Is your traditional employee recognition award program getting a little tiresome or predictable? There are many common types of employee recognition programs including: service awards, safety awards and holiday gifts…but what if you are looking for a new way to recognize employees in addition to your traditional program? I have five stylish and cool recognition ideas to share with you and help get employees energized and excited about working for your company.
Birthday Gifts
Birthdays are a great occasion to make it a point to visit an employee, say, “Happy Birthday!” and present him or her with a birthday gift or a birthday recognition package. In our office, birthdays are kind of a big thing. Most are celebrated and known by everyone and when it is your birthday, everyone makes it a point to stop by your work area and chat for a short while. Birthdays give people a chance to give recognition and catch up with co-workers.
Trust me on one thing though, if you know that an employee of yours doesn’t appreciate celebrating his or her birthday, you might want to consider giving the person an employee appreciation award in place of a birthday gift.
Employee Appreciation Events
Employee appreciation events can be held on national holidays or you might opt to select a random day each year in which all employees receive rewards and recognition. Administrative Professionals’ Day (Wednesday of the last full week in April) and Bosses’ Day (Oct 16) are two national holidays that are commonly celebrated by clients of mine while other clients hold annual employee appreciation events at the end of the year.
Your recognition event can have a revolving theme that changes every year, and you can present employees with recognition packets designed with the current theme. Another idea for an employee recognition event is to pick out pre-selected items and put them on tables for employees to select from. If you have a smaller group of employees and know the types of recognition awards they would find appealing, you might want to go this route.
Customer Service or Caught You Programs
This type of special recognition is given on the spot when a manager observes an employee who is demonstrating company values and/or delivering excellent customer service. For these occasions, you can pre-order award cards featuring a colorful and stylish design to hand out. The cards direct employees to a website where they can order a customer service award and can also be kept as a trophy for their accomplishment.
Holiday Contests
Do your employees dress up in costumes and come in to work on holidays such as Halloween, Mardi Gras or Saint Patrick’s Day? Award your employees who are voted with the most holiday spirit and the best dressed for these occasions. Holiday contests bring a lot of fun and excitement to the workplace and it is really amazing to see what people can come up with for their costumes too.
Volunteer Day Awards
Does your company host a charity event or encourage employees to volunteer in local communities? Volunteer recognition days allow you to recognize and reward employees who volunteer and encourage employees to volunteer at least one day out of the year. Employees who volunteer can also have their pictures posted on your employee recognition website and company newsletter along with the organization they volunteered for to encourage other people to participate in the next volunteer day.
Traditional employee recognition programs have their place in organizations, but trying out a new recognition idea such as one of the ones I have mentioned can take recognizing employees to a whole new level. If there is no such thing as a one size fits all recognition award, then there should be no such thing as a one size fits all recognition program for your organization.