Many managers do not recognize employees outside of company programs and their paycheck – not because they do not want to but because they do not know how or do not realize the value in doing so. This is a summary of some of the most impactful approaches which cost little outside of the managers’ time.
Personal Recognition
Employee recognition is probably the easiest morale booster available to managers and the most overlooked or underused. Too often managers miss the opportunity to recognize their employees for the work that they do and the contributions they make to the company. Unintentionally, managers assume that the paycheck received by their employees is recognition enough, which is not usually the case. High performance employees are the key to a successful business and one of the most cost-effective ways of improving performance is recognizing employees’ contributions.
The most important aspect of employee recognition is that it is personal and specific. One of the most common mistakes that managers make is generic recognition or impersonal appreciation. The words “Thank You” mean much more when followed by something explaining what you are thanking them for, such as “Thank you for participating in today’s meeting – your ideas were well articulated and really hit the nail on the head.” This type of recognition motivates employees to repeat the behavior because they understand what behavior caused the appreciation.
The most effective way to thank an employee is with a hand-written note. This costs very little and means the most because it demonstrates that the manager paid attention to the employee’s contributions.
A 2008 survey from WorldatWork finds that variety is key to continued improvement in employee recognition programs, yet the majority of the programs in place today are still administered by the human resources department versus the immediate supervisors and the largest percentages of the recognition programs are corporate level versus department specific. The survey indicates that recognition is still top of mind for most organizations but participation or growth of those programs varies across companies.
Individual Employee Meetings
Meaningful recognition is a personal preference – one size does not fit all. Almost all employees want to be recognized in some way and agree that recognition makes them feel more valued by the company. The easiest way to find out what is important to employees is to ask them. This can be done through surveys or in individual meetings with the supervisor.
Individual meetings are probably the most effective, because they are the most personal. By having individual meetings with employees, the supervisors are able to better understand each individual’s needs and specify recognition to those needs. These meetings can also serve as a way to help set expectations so that employees are not disappointed with the recognition that they receive – for example if an employee wants a pay increase each time they perform above their job expectations, the meeting offers the supervisor the opportunity to discuss how pay increases are determined and when they are awarded versus allowing an employee to fill out a survey and expect that they will receive a pay raise every time they exceed job expectations. Surveys are a good starting point to determine gaps between recognition that is currently being given and the type of recognition that employees value.
Personal Thank You Notes
One of the best sources for employee recognition is the Carrot Culture. Not only is the owner a phenomenal facilitator, the materials and principals are easy to put in place and require little investment other than time. One of the challenges put forth by the Carrot Culture, is to write someone a hand-written note each day to thank them for something.
The process of looking for someone to thank and writing a hand-written appreciation note makes leaders change the way they view your employees and makes you look harder for something that people are doing right than something they need to improve. Unfortunately, the nature of management and holding people accountable often causes leaders to focus on people’s shortcomings versus their accomplishments and managers do not realize that appreciating what they do well will be more effective than focusing only on their faults.
Morale Improves
The entire environment begins to shift when managers begin to personally recognize employees for their contributions in ways that are meaningful to the employees. The atmosphere becomes collaborative, the employees no longer fear being called to the manager’s office, and the employees automatically begin opening up with innovative ideas and suggestions. As the environment shifts positively so does the productivity.
It has been proven over and over again that recognizing employees and treating them with respect will improve the morale which will improve productivity, yet it is one of the most forgotten techniques among managers. Maslow demonstrated it through his studies in the early 1900s, Dale Carnegie teaches it to thousands each week, Sam Walton based his culture on it so why do we still shy away from doing what we are taught as children to do? Thank others for what they do.
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