While watching the CBS Morning Show a couple of weeks ago, I was listening to the Republican candidates discuss their New Year’s resolutions. When the interviewer asked Mitt Romney what his resolution was, he had a very simple response. "This coming year,” Romney stated, “I will endeavor to say thank you more often. Appreciation is an underappreciated quality and too often I think I get a lot of help from folks and I nod my head or move on without stopping and staying thank you, so I want to be more appreciative."
I think that most employees would have to agree with the former Massachusetts governor when he claims that appreciation and thankfulness are not given enough, especially in the workplace. Too often managers find themselves asking a lot from employees, who often go above and beyond job descriptions, without any recognition or appreciation being given in return.
Going Back to Basics
I feel the best way to start accomplishing this resolution is to mind your p’s and q’s. Being polite can go a long way and doesn’t cost a dime out of your employee recognition program budget.
Giving Small Thanks
Sometimes your employees may do something that really does call for formal appreciation. Giving employee appreciation can be accomplished in an email or a written recognition letter. Depending on what your employee did and the impact it may have, you might want to consider awarding the employee with a recognition gift.
I have a couple of recognition programs in which administrators can log into the recognition website and fill out a short form of what thank you card to send and how many points or dollars to assign the person. Once the form is filled out, the email is immediately sent to the employee with any personalized comments the administrator wanted to include in the recognition email. The employee is not only recognized in the email but also receives a small recognition award to select.
Giving a Big Thank you
Although an eCard or letter and an employee recognition award may be appropriate for certain occasions, every once in a while you may need to give employees something that measures up to the impact an employee has had. I have helped organizations to recognize employees who came up with innovative ideas resulting in cost savings of tens of thousands of dollars. I have worked with clients who have drivers on their workforce with over 30 years of safe driving records and millions of miles driven without any recordable safety incidents. Under these circumstances, a small recognition award does not work and you will need to dip into your employee recognition budget.
When giving thanks and appreciation to employees who reach major milestones, one creative recognition award idea is to present the employee with a printed recognition package. The recognition package contains a letter, certificate suitable for framing, award catalog pages and an order form that can be faxed, mailed or redeemed online. When giving a big thank you, be sure to award employees with a recognition gift valued at an appropriate price.
Whether you are beginning with adding please and thank you to your sentences or working on giving more formal employee recognition, one thing can be certain: your employees will surely appreciate it.