Celebrate Employees

                      Celebrate Employees Year Round

As companies get ready to celebrate National Employee Appreciation Day on Friday, March 3, 2017, below are 10 tips that every company, regardless of size, can use to establish a reward and recognition program that creates loyal employees that produce results every leader is looking for.

Employee Appreciation Day dates to 1995 when Bob Nelson, founding board member of Recognition Professional International, created the holiday for his company. While companies know recognition is the right thing to do, embracing celebrations or rewards once a year typically doesn’t make employees feel as appreciated as consistently recognizing them year-round.

Leaders shouldn’t wait for Employee Appreciation Day to let employees know they are appreciated. Lessons learned during my 15-year leadership career at Southwest Airlines as chronicled in my latest book, How to Create a Happy Workplace demonstrate how companies that put their employees first enjoy greater profits.  Here are ten examples practiced on a regular basis by the award winning companies in my book. 

1. Cook Breakfast: Surprise your employees by arriving early to cook and serve breakfast, a practice used at organizations like Houston’s Methodist Hospital.
2. Dress up Contest: Pick an event, besides Halloween, for a dress up contest. I live in Houston, Texas where Go Texan Day presents a perfect opportunity for award winning companies like Briggs & Veselka to celebrate.
3. Cookoff Contest: Set up a cookoff contest - chili, BBQ, fried foods, etc. - in your parking lot and give awards to winning teams.
4. Informal Lunch: Set up lunch in the break room from time to time like another award winning company, Christian Brothers Automotive. If you have vendors who want to get in on the fun, invite them to participate by sponsoring the lunch.
5. Goodie Bags: Leave goodie bags on employee desks with a note of appreciation
6. $100 of Thanks: Give every department head 100 single dollar bills to be handed out to employees the manager wants to recognize. Take this a step further and encourage employees to “pay it forward” to another employee he or she would like to recognize.
7. Testimonial Recognition: Use your customer newsletter, web site, and social media avenues to publish the names of employees who receive strong customer testimonials or customer satisfaction marks like Hotze Health and Wellness does with their “In Their Words” publication.8
8. Team Building Event: Give employees a half day off and conduct a fun team event or simply thank employees by letting them spend the time with their families; a common practice at David Weekley Homes.
9. Share your time and build relationships: Just a few minutes of the CEO’s time walking around and talking to employees is a powerful message to employees that they are appreciated. Personally thanking employees for the work they do goes a very long way. Ask employees at Accent Wire & Tie…they love their jobs.
10. Place an ad in a local paper: Surprise your employees on Employee Appreciation Day by taking out an ad in your local paper. 

What I have learned over the years is that companies who routinely recognize employees such as the outstanding companies highlighted in this article find themselves in the “Top Employers to Work For” lists and as a result will have a better bottom line.  More great   examples of how to recognize employees can be found in my new book, How to Create a Happy Workplace- What Award Winning Companies Know. 

As Stacey Gillman, CEO of Gillman Automotive says, “We  believe  satisfied  employees  are  definitely our biggest asset because they create satisfied customers.”

 

For more thoughts on how to build a Happy Workplace, go to www.lorrainegrubbs.com