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Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Comments Regarding my First Poll

Over 50% of the visitors to the poll chose "a brief ceremony in front of the employee's work team that includes recognizing the employee with a certificate/plaque" as the best way to recognize an employee for a job well done. This type of ceremony is not for everyone-some folks would be embarrassed by it. However, many employees would really like it.

During my career, I have found that employees want (3) things:

1) To be paid fairly
2) To receive recognition/appreciation from their boss and their peers
3) To receive consistent and honest information/communication, which includes the "good, the
bad, and the ugly" about their company

One of my many goals with this blog is for us to share ideas about how to recognize and appreciate our most valuable asset, our employees.

During your career, in what ways have you personally been recognized by your employer that meant a lot to you?

Please click on the "comments" link below this post to submit your response.

Thanks for visiting!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I totally agree!

Have you read Leverings work on Motivation? He's one of the original "great place to work guys". He says people are motivated by 4 factors.
The first is the job itself, doing meaningful work.
The second is the work team, the sense of belonging and contributing.
The third is economic rewards, that people don't feel should be huge but definitely feel should be fair.
And the fourth is Committment by Management, that the company as displayed by the management cares about them as individuals and contributes to their ability to make a contribution to the company.

Anonymous said...

An old boss of mine would take the employee reports we wrote to keep him informed and write ATTA GIRL (or BOY) in the margin. He would then make it part of the personnel file and use it in reveiw sessions so that he did not forget the good work we did all year. It was a nice gesture and very inspiring.

Anonymous said...

My last employer developed a short quantitative survey questionaire we would send by e-mail to all of our associates in our satellite offices we supported. The ratings/rankings and personal comments were pasted verbatum into our yearly performance evaluations. This way it is not just your immediate supervisor's impression of your work performance but comments from others that only work with you over the phone or e-mail.

Anonymous said...

As a manager of people for several companies here are some things that worked for me:
-institute a quarterly potluck lunch. You are able to share a nice meal and get to know your employees.
-post pictures of your staff at work on the departmental bulletin board with interesting tidbits that they are willing to share.
-invited to luncheons with top executives of the company.
-awarded stock options and bonuses based on performance of the business unit and your specific department.
-just being included and introduced in an executive meeting and asked for your opinion on making a major change.

Anonymous said...

Public appreciation is a great motivator. Other employees are able to see how one is going above and beyond or maybe even just doing what he/she is being asked to do by supervisors and as a result a little competition can be started. Peers may be craving the same attention and hence they could step up their performance. (Always better for a Supervisor)

On the flip side, a more personal response of appreciation could be just as beneficial to an individual employee. One might not like the attention of all those around, but instead a little boost in confidence in the act of a boss just saying "Thank You" or "excellent job" could go just as far for that one individual as an increase in compensation.

Anonymous said...

I have been very impressed with my current place of employment and the attitude of appreciation.
Our boss makes time to take us out for staff lunches each time a staff member celebrates a birthday.
We also have a yearly recognition ceremony where awards and certificates are given in appreciation of accomplishments. A very rewarding feeling!

Anonymous said...

It's difficult, but it's always nice to make the reward "fit the crime". By that I mean, individualize the award and/or recognition to make it fit the individual employee. Some people are embarrassed to be recognized in front of their peers, while others eat it up. Some people would love a gift card to Wal-Mart, while others are thrilled with a gift card to a fancy restaurant. One size does not fit all, but this approach forces the supervisor to really know the people that work for him/her.

In your opinion, which of the following is the most effective way to recognize an employee for a significant accomplishment at work?