Most employees in businesses everywhere are starving for recognition and the business owners don’t even know it. Recognizing the efforts your staff puts forth and recognizing that your staff is doing a good job may not seem important to you, but it is one of the biggest reasons that you see more results and better ROI, meaning it should be something you start implementing immediately.

 

The Why

 

Every human being desires appreciation for the things they do. Just think about your wife or children. After a hard day, you come home and compliment your spouse on doing the dishes, so they are more apt to spend time rubbing your back or making your favorite meal. The same goes for employees because they want to feel appreciated and worthwhile.

 

An employee should feel as if they have accomplished something on a regular basis. If they do not, they may start to feel burnt out and lose the desire to work at their full potential. Sometimes, employees will leave a company for seemingly no reason, and that reason could just be that they didn’t think they mattered. Therefore, it’s important that you, the owner, and everyone on the corporate ladder acknowledge any progress made, whether or not targets are hit or surpassed.

 

Employees can easily feel demotivated if they don’t reach specific goals. However, giving recognition for what they did do will cause them to want to do more later. Because you recognize the work they put in, they will naturally want to do more next time to be recognized again and again for their efforts, hard work and results. Recognition plays an important role in ensuring your employees feel valued. An employee that is valued is more likely to produce when compared to an employee that does not feel valued.

 

 

How To Do It

 

The first step is to decide what kind of recognition is best for your situation. You can talk to the employees and find out what options they like and what they don’t, giving you valuable advice as to what will work best and produce the most stellar results. Write down a list of your results and come up with a few recognition options to implement for your employees.

 

Now, you have to focus on implementation and getting it going. Here are some tips to help you create your own employee recognition program.

 

• The first is to establish a budget. The recommended amount of money to spend is at least 0.5 percent of your entire payroll, but many companies strive for three percent of payroll. Then, you should determine whether you want a centralized or department-specific distribution of recognition.

 

• Next, you’ll need to determine how to measure success. To do so, you may choose satisfaction surveys from guests and employees, participation and turnover rates. You may also decide to use goal-specific measurements.

 

• Once you receive the results, it is your job to show recognition in the form of conversation, awards, rewards and career development opportunities.

 

You will want to update everyone on the basics of the new plan, including managers. Once ready, test the program and get as much positive and negative feedback as possible.

 

Related Articles

 

• Mentoring & Motivating Managers: 3 Strategies To Improve Engagement & Performance
• Secrets of a Happy Sales Team
• 6 Steps To Becoming an Effective Sales Leader

 

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Successful Organizations Start with Positive Attitudes

 

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My Leadership Keynote Address That Addresses Recognition:

A Sneak Peak Into My Motivational Leadership Keynote Speaker Program

 

Sincerely, Doug Dvorak

Motivational Speaker & Sales Coach