© VIPDesign | Dollar Photo Club

In organizations, people place too much emphasis on money as the only form of employee recognition.

While salary, bonuses, and benefits are critical within your employee recognition and reward system — after all, most of us do work for money — think more broadly about your opportunities to provide employee recognition. Consider the fact that low-wage employees often quit because they feel unappreciated and unwanted. Recognition in any field gives people feelings of self-worth that they could never get from just making a dollar.

Walt Disney’s service strategy was:

“… I want Disney to be one of the most admired companies in the world, and we cannot do it without our employees. I want us to be admired by consumers, investors and the general public, but I also want us to be admired by the people who know us best — our employees. I want people to be proud to work here, to feel good about what we do and how we do it. All of these things are critically important to our ability to achieve our goals as a company and to attract and retain the best talent.”

The role of mentor and coach is powerful in developing your organization’s culture. It is also a significant source of on-the-job training. You are challenged by your staff to pay attention to them, recognize them, and provide exciting work and a diverse range of continuous learning.

Never underestimate the value of sharing your time and building a relationship with staff. They appreciate your genuine interest in their ideas and thoughts about their jobs. They like bouncing ideas back and forth with you and look for your sincere input on their projects and goals.

Walt Disney not only let employees know that their input was valuable and appreciated; he took time on projects to have what he called “hallway meetings” with all the people involved in each production. The words he used at the end of each hallway meeting was “Keep up the good work.”

Recognition Tips

• Use positive words to create a polite workplace in which staff feels recognized and rewarded. Say thank you. Show your appreciation for their hard work and contributions. And, don’t forget to say please often as well. Social niceties and compliments definitely belong at work.
• Deliver your “thank you’s” personally as often as possible. It is a good idea to spend some time with employees, too. The mere presence of the boss is a form of recognition. Praise puts employees in a frame of mind to want to do well. Your timely recognition of the employee will enhance the positive feelings.
• One of the best forms of recognition is to provide opportunities for a contributing employee. Opportunities can take many forms. But, all of them are outside of the normal day-to-day requirements of their job. Employees appreciate chances for training and cross-training. They want to participate on a special committee where their talents are noticed.
• They are happy to attend professional association meetings and proud to represent your organization at events. They appreciate your trust in them to make business connections and speak on behalf of the company and fellow employees.
• Employees want to know that they have done a good job. Employees want to be thanked and appreciated. A leader of employees makes other people feel important and appreciated, so frequent recognition sends a powerful message. In addition to words of appreciation, actions speak to employees about their value. Keep your commitments to employees. Ask yourself often; is this how I would treat someone who is important to me? Your answer to this question speaks loudly about how your employees view you.
• Recognize employees verbally, and write out the recognition too. No matter what kind of recognition you give to an employee, it’s easy, as time passes, to forget the words, eat the treat, spend the money, and make the bonus part of their weekly spending plan.

Use these tips to improve the quantity and the quality of the recognition that you provide for employees. You will notice a change in the morale and culture of your workplace that will more positively support your ability to achieve business goals.

Do what Walt did — make all your employees happy and — reap the rewards.

MANA welcomes your comments on this article. Write to us at [email protected].