Employee Recognition Training - How to Create a Happy, Loyal Workforce

Employee recognition training is becoming more and more popular these days. Business owners are realizing that employee recognition programs are often the unsung heroes of companies. And though one could come up with many different ideas for rewards, the problem usually lies in how to distribute them.

Should you reward only stellar efforts? How stellar do they have to be to deserve rewards? How often should you reward and how large?

Before we get to those questions, let’s look at one of the key failures of employee recognition programs.

Most companies don’t keep daily statistics of every employee’s actual production–the actual valuable things that person produces and for which he is paid and given awards.

For example, a man that works in a factory producing widgets would have a statistic of widgets produced. If he produces less widgets this week than last, the company suffers to that degree.

But what about a customer service representative? What valuable thing does he produce for which the company will pay him? Satisfied customers and recovered customers are what come to mind for me. You could start with those two statistics and at the end of the week see a snapshot of how he did. How many customers were satisfied with his service? How many did he recover?

All employee recognition programs must be based on verified production and nothing else. They must not be based on personality, on reports of production that can’t be verified or anything else other than tangible production.

If this rule is violated, rewards will not promote production but will instead promote office politics in order to win affection from seniors.

Now, the manner in which you reward production has many possibilities. Sure, everyone appreciates money and gifts, but one reward often overlooked is simply acknowledging someone’s hard work and giving them a pat on the back. That can have a bigger effect than you might think. Always be looking for people who are giving it their best and show them that you appreciate it.

You can even write a letter of recognition to the employee acknowledging his efforts. These letters not only make the employee feel appreciate, but they are good for his resume (something else he will appreciate).

When you are going to give money or gifts, the easiest method to determine payouts would be to quota a high amount of statiscized production and simply set an award for it. Some companies even give employees a 5-10% increase in weekly pay for keeping their statistics in a high range.

Group recognition activities work wonders too. Create weekly awards for sales and customer service and announce the winners in front of the entire area (or company). You can find quite a few sample letters on the Internet.

So, I hope this has helped you with some employee recognition ideas. If you would like to learn more about how employee training impacts retention, productivity and morale, enter your name and e-mail address below to receive our free eBook, Employee Training: The Secret to Success.