Recognized behavior gets repeated. Unrecognized behavior goes away. It is that simple. It works the same for school, sports or business. Whether driving change initiatives or establishing standards of performance, leaders in the habit of regularly recognizing their employees have more engaged employees who desire to make a difference!
As we all know, a company is only as good as the people who represent it. That makes employees, along with customers, two of our most valuable assets. As a manager, how are you at recognizing positive behavior? According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, once employees feel a sense of belonging their needs turn to Esteem and the need to feel important. To most employees, the “psychological paycheck” is of equal importance as the economic paycheck. One of your objectives as a manager is to catch people doing things right, recognize them for the desired behavior and watch that behavior get repeated. Recognition doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg.
Here are 15 ways to deliver no-cost psychological paychecks:
The use of your office for day
Send a handwritten thank you note to their home
Let them choose a day to work from home
Name the conference room after them for a week
The use of a reserved parking spot
A public thank you and a photo op at the next staff meeting
Put their recognition in the company newsletter
Provide a formal letter of appreciation for their personnel file
Create a “day pass” that they can use for a day off, no questions asked
Give them a week of flexible hours
Ask each employee to write something about them on a 3x5 card and given them a box of collected sayings
Double Time:double the time of their breaks and lunch for a week
Allow them to dress casual on non-casual days
Give them play time:let them leave work for 2-3 hours to do something they like to do
Provide them with some one-on-one mentoring
In addition to the above, here are a few low-cost ways to recognize employees:
Provide two movie tickets
Purchase and deliver to them coffee or their favorite drink for a week
Take them and their significant other to lunch
Pay for them to attend a seminar or a fun class of their choosing.
Pay for them to have a family portrait taken
Have a mobile carwash come and clean their vehicle
Pick a door:put a gift in three offices and allow the employee to choose which door to open
Have their home cleaned professionally
Shari’s Berries:who doesn’t like chocolate covered strawberries?
Provide company branded apparel with their name on it
At Butler Street, we understand the importance of employee engagement in ensuring our clients deliver their best at every single touch point. Engaged employees deliver better service than disengaged employees. Recognizing employees for their efforts leads to higher levels of engagement. Not sure how your company stacks up in employee engagement? We can help. Click on CONTACT and let’s start the conversation.