Peer Recognition: A Beginner’s Overview

Emma has been working as a data entry clerk for a few months. Her manager and a senior team member compliment the quality and speed of her work at least once a week, so she knows it’s going well. 

A lot of her coworkers have been there longer than she has. They seem to have already formed pairs or small cliques. They’re helpful when she has a question, but she thought by now she’d feel more comfortable asking. Or that they might reach out to her for something. 

She doesn’t want to try too hard or interrupt, and no one’s rude to her. Still, Emma’s starting to feel like she barely exists until she’s directly addressed. Most coordination and collaboration happen over email, even when she’s sitting mere yards away. She’s practically on autopilot five months in. 

Emma’s not exactly sure why, but she decides she’ll keep an eye out for openings elsewhere, just in case. 

A good company, work she can handle, and recognition from management. Yet Emma’s morale and motivation ended up suffering. The environment isn’t very inclusive, which makes her second-guess herself daily. 

Emma’s overall job satisfaction started tanking due to a lack of peer recognition, meaning she isn’t feeling seen or valued by her coworkers. 

What is peer recognition?

Peer recognition is where employees acknowledge their colleague’s positive behaviors, performance, and other contributions at work. 

When it’s given consistently, peer recognition helps employees feel like they belong to a team. That increases workplace happiness, retention, motivation, and collaboration. 

Top-down recognition is effective for motivating and confirming to an employee that their work has been valuable. Peer-to-peer recognition creates an ongoing positive feedback loop that motivates employees in real time as they complete their work.  

Why is peer-to-peer recognition so important?

You can promise rewards and raises and PTO all day, but peer-to-peer recognition is what ensures job satisfaction and retention. It’s a broad collection of small (sometimes almost imperceptible) gestures that keep employee motivation and morale up.

You can’t help but invoke the phrase, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.” As you know, this is about how the experiences we have along the way end up being as or more valuable than the goals we meet. 

Suppose you train for a marathon and hate every minute of it. It’s always raining and you get injured. The big day arrives and you complete the marathon, thinking, “Finally! Can’t wait to never do that again!”

It’s like that at work, too. Top-down recognition (from management) feels like an achievement. “Yes, I DID do a great job on that report!” But how was it trying to collaborate with your coworkers? If communication was poor, things got tense, and then the workload was unbalanced, the lesson you learned on the journey was that you can’t rely on your coworkers to succeed. You have to do it despite them. 

Managers can’t validate every positive action an employee takes. Even if they tried, they probably still don’t have a 360° view of what the job entails. Coworkers can relate on deeper levels. When they recognize their peers, the recipient knows it’s for real.

Consider the story we opened with. Emma knew how to do her job, and management recognized her efforts. But she never felt like she fit in, so exceptional performance wasn’t as important anymore. Who wants to put forth their best in a place where they don’t belong?

Peer-to-peer recognition works so well because it ignites intrinsic motivation. The simple enjoyment employees get out of engaging with their team, on their work, is just as crucial (if not more) than extrinsically motivating factors, like special appreciation or a reward. 

Peer recognition examples 

Let’s put our finger on the pulse for a moment. All of the following acts are peer recognition examples. Encouraging or building a program that enables more of this helps create a culture where it naturally happens more often.

Shouting out coworkers on social media

Employees don’t have to be off-the-clock besties, but it’s a good sign if they’re not shy about posting about one another. Endorsing a coworker on LinkedIn or wishing them a happy birthday on Instagram are great acts of peer recognition. 

Positive team chat activity

Being responsive in chat is another example of peer recognition. Team members may be quick to provide answers, thank one another for their assistance, or make general remarks on the day’s events. 

Coffee breaks and lunches

You may not think twice about coworkers getting lunch together or bringing someone a coffee, but this is authentic peer recognition. It shows a level of rapport where conversation, companionship, favors, and other acts are the norm. 

Easy encouragement

Do employees at your organization demonstrate faith in one another’s abilities? A simple “You’ve got this” or “Try it this way” are signs that peer recognition is alive with the potential to thrive at your workplace. 

Happy to fill in

How do others react if someone is out sick, has to leave for an appointment, or otherwise can’t complete their role for a day? It depends on the industry and workload, but a willingness to take over is great peer recognition. 

It shows that they care both about the company’s goals and not letting their teammates fall behind.

What peer-to-peer recognition ISN’T

Before we move forward to how you can revive peer recognition in a dead zone, let’s clarify what we shouldn’t bother doing. 

Forcing coworkers to be friends

Positive interaction, respect, and cooperation at work are the main goals. 

Forging friendships with coworkers is great, but many people prefer maintaining professional boundaries. Successful peer-to-peer recognition isn’t reserved for those who feel comfortable being close buddies with colleagues.

A means to an end (rewards)

We don’t emphasize monetary rewards because that hinders authentic recognition. Employees should be aware of the recognition program and what it entails but don’t make rewards the primary objective.

An answer to poor performance

Of course, morale and engagement aren’t always the reason employees have trouble with the requirements of their job role. You will see performance gains with increased peer-to-peer recognition, but it also may reveal who doesn’t have to skill or will.

Quick peer-to-peer recognition ideas you can implement this week

Put the right tools in the team’s hands, and they can start building today. Here are some fast, practical ideas for peer recognition. 

1. Use peer-to-peer recognition software

There are a few reasons this is the first and most important idea we have to offer. 

First, most help add gamification to recognition programs. Gamification can enhance everything from training to team building.

Next, we have analytics. The right software will offer ways to measure the success of your peer-to-peer recognition program. 

Finally, we are a peer-to-peer recognition platform. We’ve seen the results of such software firsthand, whether strengthening remote teams at tech startups or quadrupling engagement among resident physicians.

2. Peer award nominations

Telling a bunch of adults to say please and thank you more often can be a bit awkward. The same can apply when you want them to organically start being more considerate and thoughtful toward one another. Break the ice by soliciting their opinion on who is doing a great job. 

If you have any type of reward or award program in place, such as Employee of the Month, start getting the team involved. Have everyone nominate an employee for a reward with specific reasons why they should win.

The winner (or winners) will feel seen and appreciated by their coworkers, and the coworkers will become more acclimated to sharing positive feedback about their peers. 

3. Employee recognition walls

Supplement the two peer-to-peer recognition ideas above with a wall. Employee recognition walls are physical or virtual spaces where gratitude and success take the main stage.

Highlight good deeds, share fun facts about employees, create a company vision board, or post the best company reviews. Check out our post on creative employee wall ideas for more inspiration.

An employee wall simply presents another venue and opportunity for peer recognition. Its appearance and contents are very customizable to company values and employee preferences.

HeyTaco: Your ready-made peer recognition program

Peer recognition ties teams and companies together in a lasting, meaningful way. It takes the pressure off of busy leadership and helps siloed or still-acclimating employees feel like they belong. 

If you’re starting from a low point, it sounds like a mountain to climb. But HeyTaco offers a way to begin that’s casual, fun, and insightful.

1. HeyTaco integrates seamlessly into Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Google Chat.
2. Employees can recognize someone’s positive actions by dropping a 🌮. It’s like saying thank you, except it applies to way more scenarios. See someone giving another employee a tip? 🌮. Did someone make you laugh? 🌮. Want to congratulate someone on completing a task that gave them trouble? 🌮.

It can also be more memorable since we get so used to thank-yous. You can even add Taco Tags to align tacos with company values, like creativity or social consciousness.

3. HeyTaco’s leaderboards add gamification and an element of friendly competition. Here, we see who shows the most recognition in addition to who receives the most. “Players” ascend levels, unlock avatars, and earn rewards, all without interrupting their workflow.
4. An analytics dashboard helps you measure engagement, track trends, and otherwise make better-informed decisions around recognition programs. 
5. It’s free to try. 

Peer recognition definitions and benefits may vary, but what stays the same across the board is the power of positivity. It doesn’t have to be complex or cloying, we just have to provide chances for it to happen. 

Whether or not you decide to take HeyTaco for a spin, put recognition into employees’ hands and offer more opportunities to accentuate the positive.