Download a Free Employee Recognition Nomination Form
Employee recognition programs aim to acknowledge the contribution of the employee to the organization by offering some monetary or other reward, and – most importantly – recognition. The most common types of recognition are monetary compensation, benefits, and acknowledgement in the company newsletter, at a social event, or at some other type of recognition ceremony.
The obvious aim of the employee recognition program is to make employees feel valued and appreciated, thereby increasing their satisfaction, morale, and commitment to the job. The desire for recognition and reward may also foster healthy competition leading to better productivity and efficiency.
Most companies run some kind of employee recognition program, inviting nominations from the workforce for employees who have distinguished themselves by virtue of their superior job performance, adherence to company values, displaying high levels of quality, demonstrating presence of mind that help the company avert a crisis situation, and through other similar traits and behavior.
Sample Form
If your company has an employee recognition program, an important requirement is to request nominations from employees regarding best performers or which employee should be recognized.
Download a free generic employee recognition nomination form from this link.
The form is self explanatory. Other employees nominate a person who they think should receive the recognition, and provide the reason for the nomination.
Distribute this form to employees eligible to make nominations.
Customization
Changes to the generic employee recognition nomination form depend on the rules of the program, which in turn depends on the organization.
Two major considerations are the number of nominations allowed per employee, and the period of nominations. Some programs allow only one nomination per employee, whereas other programs allow employees to make unlimited nominations, with each special performance worthy of nomination. Again, some programs allow on-going nominations, with nominations received before a cut-off date considered for a specific recognition ceremony, and nominations received after the date pushed back to the next ceremony, which may be a week, month, quarter or even a year away. Other programs, usually ad-hoc recognition programs entertain applications only during a specific period.
Other rules to be defined include the eligibility. Many programs allow for an across-the-board eligibility of all permanent employees. Others place restrictions such as only employees who have completed one year of service and are in good standing be considered, and still others segregate or restrict the awards by departments or work units. Many companies allow only supervisors or a particular class of employees to nominate, or require a nomination be endorsed by the supervisor. Yet others have department-wide nomination and recognition schemes, and others allow across-the-board nominations and recognition for employees cutting across department or grade lines.
Some programs place restriction on nominating a person with whom a direct reporting relationship or another special form of camaraderie exists.
Best Practices
The most important consideration when administering an employee recognition program is to make the panel responsible for evaluating the nominations and the methodology used to consider the nominations and select a winner as explicit as possible. Though not mandatory, this lends credibility to the process, raising its effectiveness.
A properly run employee nomination program is a positive HR intervention aimed at improving organizational efficiency while humanizing the workplace at the same time.
References
- University Hospital of Brooklyn. “Employee Recognition Award Nomination Form.” https://www.downstate.edu/uhb/pdf/EmployeeRecogAwardNominationForm.pdf. Retrieved 06 March 2011.
- SAIC-Frederick,Inc. “Employee Recognition Nomination Form.” https://web.ncifcrf.gov/campus/sahsp/EmployeeRecognition/default.pdf. Retrieved 06 March 2011.
Image Credit: flickr.com/diaper
