It was Dr Bob Nelson who worked with the majority of fortune 500 companies (almost 80% of them) to study the effect of awards and recognition of employees.
HE was the one who founded Employee Appreciation Day, celebrated on the first Friday of March each year. In a way, Dr Bob Nelson is a worldwide advocate of employee recognition. This year Employee Appreciation Day was celebrated on 5 Mar 2021.
Dr Bob Nelson sowed the seed of an idea and made this real crucial for business houses to ignore the vitality of the same. He is the author of the widely acclaimed books - 1001 ( now 1501) ways to reward employees,1001 ways to energize employees,1001 ways to engage employees, and many more.
The five languages of appreciation are - Words of appreciation, Quality time, Acts of Service, Tangible Gifts, and Physical Touch.
The employees want to hear the words of affirmation the most. The verbal compliments could be given orally, in writing, privately in a one-to-one conversation, in the presence of team members or large groups.
There are very few employees who consider tangible gifts as the preferred way of appreciation. A large chunk of employees consider tangible gifts as least prized & less motivating.
Now, how many people feel valued or appreciated at their job, the answer is less than a third. But for obvious, the employees who feel like they are a vital part of the company and there is engagement established are likely to stay at their jobs longer.
The majority of the companies have an employee recognition program established, be it cash bonuses or awards or wellness programs, not all of them are effective. The companies do set up a mechanism to achieve continual improvement in setting up the program and getting the desired results.
Giving something to an employee who has done well creates a bond between the employee and the company.
For instance, Savji Dholakia, a Surat (in India) based Diamond merchant gifted 400 flats & 1260 cars a Diwali Bonuses to his employees in 2016. As many as 1761 employees were named as the company's best performers who were the beneficiaries.
In 2018, he gifted Mercedes-Benz GLS 350d SUV worth Rs 1 Crore each to three of his employees for completing 25 years of service in the company.
" I felt we must recognize their work and loyalty to the company and so I decided to gift them these cars as our gratitude to them, their loyalty & hard work," Savji Dholakia said in one of the interviews to ToI.
Well gifting such expensive gifts to the employees to recognize their contribution in taking the company forward is a part of 'employee appreciation.'
A few companies have changed their view towards employee recognition. They are finding out new ways to keep employees engaged. All companies, big or small are offering employee recognition programs.
Let's see how big companies name are doing it in their own way -
Apple
How about " Beer Bashes"? Apple celebrates employee recognition with " beer bashes" in their campus where they serve free beer and appetizers for their employees along with musical performances. Additionally, to reward their employees, they have discounted products for employees, health insurance, tuition reimbursement, and parental leave.
Google has created a closely knit recognition program- "gThanks" where employees recognize their co-workers for the milestones achieved. Employees can also nominate each other with the peer bonuses program. An idea like " Wall of Happy" where workers can place thank you notes and emails recognizing hard work and achievements to display and motivate others. There are spot bonuses to personalized awards. Sure enough that the tech giant, Google, wants its employees to feel valued and recognized.
Nike
The sports retail giant, Nike, recognizes and appreciates its employees by supporting competitive total compensation, wellness of their families, paid sabbaticals, product discounts, and tuition assistance. Besides this, programs like NikeU helps with leadership development.
"Golden Banana" Award at Hewlett-Packard
This one is interesting! This infamous HP award was created when an engineer barged into the office of his boss to announce his "eureka" moment. The manager was ecstatic and was in the middle of the lunch. He couldn't find anything but a banana on his desk to present it to an employee as a reward, telling him "Job well done!" The employee then proudly displayed the banana to his co-workers. And the " Golden Banana" award was created.
Walt Disney World's " Spirit of FRED " Award
In Walt Disney World's the "Spirit of FRED" award is given to friendly, resourceful, enthusiastic, and dependable employees. The award was instituted unofficially by Fred himself who was a Walt Disney World employee, who went from an hourly to a salaried position.
Amazon
Jeff Bezos, CEO has chalked out a long-term strategy for keeping talent. "Amazonians," as employees are called, receive long-term stock options as a reward. After one year at the company, amazon will pay 95% of the tuition for courses that teach in-demand skills, even if they are not relevant to Amazon. Surprising !! Who does that?
8 Other ways to appreciate employees & win their hearts
The following ways could be applied to make the employee feel recognized-
Invite them to dinner with HoD/CEO
Employees would never forget the time spent with the seniors and personalized discussions they may get into during dinner time. They should get the best of the hospitality- a warm reception, elaborately laid dinner. Since you would have touched their emotional chord by now, the employee is all yours!
Allow Family members to visit the workplace followed by lunch-
Most of the family members would not be able to see where the head of a family works, how he works, how big is his cabin, or the workshop? This could be due to security reasons or company policy. Allowing the family members would elevate the image of the earning member and would surely feel indebted.
Give rewards to employee's kids on their achievements -
Oh, that's our employee's daughter who has won the national-level shooting championship! Call upon the employee and congratulate him and pass on a gift for his daughter with a personalized message - " Keep up the GOOD work like your FATHER. " You are surely killing two birds with a single stone.
Gift an Insurance policy -
In this busy world, where is the time to safeguard our future from risks? The office keeps us busy all the time. We can take lead in securing the future of the Kid(s) of our valuable employee by gifting him a health policy or insurance policy where the premium for the first year or two will be borne by the company.
Gift some tourist destination package to unwind -
This is practiced already by many. This does not cost the company much because the company by its stature would get such a deal handy. These deals are only to be passed on further to win more employee engagements. This method can cover many employees in one go.
Access to premier office facilities-
The office campus normally has restricted areas which are given access to only senior executives. Permitting the employees to such restricted areas as Gym, Premium Cafe, Lounge could work well.
Employee Birthday & Anniversary-
This does not cost much but has a great impact. Even some restaurants do this to win customer loyalty. If informed about the birthday, the restaurant staff offers a reasonably sized cake for free and sings the birthday song loudly. The next moment you would notice the whole restaurant singing. It's definitely a blush moment for the birthday candidate. In an office environment, this works well.
Name some corner/room/garden in employees name -
High performers could be encouraged to do more by assigning a corner, meeting hall, a wing, garden etc on their name. The company does not lose anything by doing so. It's like making moveable assets out of the immovable ones.
I hope you liked this article. I believe in winning people for a lifetime. Once you see the tears rolling out of an employee being awarded, the job is considered to be done.
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