50 Remote Employee Recognition Ideas Suitable for Asia Teams: Appreciation Programmes for Remote Work and Examples from Real Companies in 2022

Employee recognition ideas for Asia teams — Source: Getty Images

Remote work is here to stay, after gaining popularity across companies worldwide ever since the COVID-19 pandemic started two years ago. With countries going into lockdown on short notices, businesses are forced to make adjustments to this new format of working outside of conventional offices.

While this trend may be new to the majority, it has actually been around for many years, especially among companies with remote teams across regions like Asia or Southeast Asia. For those Asia teams who often work remotely with their colleagues in other countries, they are used to operating across various time zones such as India, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand. The accelerated adoption of remote work allows employers to no longer be limited to their country of operation, and are able to collaborate with businesses and individuals across Asia and beyond.

With an increase in demand among employers and job seekers, remote work is the new normal - no matter where the remote teams are based. However, many businesses trying to adapt to this new trend are not equipped with employee rewards, recognition and appreciation programmes to meet the new requirements. This is especially in Asia and Southeast Asia teams, where there has been a trend of remote work yet not as many known remote employee recognition tools as compared to those available for teams in the West. The lack of a good employee recognition programme often leads to a decrease in employee morale and the worst of all - high turnover rates.

Before we jump into all 50 remote employee recognition ideas, check out PraisePal’s employee recognition platform catered to remote teams worldwide, with over 1,000 employee reward options available to Asia-based teams.

PraisePal, #1 Employee Recognition Tool for Remote Asia Teams

Give Instant Recognitions - RewardNation - employee recognition idea — Source: PraisePal

PraisePal lets you set up a points-based system for your remote employees to recognise good work or say thanks to their teammates with points. Employees can then turn the points they received into meaningful rewards, and choose from custom company rewards or gift cards from over 1,000 brands worldwide. Including popular brands in Singapore, Indonesia, India, The Philippines, Vietnam, Australia, USA, UK, and more.

The simple yet powerful recognition tool keeps employees engaged, while driving motivation and helping your remote employees feel valued for their contributions - no matter where or how they work. The public recognition feed helps employees build a sense of belonging and an engaging company culture, where remote employees across Asia and beyond can collaborate to deliver higher business value.

You can head over to access PraisePal’s employee recognition tool, or continue reading for more employee recognition ideas for your teams across Asia and beyond.

Our 5 best employee recognition ideas:

What is employee recognition?

Employee recognition is more than just rewarding your employees with cash or financial incentives. It is about building connections between the employees and the company through acknowledging notable accomplishments and efforts of the individuals and their team. These recognitions will make your staff feel appreciated, respected and most importantly, valued.

Hence, it is essential for the company to have a solid employee recognition plan, presenting the right thoughtful reward or recognition at the appropriate time, to help boost your employee engagement, increase team morale, and lower turnover rates.

As Bain and Company puts it:

Let’s acknowledge up front that recognition is not something companies do naturally or easily. That’s why compensation is such a common form of reward. The center can set it up, based on standard metrics and targets, and the center doles it out.
Recognition, by contrast, is handled by hundreds, even thousands, of teams across a company. That’s more difficult. But done right—when it taps into and reinforces your employees’ natural motivation to make other human beings happy—it can make your company truly stand out as a customer leader.

Moreover when it comes to employee recognition, a common misconception is that only superiors or bosses can give recognition. This is false! In an organisation, every employee should be able to give recognition to one another - and as quickly as possible when credit is due. This builds stronger teams, and a richer company culture whereby everyone gives their best effort as their contributions are valued and recognised right away.

50 Remote Employee Recognition Ideas Suitable for Asia Teams

1. Give Instant Recognition

There’s no better mood booster than instant recognition. Everyone appreciates being recognised for all their hard work and effort, and to have it right away makes it a whole lot better.

Instead of waiting until year-end award ceremonies to recognise a handful of top achievers, why not make it easy for any employee to recognise their colleagues anytime? It costs nothing, but means everything to an individual knowing that their hard work is appreciated and meaningful.

RewardNation Employee Recognition Feed Mock Up.png — Source: PraisePal

Your remote employees can easily give instant recognition with PraisePal. Simply type a quick recognition message whenever appreciation is due, and it would be instantly published on the company-wide recognition feed. Instant recognition leads to instant motivation and having their achievements celebrated publicly also adds that extra impact.

2. Promote Social Causes

Promote Social Causes by Airbnb - Employee recognition idea — Source: Airbnb

Try advocating for social causes that are of interest to your employees and aligned the company’s mission. While this forges a strong sense of belonging, it also allows you to recognise and align your employees’ personal interests with company values.

Airbnb successfully aligned its company’s services with a social cause, after receiving huge interest from hosts all around the world who want to open their homes to refugees. They even launched a Refugee Fund with the goal of raising $25 million to support resettling refugees around the world. By aligning the company’s values to that of their stakeholders, employees will feel more connected to the company and in turn more motivated to give their best at work to contribute to its cause.

3. Peer to Peer Recognition

Peer to Peer Recognition with RewardNation - employee recognition idea.png — Source: PraisePal

Recognition should not only come from superiors but from co-workers as well, as employees naturally spend a lot of time working and collaborating together. When your employee is being acknowledged by their colleagues, it highlights that their team members are appreciative of all the help given, and respect the professionalism and expertise of the individual.

As Bain and Company puts it:

For many employees, the most meaningful recognition often comes from colleagues and teammates. During huddles at some companies, employees identify colleagues who contributed the most to their ability to serve customers. When employees regularly give each other shout-outs for making it easier for the team to serve the customers better, such gratitude becomes infectious and creates a deeper sense of communal purpose.

As the top Peer Recognition Tool, PraisePal makes social peer to peer recognition easy by allowing employees to send recognition messages instantly to their teammates - without needing to fill up long recognition award nomination forms or go through a tedious selection committee process. This is available for all remote teams worldwide, including Asia employees.

4. Tailor Reward Options

Tailor Reward Options with RewardNation - Employee recognition idea.png — Source: PraisePal

Sick and tired of receiving another gift card that you don’t like, or having trouble buying something for a colleague in another country? Besides the difficulty in catering to individual tastes, sending gifts across countries can be a struggle due to eCommerce and logistics complications.

The horror stories include credit cards being blocked for suspicious transactions, or failure to deliver thousands of digital gift cards to remote employees in a particular city in Southeast Asia - where cross-border regulations are more fragmented than in regions like Europe.

From Balikpapan in Indonesia to Buona Vista in Singapore, your remote employees can now choose their favourite rewards all across Asia with PraisePal. Team members can pick from thousands of gift card options from top brands, including those in Singapore, Indonesia, India, Philippines, Malaysia, and more. All with a simple points-based system that helps your employees recognise each other meaningfully, and get rewarded easily.

5. Treat them to Lunch

Treat them to Lunch - employee recognition idea.jpeg — Source: GrabFood

Just because everyone is working remote doesn’t mean that you can’t treat them to lunch! Another classic method is to simply show your appreciation through the language of food.

And with meal solution companies dedicated to remote employees, you’ll never have to worry that you’ve picked something your employee doesn’t like. While there are no single service providers with solutions in all parts of Asia, every country has its own popular option.

Grab (more specifically GrabFood) has operations in eight countries in Asia including Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. With affordable delivery fees and a wide selection of food, there is something for everyone in this meal delivery company. To make things even better, all you have to do is to purchase a gift card for your remote staff, and they can choose the food they prefer.

For India, the largest food delivery company would be Zomato. They even provide corporate meal programmes that allow you to build, track and manage your company's meal plans. Get exclusive discounts and order the right food for every occasion.

DoorDash has launched its services in Japan in 2021, and is also available in Australia. As the largest meal delivery company in the US, DoorDash has been known for its better customer service, you will not be disappointed with their solutions in Asia as well.

Meanwhile, for Hong Kong and Taiwan, FoodPanda and UberEats are popular options. FoodPanda is not only delivering food, but groceries as well. Your remote co-workers can have everything they need delivered to their doorstep.

You can now show your appreciation with a delicious meal delivered to their doorstep.

6. Send Care Packages

send care packages - employee recognition idea.jpg — Source: Unsplash

Who doesn’t love being surprised with a little box of joy? Sending care packages is one of the easiest ways to recognise the hard work of your team members. This box can be customised to meet the preference of your company and employees - from curated snacks and drinks, to everyday items such as power banks.

There are many care packages companies across Asia to help you curate and prepare one-of-a-kind thoughtful boxes for every occasion, and they will even manage the logistics for you! No need to fret if you have remote teams working across multiple locations, with this being your go-to idea.

For teams based in Singapore, Tasty Snack is your go-to choice as it also offers international shipping to your other co-workers across Asia. However, you will need to be careful when shipping food items internationally, due to cross-border shipping restrictions. You might also want to play it safe by recognising your international employees with digital gift cards that they can redeem at their respective locations.

7. Reward With Experiences

Reward with experience RewardNation - employee recognition idea.png — Source: PraisePal

Instead of the usual physical gifts, you can make your employee rewards more impactful by gifting them with meaningful experiences they can enjoy with friends and family.

With PraisePal’s employee recognition programme, you can easily reward your employees with points that can be exchanged for experiences across Asia such as glassmaking, axe throwing and even a bonsai cruise. All rewards have been curated to meet local demand in each country, with hundreds of local experiences across Asia for your remote team members to choose from.

8. Companywide Shoutout on Social Media

Having social media shoutouts is a good opportunity to recognise your employees’ contributions. This initiative allows you to effectively acknowledge and showcase companywide accomplishments to both internal and external audiences. It is also a great chance to build your presence on social media!

Many well-known business leaders recognise the positive impact of a short tweet or post, including the new CEO of Twitter, Parag Agrawal. He took to Twitter to express his gratitude to the whole company, and received more than 11k Retweets!

9. Have Regular Employee Recognition Sessions

Recognising the key contributions of individuals help them to feel valued and appreciated. It also creates a culture whereby your team members give their all at work, as they understand that their efforts will reap recognition and rewards.

You can easily surprise your employees with a simple shoutout on your company communications platforms, town hall meetings, or in your company newsletter! Some quick shoutouts include: Great job, well done, keep up the good work. Simple encouragement that helps your teams feel recognised, showcasing the outcome of their contributions.

10. Build a Wall of Fame

A classic employee recognition programme is the Wall of Fame. Having a special space in the office to show appreciation for all the good work done by the team really allows the members to feel appreciated. This fun space also brightens up the workspace, making it more welcoming.

Even though most are working remotely now, a Wall of Fame is still effective. Every time your employees visit the office, they’ll feel a renewed sense of accomplishment, seeing their faces and recognition messages up there on the wall!

11. TGIF Celebrations

TGIF Celebrations - employee recognition idea — Source: Unsplash

After a long hard week of good work, take some time off every Friday afternoon to gather as a team virtually and celebrate everyone’s top achievements with a drink. Build a culture of having your team members share their small wins and accomplishments of the week, to end the work week on a positive note.

At the same time, TGIF Celebrations are great opportunities for employee recognition, build a sense of belonging by coming together as a team to show appreciation for everyone’s hard work and dedication.

12. Virtual Team Building Activities

Team bonding is even more crucial with everyone working remotely across different parts of Asia, and not being able to meet up physically. But fret not, virtual team bonding activities are very common and popular these days, especially with compulsory work-from-home and travel restrictions in various countries across Asia due to the pandemic.

The best part of having this employee reward is that you may engage an external virtual vendor such as PulseActiv to arrange and conduct the whole session.

Based in Singapore, PulseActiv has organised over 1,000 events from 10 to 1,500 participants virtually. With their catalogue of virtual activities to boost employee engagement remotely, along with professional facilitators, you no longer have to worry about organising it.

Starting from SGD$21+ per person, you can customise the most suitable session with at least one week of lead time. Not to mention, since it is a virtual session, all your co-workers across Asia can join in!

13. Work Anniversary

Celebrating work anniversaries are more than just appreciating the duration your employees have been with the company. It is the perfect time to remember and refresh their reason for joining the company, and realise how much they have grown.

With so many employees with different work anniversary dates, it can be complicated to track and execute this effort. With PraisePal’s Celebration Bot, you can upload all the dates at one go, and a congratulatory message will be posted automatically on your company-wide recognition feed. Besides recognising the employee’s anniversary publicly so their team members can celebrate with them, you can also allocate rewards points to them so they can claim the perfect reward for the occasion.

Employee Work Anniversary Celebration - Employee Recognition Idea — Source: PraisePal

A little effort goes a long way, in making your employees feel valued and special especially on their work anniversary while being physically distanced from the rest of their team.

14. Celebrate Team Achievements

Celebrate Team Achievements - employee recognition idea — Source: Unsplash

While everyone loves a celebration, a good employee recognition strategy needs to identify the right timing to celebrate your team’s achievements. When a well-deserved celebration has been delayed for a long period of time, it will cause your team to have lower morale and motivation to continue working hard.

Therefore, it is essential to identify major milestones and achievements and carve out time to recognise the good work done by the members. Celebrating team achievements might sound easy, but many businesses lose track of time and forget about it with the excuse of being “busy”.

15. Mental Wellness Day

Mental wellness day - employee recognition idea — Source: Unsplash

The pandemic has brought drastic changes to not just everyone’s working environment, but their personal lives as well. As the fight continues, it is essential to make time to take care of our own mental well-being, and recognise that your employees’ mental health matters as much as their work contributions.

Carve out a mental wellness day for your team, whereby everyone can energise and recharge as part of your employee recognition strategy.

Many corporates have adopted this initiative including professional social network LinkedIn. The company launched “RestUp!” week whereby employees are given one week paid off for their own well-being to recharge and avoid burnout.

16. Simple Act of Gratitude

Simple act of gratitude - employee recognition idea — Source: Unsplash

“Good Job”, “Nice work”, and “Thank you”.

These acts of gratitude may seem simple, but they can leave a big impact on your co-workers. Always remember to praise your co-workers’ good work, and let them feel appreciated for all their efforts. These employee appreciation messages can be published on the company website and even be taken to the next level with a public employee recognition platform such as PraisePal.

With PraisePal, go beyond praising 1 on 1 by publishing those employee appreciation messages on a company-wide feed. Maximise the impact on the person being recognised, and show other team members what positive behaviours are being encouraged in the company.

At the same time, this meaningful recognition can boost the employee experience, increase collaboration, and encourage employee achievements to reach greater heights.

17. Make WFH More Productive

Make WFH More Productive - employee recognition idea — Source: Unsplash

While remote work has been around in Asia for many years, not every employee is equipped with the right devices, tools and space to be productive. You can recognise individual differences and boost their productivity by hearing their needs and sending them the right gadgets to help them out.

Made easy with Swag, you can customise the right box for everyone - from cable management and headphones, to a laptop stand and mouse, and have them branded too!

With international distribution, you can easily send boxes to multiple locations across Asia. Find out the shipping costs which varies across locations here!

18. Ask Your Employees

Ask Your Employees - employee recognition idea.jpg — Source: Unsplash

Having so many great employee recognition ideas may be daunting and you might just be spoiled for choice. Why not ask your employees how they would want to be recognised and appreciated instead?

Let your employees choose, as at the end of the day, these employee appreciation ideas should be tailored to the audience to maximise impact and boost morale. This is not limited to just recognition, but also employee rewards and initiatives!

19. Start Monday With Positivity

Chase Monday blues away with a team appreciation session. Gather together at the start of the week, and get everyone to share a piece of work that they are proud of. Take this opportunity to share and learn more about your co-workers, and most importantly, appreciate their good work.

Showing frequent recognition and sincere appreciation between co-workers is key to a solid employee recognition strategy, and is one of the easiest appreciation ideas to get started on. All it takes is the first step to build a habit - everyone can do it!

20. Encourage Employee-led Initiatives

Encourage Employee-led Initiatives - employee recognition idea — Source: Unsplash

Employee-led initiatives can effectively build a sense of ownership and allow your employees to feel recognised for their personal and company values and interests. Encouraging them to pursue these initiatives will also drive long-term results, and bring about a positive impact towards your company culture and employee engagement.

One of the fastest-growing FMCG companies in India, Asia, and Africa, Wipro Consumer Care is a strong supporter of employee-led initiatives with the aim to make the business more sustainable. Their team in Indonesia took it upon themselves to bring birds back into the area by transforming an unused space into a biodiversity park.

You can also get help from Handprint, which helps companies become planet-positive by contributing towards eco efforts and remove carbon from the atmosphere, plastic from the oceans, and improve communities’ livelihoods. They have sustainable initiatives all across Asia - perfect for your Asia-based remote teams to pick their favourite project and come together to support it.

21. Build a Sabbatical Programme

Build a Sabbatical Programme - employee recognition idea — Source: Unsplash

Sometimes a break is what your employees need to recharge and reflect on their journey, before taking the next big step in their career. Hence, a sabbatical programme which ranges from one month to two years is highly beneficial to explore their interests or even further their studies.

Multinational hospitality company Hilton runs an annual Thrive Sabbatical, which recognises employees all around the world with an all-expenses-paid four weeks time off to pursue their cause. And in their 2019 run, two out of 10 awardees were from Asia!

Sometimes, taking a step back to reset can help you move forward even faster.

22. Upgrade Tools & Resources

Upgrade Tools & Resources - employee recognition idea — Source: Unsplash

Employees are the ones on the ground, with a good awareness of the best tools in the market to boost productivity. Hence, you should routinely conduct consultations with your employees to understand the resources they need and hear their troubles.

Glassdoor uncovered that outdated tools and technology are one of the leading causes for employees to leave their jobs! When the company ignores instead of recognises their needs, it sends a signal to employees that they are not valued and their opinions do not matter.

If you have overlooked this part of your people processes, it’s time to recognise their needs and update your company’s tools and resources!

23. Birthday Celebrations

Birthday Celebrations - employee recognition idea — Source: Unsplash

Birthdays are important milestones. It highlights how far we’ve come and the growth we’ve experienced. Appreciate these milestones by acknowledging them in your employee recognition strategy.

Employee Recognition Ideas for Birthday Celebrations — Source: PraisePal

PraisePal’s Celebration Bot feature lets your employees update their birthdays on the platform, where you can send automated birthday messages and award them with reward points to redeem a little birthday gift. Celebrating your team members’ birthdays is one of the easiest and fastest appreciation ideas to get started on!

24. Inculcate Peer Learning

Your co-workers are all experts in their own field, with years of experience. Engage them by recognising their skillsets, and allowing them to educate and mentor others through a peer-to-peer learning programme.

Other than employees' social recognition, this peer recognition programme allows them to build strong connections through sharing of experiences and exchanging knowledge, which can help the company stay competitive.

After all, growing your people is the best way to grow your company.

25. Build a Feedback Channel

Build Feedback Channel with 15Five - employee recognition idea — Source: 15Five

Listening to your employees might seem easy, but it actually takes some proper processes for it to bring about a lot of positive value. Acknowledging their feedback and working on improving the situation allows your employees to feel recognised and valued.

Nobody likes lip service, and actions (after the feedback session) speaks louder than just displaying company values on an employee handbook.

Make mutual listening part of your company culture and ingrain it in your company values, by building a feedback channel for your employees with the help of 15Five. This employee performance management platform builds a system that combines online surveys and one-to-one reviews.

It is time to encourage feedback and improve employee engagement with proper employee feedback channels and communication tools, to ensure it remains a habit instead of doing it flippantly.

26. Recognise Hobbies

What are each of your employee’s talents outside of the workplace?

Instead of keeping them hidden, we should recognise these interests and encourage them to continue pursuing their hobbies. This employee recognition idea allows them to have a good balance of work and personal life, and most importantly boost morale in your team.

Some ideas you can implement includes having Show & Tell sessions for different individuals to showcase or explain their hobbies, or allowing them to claim time off as a reward and spend it working on their hobbies.

27. Build a Positive Culture

Make employee recognition part of your culture. Build this positive habit into the DNA of your company through leading by example, and encouraging your co-workers to acknowledge good work.

An instant way to kickstart this habit is through adopting an employee rewards and recognition tool like PraisePal.

PraisePal takes recognition beyond lip service, by allowing you to allocate points to your co-workers with your recognition messages. These points can be accumulated to redeem gift cards from their favourite brands worldwide - another positive form of employee motivation that will build this culture in your remote teams.

28. Have Routine Career Discussions

The opportunity to discuss their professional development opportunities is appreciated by the employees. These routine career discussions are extremely helpful to review and reflect on their skills, and how they can take their career to the next level.

It’s time to set a recurring date for a career conversation with your employees!

29. Dedicate Family Time

Dedicate Family Time - Employee recognition idea — Source: Unsplash

Even though remote work allows your team members to work from home, they do not actually get to spend more time with their families as they are usually hidden in their “work” room to stay focused. Dedicated family time such as “Eat With Your Family Day” is one of the most popular ideas, as it allows them to recharge and have a good balance of work and family.

Michelman Asia-Pacific is one such company that has been conducting “Eat With Your Family Day” since 2017, and they have received positive results including improved well-being and morale among employees.

30. Personalise Meaningful Rewards

Having teams across different time zones means that your members’ preferred rewards would be different as well. Take employee recognition and rewards to the next level by tailoring the possible options based on your team members.

With PraisePal, you can easily add and customise rewards to better suit your team, in addition to the huge range of possible rewards. There’s no additional hassle involved in making rewards meaningful and personalised, with this tool perfect for remote teams based across Asia, Europe, America and beyond.

31. Award LinkedIn Badges

Award LinkedIn Badges - employee recognition idea — Source: Unsplash

Awarding your employees LinkedIn badges is a form of public recognition for their experience and expertise. This is not only visible to the company, but to everyone in your employees’ external network as well.

LinkedIn badges are also a sign of career progression, letting your employees feel that they have acquired new skill sets which are beneficial to their role.

32. Encourage Non-Workplace Achievements

Encourage Non-Workplace Achievements - employee recognition idea — Source: Unsplash

Working too much actually ruins productivity.

It is crucial for companies to encourage non-workplace achievements and motivate their employees to find their own interests. Having these external motivations can actually boost morale have a good work-life balance.

Roche, a multinational healthcare company with an office in Singapore, actively promotes and encourages all employees to participate in community involvement projects. They seek to achieve a positive culture and work environment through these initiatives.

33. Have a Pets Day

Have a Pets Day - employee recognition idea — Source: Unsplash

The best part of remote work (and work-from-home) is that you get to be with your pets all day long.

Boost employee morale by sharing the joy of having a pet with other co-workers. You can start by organising a Pets Day. Pets Day will surely be well received, as your co-workers can appear in calls together with their pets, and forge stronger bonds through this common topic.

Don't make your employees wait - HR professionals can get started on this fun idea with your staff members without any additional employee recognition platforms or implementations.

34. Classic Handwritten Letter

Classic Handwritten Letter with SimplyNoted - employee recognition idea — Source: SimplyNoted

With emails and text messages flooding our inboxes every day, a handwritten note has become a rarity. Take some time for employee appreciation for all their good work, through a dedicated handwritten note that will be snail-mailed to your team members across various countries.

Brighten their day by letting your remote team members feel the excitement of receiving letters once again!

Get started with SimplyNoted, a platform that will do the heavy lifting for you by personalising every card with real pen written notes, and sending it to your team members at an affordable rate. You even get to design the card yourself.

35. Be a Company Ambassador

What better way to show other team members the positive behaviours encouraged in the company, by recognising ideal employees as company ambassadors?

Acknowledge your employee's contribution by sending them as the company’s representatives to showcase the good work done. They can share examples through recorded videos to be presented at town hall meetings, or simply being known as a good role model their colleagues can turn to for help or advice on company matters.

36. Have Special Projects

Reignite your employees’ passion by allowing them to explore skillsets through special projects. Instead of feeling stuck in the same old role, special projects are effective ways to uncover new interests and strengths of your employees.

These special projects can significantly boost employee recognition, as being chosen to participate tells the employees that they are valued and their skills are being recognised.

Bosch is a strong believer in creating the time and space for employees across divisions to carry out special projects, as they help their employees to innovate and initiate the creative thinking process. Instead of just having a suggestion box that requires waiting for approval and positive feedback, special projects allow them to form teams with other employees in their break room to go the extra mile.

This also adds value to the company, as some of the top business innovations and products are the result of such special project teams.

3M's 15% Culture - Employee Recognition Idea

One such example would be 3M’s 15% Culture, whereby it “encourages employees to set aside a portion of their work time to proactively cultivate and pursue innovative ideas that excite them. While coordinating with their manager to ensure day-to-day responsibilities are still executed, employees get the space to try something new and different, think creatively and challenge the status quo. Whether it’s experimenting with a new technology, forming a special interest group around a fresh idea or finding a new way to run a process, our 15% Culture gives employees in all areas the license to innovate. Countless innovations have been created thanks to our 15% Culture, including Multilayer Optical Film, Cubitron™ Abrasive Grains, Emphaze™ AEX Hybrid Purifier, APC™ Flash-Free Adhesive and Post-It® Notes!”

37. Write a LinkedIn Recommendation

As a professional social network tool, LinkedIn is a great place to recognise your co-workers and employees publicly. Your meaningful recognition is publicly available to your co-workers as well as their connections.

Instead of waiting for Employee Appreciation Day, you can make your employees feel appreciated now by writing a LinkedIn recommendation for them to recognise their skills in public.

38. Plan a Hackathon

Plan a Hackathon - Employee recognition idea — Source: Unsplash

Hackathons are events whereby people come together to generate creative solutions to a problem in a short period of time. This fast-paced environment can serve as catalysts for idea generation, and inspire your team members to get out of their comfort zone.

Singaporean multinational banking and financial services corporation DBS Bank, sees the value of a Hackathon to test each attendee’s problem-solving skills and find talent. The DBS Hack2Hire initiative is in its fourth edition in 2021, showing the success of even virtual Hackathons to recognise your employees’ need to use their creative skills, collaborate, and learn from each other beyond the usual work tasks.

39. Conduct Career Sharing Sessions

Learning how the CEO and leadership team get to where they are today through career sharing sessions can be highly motivational for your employees.

These sessions are professional development opportunities for your employees to clarify their career goals, and engage with the management team. Not to mention, rewarding employees with such sessions can be helpful to inculcate organisational values, and it also encourages employees to go the extra mile at work to strive towards their goals.

This is a good way to recognise your teams’ desire for growth and learning, with an opportunity they will not usually get at work.

40. Healthy Eating & Lifestyle Programme

Healthy Eating & Lifestyle Programme - employee recognition idea — Source: Unsplash

A healthy employee is a happy one. While your team is working remotely across Asia and beyond, you can continue to promote healthy living through a nutritious diet and exercise. Instead of snacking all the time, have a healthy living programme whereby your team learns the “ideal” food to consume and have a balanced lifestyle.

With many corporate wellness companies that run remote wellness programmes, all you have to do is to show up for the session. These companies will facilitate comprehensive wellness classes and activities virtually for your team all across time zones in Asia.

Classes ranging from 1-2.5 hours per session, Remote Team Wellness offers a range of solutions from mental health, emotional wellness, wellness at work, team development, and even corporate fitness.

41. Midweek 1-1 Talks

After a rough start to the week, being able to talk to a co-worker or superior and reflect upon what has happened is highly beneficial. This allows employees to feel appreciated for all the tough times, as they will have someone to feedback to.

Thus, schedule regularly midweek 1-1 talks to have a better understanding of what your employees have gone through. For all their contributions, recognise them and provide assistance if possible.

42. Exchange With Overseas Offices

Recognise your employees with the opportunity to work abroad, and be exposed to new ideas that will spark their curiosity. This once in a lifetime opportunity allows you to make your employees feel valued for all their hard work and will continue to contribute greatly to the company.

The Boston Consulting Group offers a variety of opportunities to work abroad through its global programme. They select employees with the requisite experience to participate in extended-stay assignments, which allows them to grow and evolve on a personal and professional level.

43. Subscription Perks

YouTube Premium, Spotify, Apple Music - these are some of the essential subscriptions to making remote work productive and enjoyable. Offer these subscription perks as part of your employee recognition efforts instead of just rewarding them with another voucher they will never use!

With PraisePal, your employees will have access to a huge list of subscription perks, designed to make work productive and enjoyable. Hence, instead of finding perks for each employee, you just have to reward employees with points to recognise their hard work, which can be exchanged for these perks!

Perks from PraisePal are also customised to the different countries in Asia. For example, teams in Vietnam can exchange for perks from MobiFone, a major Vietnamese mobile network operator, while those in Australia can get Binge, an Australian video streaming subscription service.

44. Celebrate Diversity

A major perk of having remote teams across different countries is the mix of cultures and backgrounds. Different cultures have varying holidays and events, and this is a good opportunity for the team to learn more about each other.

Recognise and celebrate diversity by having your team members share about their national holidays, and some dos and don’ts when visiting their countries!

45. Attend a Creative Workshop

Take a break from your usual work routine and showcase your creativity by attending a workshop together with your team! After a busy period, always acknowledge your team’s hard work by bringing them away from work, and to a creative workshop to relax and enjoy.

Explore the countless virtual workshops available on reElivate, a curated marketplace that connects lessons providers to companies like yours to deliver fun virtual experiences.

46. Classic Customised Trophy

5, 10, 15 years of service and more.

These major milestones need to be recognised through more than just a company-wide appreciative message.

Acknowledge their long service with the company through a physical customised trophy instead. This classic will never go outdated, and best of all, you can mail it to your team members all around the world.

Check out the range of customisable items that will make your employees’ long service celebration a memorable one. You can even customise a team trophy for any department-wide activities as a little souvenir!

47. Virtual Cocktail Making Workshop

Virtual Cocktail Making Workshop - employee recognition idea — Source: Mixology Events

If your team enjoys alcohol, there’s no better option than to bring a virtual cocktail making workshop to them. Learn how to mix the perfect drink, and bond over a common interest. If you’re in need of a fun and exciting employee recognition and rewards programme to boost employee engagement, this is the one for you.

Choose the class format that is best suited for your team and you’ll receive a box at your doorstep a few days prior, with all the equipment and ingredients required. The box will also get you started on how to set up your bar station, and the virtual class will have an experienced host to guide you on your cocktail making journey.

For Singapore-based teams, The Fun Empire will be your go-to choice for virtual cocktail making workshops. Starting from SGD$70+ per person, their sessions have received raving reviews from companies of all sizes.

48. Sharing Through Company Newsletter

If your company has an internal newsletter, why not make full use of it to recognise the good work done by your employees?

It is a fast and easy way to transmit information to everyone, and your co-workers can congratulate and appreciate these contributions upon reading it.

Sharing through the company newsletter brings recognition from the company, as well as peer to peer recognition, making it extremely impactful and effective.

49. Encourage Vacations

After all the hard work and recognition your employees receive, they do need some time away from work to rejuvenate and refresh themselves. Encourage employees to go on a vacation, spend time with their families, and do things that they’re interested in.

Some employees prefer long vacations, while others prefer shorter three-day vacations. Nonetheless, these vacations are highly beneficial to their physical and mental health, as studies have shown that those who take vacations have lower stress levels and are more motivated to achieve goals.

50. Have a Conversation

Have A Conversation - employee recognition idea — Source: Unsplash

The last and most important recognition idea of all, is to have an open conversation with your employees and co-workers.

Talk to them personally and understand their perspectives and pain points. Hear them out and they will suggest the most sought-after idea that is tailored to your company and help them feel supported.

After all, they are the receivers of these ideas, so why not ask what they prefer instead. You may even uncover new insights about your company culture and more!