When
asked about Employee of the Month programs, Aubrey Daniels, the noted
behavioral psychologist and one of the most sought after speakers and writers
in the business management arena put it this way:
“Unfortunately
End of the Month recognition programs violate practically every known principle
of effective recognition and positive reinforcement.”
Many
businesses still have these ubiquitous programs because they are relatively
inexpensive to implement. But you need
to be careful with them because they often become a “have to do” rather than a “want
to do” and can actually do some harm.
If
you need and want to reward employees on an infrequent basis, you might want to
consider some of the following to help make them more effective.
1.
Communicate
your program criteria often so employees fully understand how they can qualify
for the award.
2.
Use
objective and measurable criteria whenever possible and avoid a selection
process that is completely subjective
3.
Consider
increasing your budget periodically to allow for more employees being
recognized.
4.
Don’t
exclude employees for future selection once they have earned the honor. They are often your best employees you need to
keep them doing their best by rewarding their performance as often as you can
5.
Make
sure these are done on a timely basis.
6.
Allow
for peer involvement in the selection process.
If
you want to build a strong culture of engagement, you should always be looking
for ways to recognize your employees! Building
a recognition culture that recognizes and rewards as many employees as you can on
an often basis, even using diminimous awards to save budget dollars, will
provide a great deal more engagement and employee satisfaction than only
rewarding one at a time.
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