Many organisations are increasingly making use of employee recognition to motivate employees to achieve high performance and productivity. Research has shown that effective recognition occurs in organisations that have strong supportive culture, understand the psychology of praising employees for their good work, and apply the principles of employee recognition. This paper examined employee recognition, its benefits and the various types of employee recognition programs. It also sought to propose that employee recognition looked at from the perspective of formal, informal and day-to-day, could motivate staff to ensure high performance in Ghanaian universities. It is thus, recommended that management of Ghanaian universities should commit credible resources to the design and implementation of employee recognition programs to yield the needed outcome.