Employee recognition

One of the best ways to create a positive working environment is to recognize your employees hard work. Employee recognition rewards your employees for a job well-done and creates a positive working environment for everyone at the company. When employees are thanked for their hard work, they are less-likely to start looking for a new job. When you recognize an employee, you are showing them and the other employees the standard of work you deem acceptable. This will cause other employees to work harder so they too can receive this recognition. The employee recognition process needs to be equal for everyone. You should not discriminate against certain employees for whatever reason. The reward you offer the employee needs to have some sort of value to everyone at the company so they will be motivated to receive it. It is important to have multiple rewards, in case you have multiple employees that accomplish the standard you set for employee recognition.

It is easy to recognize employees when they do a big job, like a large sale, bring on a new client, or get you a cheaper rate on your rental car. What about the daily activities your employees participate in. For example, let's say you are a retail company and you have 7 employees. Take notice at the employees that walk up to customers and start helping them without being told to do so. These employees are the ones that are performing their job well and they deserve some sort of recognition. Even giving them a candy bar will let them know you are watching them at work and you like what they are doing.

A lot of companies do employee recognition through "employee of the month" awards. While this method is effective at singling out certain employees, it doesn't always work. Some employees may feel like you are biased towards high-performing employees and you fail to notice the hard work they are doing. Other employees may feel like they were only recognized because it was "their turn" to receive an award. It is also hard to determine which employees are over-performing with a small business because everyone has to work a lot harder. Most small businesses require their employees to work 2-3 different job functions, so it can be hard to pick just one person as your "employee of the month".

Employee recognition should be random, this way everyone will know it could be them or the person next to them that will receive the reward. This also provides a fun element of surprise amongst the staff members and it encourages friendly competition to work a little harder. Try not to over-recognize things because they will start to become a "given" and employees won't care about them as much.

Another fun way to recognize your employees for their hard work is to have office parties during work hours. If you have to work on holidays like Halloween, have a dress-up party and award the staff member with the scariest costume. You can even recognize all of the employees that dress up by giving them a candy-bar or something small.
Several employers have begun weight-loss challenges in the office to promote employee health. When an employee loses the most weight or their team loses the most, they will be given a cash reward or another reward that has high value, like time-off.

Just remember that employee recognition is a win-win situation. You are encouraging your staff members to perform up to a certain level and in return you will give your employees something with a large amount of value. This will boost employee morale and lead to an increase in productivity.