21 Creative Employee Recognition Ideas From Industry-Leading Workplaces

Ted Kitterman
2025-03-12T07:39:25-04:00
21 Creative Employee Recognition Ideas From Industry-Leading Workplaces
Great Place To Work

Consider these employee recognition programs to increase perceptions of fairness and levels of discretionary effort in your organization.

Employee recognition drives business performance

Recognition programs are a crucial part of the employee experience and a key driver of perceptions of fairness in your workforce.

When employees say that everyone in the company has an opportunity to receive special recognition for their work, they are two times more likely to say promotions are fair and 60% more likely to say they feel paid fairly, per a 2025 Great Place To Work? survey of 1.3 million employees.

Fairness is a key element of a high-trust workplace, and it can have a powerful impact on employee performance.

When everyone can get recognition for their work, employees are 60% more likely to give extra effort to get the job done. They’re also 40% more likely to participate in innovation.

The upshot? Employee recognition plays a crucial role in performance at every level in your organization.

How to analyze your recognition programs

There are five facets of a successful employee recognition strategy:

Frequent. Great companies ensure recognition happens on a regular cadence

Timely. If you wait too long to recognize a job well done, recognition won’t be as effective or meaningful

Relevant. Good programs will honor specific behaviors and activities with a tangible connection to business goals and company values

Generous. Many companies offer financial rewards or other incentives, but great companies ensure the reward contains real value for workers

Universal. Every employee, regardless of role or work location, should have the opportunity to receive recognition — if the same five employees always get recognized, leaders should investigate the cause

21 creative employee recognition ideas

What are the most advanced companies doing to take their recognition programs to the next level?

Great Place To Work studies companies like those on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For? List to understand how they are pushing the envelope with recognition programs.

Here are 21 ideas taken from Certified companies that can inform your efforts:

1. Create unique rituals and events to celebrate

Do your employees deserve the royal treatment?

At the Conrad DC, one of Hilton’s many properties, the team celebrates their top three housekeepers with the highest customer satisfaction scores by appointing them to the “Court of Cleanliness.” Honorees receive flowers and are serenaded by the full team in a special celebration.

2. Give spontaneous bonuses

Give leaders the authority to recognize good work throughout the year.

At Bright Horizons, executive team members are empowered to give spontaneous bonuses to members of teams other than their own to recognize their significant contributions to achieving the executive’s team goals.

3. Fulfill employees’ biggest wish

At The Progressive Corporation, the “Big Wish” program allows employees to nominate a colleague to receive a gift from the company as a way to share thanks, without having to be tied to an accomplishment or business performance. Wish grants can cover a range of items from a day at the spa to building a backyard patio.

4. Use a ‘pay it forward’ scheme

How do you make recognition a regular part of your culture? Get employees to pass it on.

At Baird, 50 plush “Wilson” mascots, a personification of founder Rober Wilson Baird, were handed out to associates. They would write a note of appreciation for a teammate, which was sent along with the plush Wilson and then recipients would pass it on to the next deserving teammate.

5. Make it social with technology

Comcast NBCUniversal uses a program called “Xchange” to make its recognition visible to employees anytime, anywhere throughout the organization. Just like a social media platform, employees can customize their feed to give and receive recognition with thousands of notes sent every week.

6. Reinforce company values

Atlassian’s program, Kudos, asks employees to identify one of the values or specific behaviors that is worthy of recognition when submitting a nomination. “Recognition should have a clear line of sight to your company values and behaviors that are important to your culture,” says Gina Creegan, global head of experience operations at Atlassian.

7. Empower recognition with AI tools

At Accenture, employees can use a simple prompt in the Amethyst Recognize Agent to help write a meaningful, content-rich message to share on internal communities and its recognition platform. At Hilton, AI tools help make its “Recognition Matters!” website more user-friendly, with language translation and mobile optimization for its large frontline workforce.

8. Offer access to senior leaders

At Ally Financial, employees who are recognized for their contributions have the opportunity to connect with senior leaders at special events, including new CEO Michael Rhodes. At the event, teams worked with leaders to assemble backpacks for children ages 5 to 10 to inspire them to pursue science and technology opportunities.

9. Reward innovators

Bank of America empowers every employee to look for ways to improve the work they perform, with an annual goal to share at least one idea through its Speak Up! Tool. These ideas are then sorted, tracked, and implemented, leading to billions in savings for the company. Those employees who have an impact get rewarded through recognition cards

10. Start an employee recognition committee

At Allianz Life, the employee recognition committee is responsible for creating fun and engaging companywide recognition programs. With 14 members, this team offers opportunities for employees to connect with one another and have direct input into company culture.

11. Use customer reviews and net promoter scores

Don’t know who needs recognition? Find overlooked overachievers in your customer reviews or Net Promoter Score data. Trek Bicycle’s retail and customer care teams review NPS reports daily to search for examples of great hospitality — one of its core brand values — that can be celebrated in companywide communications.

12. Offer opportunities to give back

When considering rewards for a recognition program, include an option for employees to have an impact on their local community or a social cause that matters to them.

At CarMax, associates can earn points from its recognition program which can be redeemed for gift cards and merch, or it can be donated to a nonprofit.

13. Write a personalized letter

A personal note for top leaders can be a meaningful touch. At David Weekley Homes, CEO John Johnson and COO Ladd Fargo personally email each team member to celebrate birthdays and work anniversaries.

A handwritten note is a cost-effective way to show care and attention, especially in large or disbursed organizations.

14. Offer redeemable points

You can reward different levels of service with a points system that can be redeemed for prizes or gifts. At Capital One, the “ONEderful” program allows associates to give between 10 to 1,000 points to each other and director-level leaders to award 1,500 to 10,000 points. Points can be used on gift cards, gifts, or cash paid directly through payroll.

15. Bring recognition into performance review processes

At Allianz Life, a thank you tool called “Recognition Central” generates a note to leaders when employees get recognized. The recognition notices stay on employees’ permanent transcripts in the system, ensuring visibility.

16. Submit for external industry awards

It’s nice to be recognized by your colleagues, but third-party validation can be well worth the time and effort. David Weekley Homes submits award entries for its sales consultants, designers, builders, and marketing coordinators.

Your workplace culture deserves recognition, too. Get Great Place To Work Certified? and earn eligibility for dozens of industry-leading lists and honors.

17. Give managers recognition toolkits

Make recognition simple for managers. Sheetz offers its “Love Toolkits” with cards, posters, and coupons to make recognition easy and fun. The kit can be used at the discretion of each manager, and there are plenty of opportunities for coworkers to add their names and personal messages to cards and signs.

18. Create a team appreciation playbook

At The Cheesecake Factory, a playbook was created to share best practices and celebration ideas submitted by various restaurants in 2023. The playbook has inspired new recognition practices and continues to celebrate the pioneers who originally contributed ideas for the book.

19. Celebrate shared history with storytelling

Storytelling efforts can offer an important way for employees to gain visibility and recognition for their contributions. As Hilcorp Energy Company celebrates its 35th anniversary, the team has launched an oral history project to interview employees and tell stories about the company and how many hands were needed to create the success it enjoys today.

20. Make recognition a multi-week affair

Tri Pointe Homes holds a “Season of Gratitude” for three weeks to focus on acknowledging and celebrating the contributions of team members. Raffle prizes are handed out at the end of each week, with a grand prize at the end going to team members who took the time to recognize their peers.

21. Turn celebrations into an ad

If you really want to celebrate employees, make them an external face of the brand. Comcast launched an ad campaign in February of 2024 to tell the story of its engineers and technologists and how they are driving the company forward.

Do you have a workforce that is ready for primetime? Get Great Place To Work Certified and earn recognition for your workplace culture.