Human Resources

How do you create a positive work environment for your employees? Do you offer free coffee? Are Fridays “casual” dress days? Or do you send an encouraging voicemail after a bad day?

These are smaller, daily forms of employee recognition — the type of thing that is easy for employers to forget. However, daily or weekly encouraging gestures keep employees happy. Their increased morale is then passed on to the customers they serve. And happy employees tend to be less likely to leave the company.

Many managers have figured out the key to boosting employee morale is to offer their employees “perks” or to simply congratulate them for a job well done.
The most powerful motivator for employees is personalized instant recognition from managers, according to a recent study of more than 1,500 employees conducted by Dr. Gerald Graham, a professor of management at Wichita State University, Kan.

Employee appreciation comes in many forms, however, and Graham’s study determined that the top five motivating strategies used by managers that evoked the greatest response from employees are as follows:

• Personally congratulating employees for a job well done
  
  
• Personal notes about good performance
  
  
• Using performance as a basis for future promotions
  
  
• Public recognition
  
  
• Morale-building meetings celebrating successes
  

Informal daily perks are not only effective, but cost nothing. For example, a sincere word of thanks, or allowing an employee to leave an hour early on a holiday weekend can mean a lot more to employees and increase their morale more than financial compensation can.

“Part of the power of such rewards comes from the knowledge that someone took the time to notice the achievement…and personally deliver the praise,” says author Bob Nelson in his book, “1001 Ways to Reward Employees.”

Nelson, founder of Nelson Motivation Inc. and vice president of Blanchard Training and Development Inc., a San Diego-based consulting company, explains that keeping employees happy is very simple and cost-effective. Employees will not only try to work harder and give customers better service, happy employees tend to stay in their current jobs longer and in the long run this costs the company less.

In the book, Nelson suggests ways to keep employees content in their employment situation. “Call an employee into your office just to thank him or her; don’t discuss any other issue,” he says. This shows the employee that as a manager you are focusing your efforts on the employee’s well-being. Bringing up other issues will take away from the employee’s recognition.

Managers who are flexible and allow for occasional company gatherings, such as a cookout, will make employees feel as though they are important assets to the company. Another suggestion Nelson makes for managers is to post a thank-you note on the employee’s office door or desk. Again, employees recognize these efforts and appreciate that they are valued.

Although rewarding employees takes little effort on the manager’s part, only 25 percent of the respondents to the survey mentioned earlier believe that their managers showed daily employee appreciation, whether it be a note, an in-person thank you or an ice cream social, according to Graham’s study.

It doesn’t cost a lot — sometimes it costs nothing to offer employees spontaneous acts of gratitude and appreciation. In fact, it costs a lot less than replacing an employee who leaves because they are unhappy and dissatisfied.