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Top 10 Idea Provokers for Employee Appreciation Week and Every day after...

 

Originally written by *Roy Saunderson

Do what you can to celebrate your employees during this special week, but don’t just make recognition a once-a-year affair. Examine your daily recognition practices and make Employee Appreciation the beginning of a new company attitude!

Here are 10 idea provokers to show your appreciation to all employees.

1. Seek out significant acts. Find specific admirable actions your employees do. Become an “appreciation detective” and uncover the valuable contributions your employees are making each and every day by getting out and meeting with them.

2. Listen compassionately. As a manager, make it a point to stroll your department and speak with employees about their families, hobbies, and weekend activities. Show genuine interest and give full attention to them when they’re speaking in order to demonstrate that you value and care about them.


3. Speak courteously and with respect. Employees deserve, like everyone else, to hear “Please” and “Thank You.” Expressing your appreciation for their contributions will create a more gracious and polite work environment.

4. Offer development opportunities. Remind employees that they can grow, and bring to their attention external and internal learning courses and cross-training opportunities. Employees want challenging and rewarding work, and career development allows them to contribute to the company’s success.

5. Be responsive.
 When your staff calls or sends you an e-mail.  Respond—get back to them.  Let them know you received their message and respond even if the response is “I don’t have time right now” or “the answer is no.  Do something so they know you received their message.

6. Capture special accomplishment stories. Support employee appreciation by encouraging managers to report employee accomplishments during regularly scheduled meetings. Ensure that the sharing of exemplary employee actions is on every meeting agenda.

7. Spread the wealth. Invite others who are not an employee’s direct supervisor or manager to express appreciation or say thanks for a praiseworthy action seen or heard about. Second-hand compliments always have a powerful and positive impact.

8. Feeling visible is essential to feeling valued. When an employee has gone above and beyond, make time to thank him in a personal and unique way. Mail a handwritten note to his home instead of just sending a quick e-mail. Perhaps give a small, meaningful, tangible token of appreciation.

9. Give frequent positive feedback. Plan informal meetings for one-on-one feedback regarding employee performance that also highlights accomplishments. You will build solid trust and positive relationships that improve both employee and your own performance.

10. Reach out across the company. Remind folks that recognition is everyone’s responsibility and that everyone deserves to be recognized. Creating a strong culture of recognition will increase employee satisfaction, as well as productivity.

*Incentive columnist Roy Saunderson is author of Giving the Real Recognition Way and president of the Recognition Management Institute, www.realrecognition.com, which consults companies on improving employee motivation that leads to increased productivity and profits. He can be reached at roysaunderson@realrecognition.com.


Published 4-23-2010