Getting your employees to work and work well shouldn’t be a very difficult task if you’ve hired the right employees. However, it’s been shown that recognition in the workplace (even a simple pat on the back or ‘good job’) can be more powerful when employees are deciding to stay or leave than even a pay raise. People love to be validated, and they also love to be rewarded. But if you have a reward system in place to boost productivity that does nothing more than name them Employee of the Month, you may want to rethink your structure and give your employees something they’d actually value.
- Have a Party! – Give your office an objective and let them know that as soon as it’s reached they’ll get a party. This may sound like a very elementary way to reward employees, but time off to socialize and relax is exactly what any employee needs after hitting a big target. Splurge and order foo, give your employees the afternoon to just enjoy themselves. Maybe go for something healthy like a regular office fruit basket delivery – I recommend ordering from ‘Fruitful Office’ as our office has had good experience with them – they are London based but deliver UK wide.) They’ll appreciate it when they get back to work feeling refreshed and ready to tackle their next milestone.
- Recognize their ACTUAL Efforts – In a memo or weekly email, give a shout out to an employee who has been on the ball lately or done something remarkable. Don’t just list their name among others who have done a good job; spell out for others exactly what they did to impress you so much and make sure they know how much of a help it was to you. Your employees will remember that you recognized their good work later on when it comes time to possibly choose another company. It’s also been widely documented that this sort of direct identification and approval of good work significantly improves performance.
- Give Them Something They Want – If one of your employees has spent a lot of hours at the office, make sure you recognize their efforts. Send them a gift card in a letter for them and their spouse for a nice dinner on the town. Their spouse will appreciate your recognition as well when the two are out enjoying a bottle of wine and freshly cooked meal. If you don’t have the money, don’t patronize them with something they won’t enjoy. A coupon for a buy one get one free smoothie is likely to come off as more of an insult than a gift, so beware when choosing their prizes.
Recognition can go a long way when trying to reward your employees and it can also go a long way to make them stay at your business or company. Though things like pay and benefits are obviously important, no one wants to work for someone who doesn’t appreciate the work they do. All of the money in the world can’t keep someone working for an ungrateful boss (okay, maybe I wouldn’t turn down a job for a million dollars). By giving someone the recognition they need, you’ll create a happy healthy workplace.