Using Praise for Employee Performance Improvement

Using Praise for Employee Performance Improvement

It seems we have become a nation of self-rewarders, patting ourselves on the backs for our accomplishments at work, instead of waiting for our bosses, co-workers, or customers to do it. The list of employees who say, “My boss constantly praises me for my efforts,” is often painfully short.

In reality, many business owners, managers, or supervisors are too busy and too distracted to see the value of rewarding their people. The subject of incentive programs always seems to fall to the bottom of their to-do list. This is a shame on many levels, because people will work hard and long for more than just pay. When they are publicly noticed and heralded for what they have done, they’ll do more because they feel good doing it and they know it’s important. And when they get singled out for their energy and enthusiasm, hard work leads to more hard work.

Rewards can come from a multitude of sources: reading a positive customer or vendor letter at an all-hands staff meeting, having the chief executive formally recognize employees at a training meeting, writing an article about the employee for the company newsletter or website, letting the employee shop at a discount in the company store (if applicable), movie passes, dinner certificates, the special close-to-the-front-entrance parking space, and the most popular incentives of all: working only a half-day or getting a discretionary day.

People in the office who say, “Don’t make a big deal about my birthday,” secretly like it when folks make a big deal about their birthday – cake, cards, balloons tied to the chair, confetti on their desks, and hearing that song with their name in it.

Napoleon said, “An army travels on its stomach.” Today, he’d know that a work team is often motivated by food. More money is great, extra benefits are fine, and time off is very important, but food has always been a powerful motivator for employees.

Whether it’s pizzas, salads, and sodas on Fridays, bagels and coffee on Mondays, or cake and cookies at the monthly birthday lunch, the secret to using goodies as a reward is to be random with both the selections and the dates. If employees get the same tired choices each week after week, their enthusiasm wanes quickly.

Any employee reward, from food to formal recognition programs, should be as episodic as your luck during a casino visit. If you won all the time, the casino would close; if you lost all the time, the casino would close. Success in the casino business comes when the players don’t expect their triumphs. As such, the element of surprise seems to work best when it comes to edible rewards.

Public recognition is necessary, motivating, and plain fun. Whether it’s a cash gift or a small thing presented by a bigwig, rewards work.

Dr. Steve Albrecht, PHR, CPP, is a trainer and HR consultant in San Diego, CA. He can be reached at drsteve@drstevealbrecht.com