Do Your Employees Know You Care?

Regardless to what business you are in, everyone likes to feel important—it’s just human nature. A major part of creating a healthy, productive work environment must include ways to encourage and recognize the work of all employees in a consistent and frequent manner.{{more}}

It can be argued that a salary should be enough of a motivator to get people to come to work and do a great job, but a good salary package is only the first step in a good employee recognition program. Because humans yearn for approval, acceptance and the knowledge that what they contribute is valued, it would seem logical to play to that need, while at the same time achieving extraordinary performance for the organization.

Here are 3 inexpensive ways to let your employees know you appreciate what they did:

Offer Positive Feedback. The tendency in many organizations is to constantly criticize and berate employees until they submit to the request of the manager. A more effective strategy would be to praise employees for the things they do right and then examine the areas that they need to improve and together with the employee come up with a plan to turn around the problem areas. Positive feedback opens the doors for an employee’s creative and problem-solving qualities to shine through.

Present Awards Certificates. Don’t wait until the end of the year to recognize a few selected employees at a big ceremony. Begin a quarterly or monthly program that recognizes outstanding performance and offer a nice certificate. Certificate paper is not that expensive and some can even be made on a regular computer. Employees can frame it, hang in their space and include it as part of their performance appraisal.

Peer Recognition. Companies under an antiquated management system wait only for managers to recognize outstanding performance; this should not be. Employees should be given the go-ahead to publicly recognize each other. Managers are not able to see all acts of excellence. Peer recognition helps employees feel like a part of the organization and promotes morale.

Meet Karen Hinds at a Book Signing and Town Hall Meeting.

Let me say a quick thank you to all the readers for your support of this column. Please stop by Gaymes Bookstore on Friday, May 4 at 1:00 p.m. when I will be signing my books, and join me again on Tuesday, May 8 at 5:00 p.m. at the Methodist Hall for a Town Hall Meeting, especially for our young people, on preparing for success in the workplace. All are welcome.

Karen Hinds is “The Workplace Success Expert.” For a FREE SPECIAL REPORT on Avoiding Career Killers in the Workplace, send an email to info@workplacesuccess.com
Visit online at www.workplacesuccess.com