When it comes to keeping good employees, companies have developed employee retention programs and some are willing to try just about anything short of using a ball and chain to prevent an employee from leaving. They’ll use monetary incentives, benefit inducements and a whole host of other techniques to try to maintain the employee loyalty that keeps them there. While there are no sure-fire ways to ensure an employee will stick, there are a lot of little things that will keep an employee from looking to change jobs in the first place.
Granted, paying an employee a competitive wage for their efforts is the main way to keep them on the team. Also, having health insurance and other benefits in place also encourages an employee to stick. But as powerful as those two incentives are, very rarely are they capable of having the impact that good quality employee recognition does.
Employees want to know that their efforts are noticed and that 
they’re a valid part of the company instead of being just another timecard. When employees get that recognition, whether it’s a certificate or award, a nameplate on a plaque or even the recipient of “special” employee gifts like stationery and post-it notes, that lets them know they’re being seen. While there are some employees that could care less whether anyone knows they’re around, good employees appreciate the recognition because it makes them a part of-instead of apart from, a team.
These are the employees that, when given the recognition they deserve, are willing to work the extra hours, are willing to go that extra mile for the employer, customers and clients. They’re even willing to work for a company that will recognize their efforts rather than work for one for more money that doesn’t. Knowing what an employee wants in order to be that loyal employee isn’t very difficult. They want the company to be loyal to them, and that is what an employee retention program provides.