutouts to help you create meaningful moments of gratitude on your team.
Creating a culture of appreciation is mostly about simple, everyday actions: not taking your team for granted, saying thank you sincerely, and showing you care about their growth and who they are as individuals.
Start by expressing more gratitude to those around you and see what happens. You might be surprised at the difference small gestures can make.
Candor makes it easy to connect and have fun with your teammates, even while you’re remote. Use Candor to do feedback, shoutouts, check-ins, and more, all in one place.
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