Has your Recogniton Program become a "Flavor of the Month Program?"

In today’s market managers that I talk to tell me that competition in the marketplace is becoming even more competitive than when the market was strong a few years ago. Attracting and retaining good employees is foremost on the minds of leaders in all types of business. Employees are looking for a paycheck, good benefits, perks, recognition of their accomplishments, job satisfaction, advancement opportunities, and involvement in the overall success of the company. When a company doesn’t meet these needs, the simple result is that employees will look elsewhere.

A complete recognition program including plaques and awards is a leadership tool that can help to retain your best employees. Recognition programs and informal types of recognition make a statement to the employee about what is important to your company and what is valued by its leaders. A Recognition program shows the employee that they are seen as the personification and public extension of the company's culture and philosophy. Recognition also builds self-esteem in an employee, which in the world of sales is a powerful ally. Effective recognition also contributes to job satisfaction and pride in one’s work, which promotes personal empowerment, employee involvement, and creates employee loyalty.

A well-planned program can really benefit your office creating a friendly, eager and slightly competitive work environment. All too often, a program is thrown together to close a gap or meet a need, and the long-term consequences are not taken into consideration. It is essential that the planners utilize due diligence to properly administer a recognition program if they want it to be successful at it. Your recognition strategy should tie into the strategic initiatives of your company. Of course sales is every company's underlying initiative, but how each business achieves their own success is important and the recognition strategy should be firmly wrapped around the “how” part in order to make it mean something to your employeees.

One of my best friends owns an business and he was sharing with me how he brought his office together to actually create the entire recognition program. The employees were involved in the design and implementation of the program. The program was based on performance and fairness which was built into the selection process by allowing a cross-functional, multilevel group of individuals to determine the recipients. Giving your employees a measure of control over the process, selection and distribution will also go a long way to make your office eagerly participate in your goals.

Peer-to-peer recognition is a powerful motivator and highly valued by employees in any work environment and you can use it to help create a climate of teamwork and support. Once your program is in place, you should make some assessments periodically to ensure the program is still meeting the needs of your company and creating the culture that will take you to the next level. You can measure your program’s success through annual inner office opinion surveys, competitive benchmarking and focus groups with your employees. The bottom line is recognition works. It should be a critical component of your business plan.