By: Monica Ricci
Employees who leave one job in favor of another rarely leave for money reasons. One reason employees leave is they don?t feel appreciated or recognized for their contributions. Here are ten ways to recognize a job well done that will keep your staff happy and motivated to achieve.
1.Designate a premium parking spot near the entrance, and offer it to one employee for each month. Be sure to have a sign made for the spot that says ?Reserved For The Employee Of The Month?. This will create public recognition each time the person parks there. You can elect to choose the person with the highest monthly sales volume, most new accounts for the month, or the best safety record for the month. Whatever criteria you choose to award the spot, creating a premium parking spot is a fun way to say ?great job? which employees will appreciate, especially on rainy days!
2.Everyone likes a free day. Create a ?long weekend program? which offers the employee the opportunity to take off one Friday or Monday of their choice with full pay. A three-day weekend is a great energizer and a nice treat.
3.People need to feel that their ideas count. Have a ?Great Idea of the Week? contest. Place a locked box with a slot in it the office, and encourage people to drop in their ideas. At the end of the week, read through the ideas and for the best idea, give a pair of tickets to a sporting event, a play, the movies, or a gift certificate for dinner for two. The idea could be a suggestion for how the company can save money, how to reduce overhead, how to create new revenue streams, how to get more new clients, or whatever the staff member thinks would benefit the company. By doing this weekly, you encourage the staff to take ownership of the company by being contributing members.
4.What better way to de-stress and unwind than with a weekend at a bed and breakfast? You don?t have to live out in the country to enjoy the comforts of relaxing away from home for a few days. Even urban areas have these quaint establishments carved out in the most unexpected places. Your top producers will appreciate a weekend away with their spouse as a nice reward for a job well done.
5.Pay attention to office conversations, and keep a list of each person on your staff and what some of their interests and hobbies are. When you want to reward them, refer to your list and think of something that you could choose just for them, according to their particular likes and interests. This gesture is important. It lets them know that you value them as a person enough to know what they would appreciate, rather than just sending the secretary off to buy something generic.
6.Take an entire department to a sporting event during the week. Most major league ballparks hold businessperson?s special day games mid-week. Pay the extra money to have your company?s name and a list of the attendant employees scrolled on the big screen too. People love to see their name in lights.
7.Go to a trophy shop and have a trophy made for ?Outstanding Performer Of The Month? to offer to the employee who has closed the most new accounts that month. Each month, the person who wins the trophy can display it in their office for the month. Next month, when the new winner is announced, the current trophy-holder must ?pass it on? to the new winner with a small, lighthearted congratulatory ceremony in front of the rest of the department. This creates friendly competition for those who want to have the trophy in their office for the month.
8.Partner with vendors or clients to create sponsored rewards. For example, if your client is a sporting goods distributor, arrange to have them sponsor your company picnic by giving away a gift certificate good for $500 of sporting equipment to one employee. Announce the winner and present the certificate with a handshake at the company picnic. By getting it sponsored, or partially sponsored, you don?t have to pay full price for it, but the employee still gets a great reward for performance.
9.Buy four $100 gift certificates to one of the nicest restaurants in town and each quarter, reward one to the employee who has put the most heart into their work, or most exemplified the company?s vision and mission. Have the staff vote for one of their peers each quarter via a closed ballot box.
10.Surprise a star employee or a whole department by taking them to lunch or dinner on the company?s dime. People build relationships over food. Dining together can be a good time to create the bonds outside the workplace that will benefit the company inside the workplace.
Whatever rewards or incentives you decide to do, be sure to give praise and recognition publicly. It?s nice to hear ?great job? in private, however, the rewards will be much sweeter if you let others know that someone in the company has done something great. Publish staff awards in the company newsletter and on your website. The reward in itself is a plus, but adding the public recognition aspect will make it even more motivating for your staff to keep striving for more.
