Comments on: Employee recognition: 3 ideas that work

By: Suan

Suan — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:11:17 +0000

I hold a birthday luncheon with pizza and cake once a month in our kitchen. The birthday people’s names are on the cake for that month, everyone enjoys the recognition and/or harrassment from their co-workers, we all eat together and have some laughs for an hour. I also give the employees a 1/2 day off with pay on their birthday (rules are you have to take it on your birthday if it falls on a sat/sun they can take mon or fri. Everyone loves this!

By: Martha

Martha — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:04:36 +0000

Different things appeal to different people. During the manager’s staff meetings I bring birthday cards for employees having birthdays the following month. All managers, VP of Operations, HR and Controller sing these. Each month I send out between 10-18 cards. I always have 2-4 people stop by my office saying thanks for their b-day card. I even had one upset employee who did not get one. Oops, for some reason she wasn’t on the list.

By: Glenda

Glenda — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:27:04 +0000

Our managers and GM also award checks (usually from $50 – $100) to individuals when they have done an exceptional job or they have done something outside their realm of responsibility.

By: Cindy Ventrice

Cindy Ventrice — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:22:29 +0000

Beth and Lisa,

There are always a few exceptions. Try anonymously surveying employees about whether they value these cards as recognition. You will be surprised. If you can get managers to do the send out you will have a winner.

Glenda,

What you are doing is fun, inexpensive, and I don’t doubt employees enjoy it. It sounds like a good program, but it is not recognition and it won’t do a darned thing to increase satisfaction with recognition. Keep up the morale boosting but don’t confuse it with recognition.

All – please know that when employees talk about “recognition” the source needs to people they have had an effect on: coworkers, managers and supervisors, someone in their reporting chain. HR is usually outside this sphere of influence. The anniversary card from HR is as exciting as a birthday card from your life insurance company. Sorry.

By: Glenda

Glenda — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:27:49 +0000

We award a different employee each payday with a $25 gift card to WalMart. We put their employee numbers on the outside of their paycheck envelopes and put a different number somewhere in the employee newsletter each payday. If they read the newsletter and find their employee number, they come to the office to pick-up their gift card. They seem to get really excited about that.

We also play safety bingo. The prize for the winner is a check for $25.

By: Lisa Gould

Lisa Gould — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:36:03 +0000

I agree with Beth that #2 does count. Each month we send to each employee who has a birthday that month a “Happy Birthday Flyer” to their home address. If they bring it into us then their names are put in the jar for a drawing for a $15.00 Gift Card at Walmart. Our employees seem to be very pleased with this recognition.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:30:48 +0000

I am sorry to be the voice of dissention but there is no way that # would work in practice. Well, I’ll give you a 1 out of a million chance. A packet of seeds on hte first day of srping – aside from trying to keep a straight face in presenting them, I would be afraid of wearing the seeds before the end of the day.

By: Beth Langley

Beth Langley — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:34:26 +0000

Cindy,

#2 does count. We send anniversary cards for service recognition but we also send birthday cards to each employee and they are always glad to be recognized. Many of the employees upon receiving their first card tell me that even their spouses are impressed with the gesture.

Beth Langley

By: Cindy Ventrice

Cindy Ventrice — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:03:39 +0000

Hi Bill,

I am the author of Make Their Day Employee Recognition That Works (www.maketheirday.com) and I whole-heartedly agree with #1. The personal connection with managers is a fantastic way to make employees feel valued.

#2 on the other hand, doesn’t match my research. Employees don’t much care that HR cares. HR would be more effective to send the card and a note to the manager and have him/her fill it out with personalized comments. This is more in keeping with #1.

#3 is very low cost and is a nice gesture, but I promise you employees would much rather HR focus on getting managers and supervisors involved in their recognition!

All the best,
Cindy Ventrice