I really hope you don’t think that monitoring an employee wellness program is a challenging task. When partnering with our wellness incentive experts, you can focus on getting into shape while ensuring your wellness incentive program is in good hands. Your only task is to sweat off those calories from the Super Bowl weekend; we will take care of everything else. After work, hit the gym with your staff to promote higher energy levels and you will probably find improved workplace morale and attitude.

A Global Survey of Health Promotion and Workplace Wellness Strategies found that organizations who measure the impact of their wellness programs are more successful at improving their employees' health and overall wellness.

When you decide to let us manage your wellness incentive program, we will monitor your participants’ involvement and keep them up to date on their health and wellness issues. When your participants reach the wellness goals you set out for the program, you will be notified and they will be acknowledged and rewarded!

According to a recent American Journal of Health Promotion study “corporations realized $3-$6 in savings for every $1 invested in wellness programs.” I hope you’ll enjoy having extra money after implementing an employee wellness incentive program!

Next time you’re at the gym, pick up a schedule of available class offerings and try a new fitness class! I’m not asking you to join a cardio kickboxing or advanced spin class either. Try an exhilarating Zumba dance class or beginning yoga. (Fun fact: A woman who practices yoga is known as a yogini). “Practicing yoga's relaxation and breathing exercises will help your employees to reduce their stress and sharpen their focus. This will enable your employees to make better, faster decisions and thus be more productive,” according to Feel Good Yoga.

You don’t have to be a social butterfly to try a fitness class but it’s a great way to develop closer relationships with your staff. Social relationships are critical for personal health too. We will monitor your employee wellness program’s successes, if you’re willing to spend time at the gym socializing with coworkers. Ready, set, go you!

Recently, I’ve been reading a lot about how different methods of employee recognition are more effective (and appreciated) based on each employee’s personality and personal preferences. The scenario above is one I’ve been part of numerous times throughout my life and while I personally have mostly worked through my petrifying fear of being in front of audiences (mostly thanks to mandatory speeches throughout grade school), public recognition is still the least effective and gratifying way I could be recognized and many of your employees probably feel the same way.

A more personalized approach to employee recognition awards such as a comment at a small team meeting, a personal note or even an email or eCard can have a much more profound impact when coming from someone whose opinion matters to the employee. Depending on the employee and his/her work environment, peer recognition may be even more effective than being noticed by a supervisor.

This is not to say that the pomp and flair of a formal presentation doesn’t work for anyone. There are certainly still people who would prefer to see their names in lights and receive their employee recognition award in public but it’s important to keep in mind that not all your employees are the same and they will respond better to some forms of recognition than others. Make sure your employee recognition program provides avenues to recognize your employees in a variety of different ways and ensure your employee recognition awards are as effective as possible.

What are your thoughts?
What sort of employee recognition award methods have you found most effective? Do you personally have a preferred way you like to be recognized? Do your employees? How have you gone about finding out?

Looking to put together an effective employee recognition program? Contact Our Experts to discuss your program needs.

I think that most employees would have to agree with the former Massachusetts governor when he claims that appreciation and thankfulness are not given enough, especially in the workplace. Too often managers find themselves asking a lot from employees, who often go above and beyond job descriptions, without any recognition or appreciation being given in return.

Going Back to Basics

I feel the best way to start accomplishing this resolution is to mind your p’s and q’s. Being polite can go a long way and doesn’t cost a dime out of your employee recognition program budget.

Giving Small Thanks

Sometimes your employees may do something that really does call for formal appreciation. Giving employee appreciation can be accomplished in an email or a written recognition letter. Depending on what your employee did and the impact it may have, you might want to consider awarding the employee with a recognition gift.

I have a couple of recognition programs in which administrators can log into the recognition website and fill out a short form of what thank you card to send and how many points or dollars to assign the person. Once the form is filled out, the email is immediately sent to the employee with any personalized comments the administrator wanted to include in the recognition email. The employee is not only recognized in the email but also receives a small recognition award to select.

Giving a Big Thank you

Although an eCard or letter and an employee recognition award may be appropriate for certain occasions, every once in a while you may need to give employees something that measures up to the impact an employee has had. I have helped organizations to recognize employees who came up with innovative ideas resulting in cost savings of tens of thousands of dollars. I have worked with clients who have drivers on their workforce with over 30 years of safe driving records and millions of miles driven without any recordable safety incidents. Under these circumstances, a small recognition award does not work and you will need to dip into your employee recognition budget.

When giving thanks and appreciation to employees who reach major milestones, one creative recognition award idea is to present the employee with a printed recognition package. The recognition package contains a letter, certificate suitable for framing, award catalog pages and an order form that can be faxed, mailed or redeemed online. When giving a big thank you, be sure to award employees with a recognition gift valued at an appropriate price.

Whether you are beginning with adding please and thank you to your sentences or working on giving more formal employee recognition, one thing can be certain: your employees will surely appreciate it.

Image Credit:

Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com

6. Begin sending eCards

I have blogged before about the top ten different ways to say “Thank You” with a recognition award or eCard and if you have not checked this out yet, please do! eCards are very easy to select and send while making a great impact on participants. eCards can be a part of a social recognition program or only available for managers in the incentive program to utilize. You can have a library of eCards for any situation and make sure that people receive recognition and points in a timely manner.

7. Start a social recognition program

Building out a social recognition component to your employee incentive program is an excellent way to improve your program in the coming New Year. Social recognition programs allow anyone to give rewards and recognition to anyone within the organization. Once approved, points are automatically posted and the nominator, nominee and even supervisors can be instantly notified. Your website can also have an automatically updated nomination feed!

8. Recognize employees on their actual birthday and anniversary

With an employee incentive program, you are able to send over birth dates and dates of hire for all of your employees and we’ll set up automatic email notices. Even if your employee’s special day falls on a weekend or holiday, the notice will still go out. Anniversary and birthday notices can contain plain text or include images to help celebrate the occasion.

9. Let employees register for their own accounts

People no longer have to wait to have an account created! Instead of sending over your new employee information monthly, you can now let employees sign up for their personal incentive program account. After someone registers for an account, you can allow them to log in immediately or request for approval first.

10. Update your artwork: website, emails, posters, flyers

When was your website created? If it has been a few years, then it is probably time for you to update your employee incentive program website and supplements. Especially if your logo has changed or company website has had a makeover, you may want to consider what an update could do for your program.

Now that you have the top ten ideas for your employee incentive program, it is time to get started on updating your program!

1. Start tracking points earned online

Employee incentives can easily be managed online and will eliminate the need for keeping point receipts and detailed spreadsheets. If you have been managing points manually, let an online incentive program do it for you and find out how much easier employee incentives can be. Not only will adding points be simple, you won’t have to keep track of how many points people have when incentives are ordered or returned. Online incentive program reporting will also help to ensure you have all the numbers and statistics available in Excel when you need this information.

2. Incorporate a leader board system

I was on the phone with a prospective client yesterday who was very interested in setting up an automated leader board system. His company is in the insurance industry and he was thinking about starting a sales incentive program for his thirty or so sales people. He let me know that his sales people were very motivated by competition and if each person could see how he or she was doing compared to everyone else, this would help to boost sales and the results of the employee incentive program.

3. Add a feedback form

One of the best ways to spice up your incentive program is to ask employees for their feedback. You will be able to collect feedback during 2012 and bring ideas that can help to increase results and participation. Employee incentive program feedback forms often ask people open ended questions such as what could be done to improve the program and how easy/difficult the incentive program website is to use.

4. Run a short term promotion-for a department like sales or for everyone like a wellness event

Have you been rewarding employees for reaching the same goals for more than a couple of years? If your answer is yes to this question, you could benefit from exploring other ways to engage employees in your incentive program. You may want to consider what a short term promotion like a sales contest or a onetime wellness event could do to help the incentive program gain attention and relevancy. These short term goals are often easy to track and points are given out for participating and for reaching a desired result (top ten sales producer or top ten finishers for a company-sponsored walk/run).

5. Hand out instant employee incentive points

Instant points are a great addition to any employee incentive program. Point codes can be generated for the point value and award category you would like. The codes are then printed on cards, certificates or tokens and then handed out by managers to employees who demonstrate desired behavior, most often core values or safety related behaviors. I have had a lot of fun this year designing instant point cards and for my clients who use them, they love having a way to immediately recognize employees.

All of these tips are sure to save you time and help to boost participation. Be sure to check back Thusday for the last five tips of the top ten ideas for your employee incentive program!

The best way to make sure you’re hearing what your employees have to say is by ensuring you give them an outlet…and I’m not just talking about the standard review processes which can be intimidating to a lot of people. Employee Incentive Programs are a great way to get information out to employees about what management is looking for from them and it can also be a great way to give your employees a way to share their thoughts with you. With recent research showing the importance and impact of employee engagement it’s clearer than ever that it’s important for employers and employees to work as a team to take the company to the next level. Below are a couple quick suggestions for boosting the impact of your employee incentive program and allowing your employees to get more involved.

Critiques & Comments – Regardless of what you’ve heard previously, great minds do not all think alike. The more feedback and suggestions you can get through your employee incentive program, the better you can ensure that you’re not overlooking any important factors that may contribute to your company’s success. Your employee incentive program provider should be easily able to add a feedback form to the program to allow employees to share their thoughts and feedback and while yes, you may need to filter out some suggestions that aren’t as helpful as others, there can be a lot of useful input that has just been waiting for a way to make itself heard.

Giving Thanks – If your company is anything like the majority of workplaces I’ve experienced, supervisors and managers aren’t always working right beside their employees. If you’re not working closely with someone on regular basis it’s harder to recognize when they are going above and beyond and many supervisors may be overlooking employees that have a significant impact on the company without being overly obvious about it. Adding a peer recognition aspect to your employee incentive program allows each of your employees, no matter what level of the hierarchy they are at, to be able to recognize and reward their coworkers which boosts morale and improves engagement while strengthening your team.

Sharing New Ideas – More and more of our clients have begun to look to their employees for ideas that improve and impact their company’s bottom line. Your employee incentive program provider should be able to add in custom forms to gather ideas on cost savings, procedural changes, safety improvements and a variety of other areas that can make your company more effective, efficient and safe. A lot of ideas coming from the employees that complete the tasks on a daily basis tend to be more effective than those coming from “above” based off of outsiders. That said, a fresh pair of eyes often have some insights as well so it’s a good idea for everyone at the company to be able to share their ideas equally.

With all the planning that goes into setting up an employee incentive program it’s a great idea to make sure nothing is being overlooked. Rather than assuming your program is set up perfectly and that it’s having the best impact possible, now’s a great time to implement some of these quick aspects that can make sure your employees have an easy way to let you know what might be missing. Whether you’re looking to improve your current employee incentive program or to start a new one from scratch, contact Awards Network for a free program consultation and we can work with you to ensure your program is structured to have the most impact possible by giving participants a voice and improving employee engagement.

Wait, what? You are thinking of a beautiful lights, delicious treats and fun holiday contests? Well, don’t be fooled, we’re not that far off from one another. Like any responsible employer, you probably strive to improve employee safety in the workplace all year long so be careful that the warm fuzzy holiday feeling doesn’t blind you to some of the hazards that can threaten employee safety this time of year.

Some of my more safety conscious clients are having special employee safety meetings to cover holiday hazards that come wrapped in beautiful (or delicious) ways including the following:

Holiday Treats - The smoked salmon is back. Every year, one of our suppliers sends the office a smoked salmon and although it’s probably perfectly safe, nothing makes me consider food safety quicker than a fish that’s been sitting out for several days. More likely though, the true hazards to employee safety (also known as nuts or legumes) have been ground up and mixed into the delicious cookie that I’ve been munching on while eyeing the fish from across the room. Be sure that if you’re making holiday treats you’re aware of your coworkers’ food allergies or just steer clear of any questionable recipes to be safe. I’ve already had to mark snowballs, fudge tarts and chocolate chip cookies with nuts off my cookie list this year!

Costumes – This year, our Director of Sales shared two new Christmas hats with us at the holiday party. Both were battery powered with music, lights and wiggling bits. As frightening of an experience as it was, everyone managed to escape unharmed, but the plethora of costumes and strange accessories during the holiday season can be a detriment to employee safety and contribute to a higher than average number of trips and falls (are those elf shoes really safe enough for you to be dancing around the office in?)

Decorations – I am not sure how old the mini Christmas tree we put up each year is, but I’m guessing it’s getting up there and I can only hope the lights aren’t as old. I know it’s hard to part with decorations that have been part of your holiday tradition for the past decade or so, but to ensure employee safety, it’s important to make sure you check all cords to be sure they’re not cracking, fraying or so stacked up on top of one another in the outlets that you’re going to short out the office building.

Contests - A lot of my clients are giving holiday employee awards for office decorating contests this year and one of my favorite things is getting to see pictures of all of them. One of the most notable aspects of any design though, tends to be clutter. Streamers, lights, figurines, gift wrapped parts of furniture…all of it lends itself to more things being knocked over, broken and/or tripped over if they’re in high traffic areas of the office. Never one to promote minimalism, I’d be the last to tell them to curb their enthusiasm but with employee safety in mind, it’s certainly important to make sure you practice strategic placement to avoid breakage and fire hazards.

Employee safety is important all year round so if you aren’t already, you may want to consider awarding safety in the workplace with a custom employee safety award program or by starting an employee safety incentive program this coming New Year. By building the safety culture and awarding safe behavior all year long, the hidden hazards that sneak in with the holidays will be easier to spot and your employees will be able to enjoy a happy holiday and a safe new year.

It’s almost the end of the year and you have been tasked with a simple, straight forward project to be completed before January first: increase workplace safety. With only three weeks to go, you are probably worried about planning and implementing a safety incentive program that will help the company reach this goal. I have five steps this week to help you set up a safety program in order to increase safety in the workplace.

1. Set up your safety program goals.

It is very simple to set up a safety program and have one goal, no OSHA recordable incidents. However, if you are looking to increase your workplace safety, you are going to have to reward behaviors that help foster a safety culture. If you set up your goals to include reporting a near miss, recommending preventative measures and corrective actions, completing training, attending safety meetings and similar activities, then you are more likely to increase safe behavior and thus have a reduced number of recordable incidents.

If you want to include goals for attending safety meetings and distributing safety information, you can find many free or low cost resources online. I included some of the websites I have utilized for safety information below.

Safety Toolbox Talks

Integrity Safety Discussions

Safety Smart

2. Plan for spontaneous safety recognition.

Although you may have various ways for people to participate and earn points in a safety incentive program, giving people recognition on the spot is a great way to reward workers for a wide variety of reasons. Recognizing and rewarding workers who demonstrate safe behavior or go above and beyond the job description can be given instant point cards by managers. The points can be banked or spent just like any other points received in the safety incentive program, however the employee actually enters in the code on card to add the points earned into his or her account. My clients really like carrying these with them as they visit different facilities or departments and handing them out.

3. Develop a safety incentive program budget.

Depending on the number of goals and participants in your program, you will have to decide how many dollars to assign to each goal. Clients of mine tend to award between five and twenty five dollars per goal met. The instant point cards tend to be between one and ten dollars each. For most safety incentive programs, all of your budget will be going towards the points that people use to purchase safety awards. If you are just starting a safety incentive program, be aware of any set up or ongoing administrative fees that your award program provider may charge and be sure to include this in your budget projection.

4. Design the safety incentive program website.

Your award program provider will probably assist you with the setup of your safety incentive program website. I have found that for most safety programs, it only takes a few days to set everything up. Websites can include additional safety resources too such as safety newsletters, discussions notes and hand-outs, safety quizzes and safety feedback forms. If you only have a short while to set up the program, don’t worry about adding all of these pages at first. You can always add new safety program resources online and invite employees to check out the website later on.

5. Come up with ways to communicate the program.

Knowing your audience is vital when setting up your safety incentive program communications. If your employees have regular access to the internet and work or home email, then I would start with setting up electronic communications such as statements and emails. If you employees are not able to access internet easily or do not have work email addresses, then I would suggest setting up posters, flyers, printed statements and safety account cards to get started.

It is not too late to set up a safety incentive program and kick it off at the beginning of the year! If you follow these five steps and partner with an experienced safety program provider, you will be able to effectively encourage safe behavior and help create a safer workplace in 2012!

If you have dedicated and highly engaged employees, then you have probably taken the time to show how much you respect them. However, if your organization is struggling to accomplish its goals, it’s time that you connect with your employees and tell them how their hard work is truly appreciated. Communicating your values and ideas will only be beneficial for your organization.

The 2009/2010 Towers Watson communications study found that "effective employee communication is a leading indicator of financial performance and a driver of employee engagement. Companies that are highly effective communicators had 47% higher total returns to shareholders over the last five years compared with firms that are the least effective communicators." Employee recognition is an invaluable communication tool that will boost employee engagement.

Engaged employees are one of the most important assets to your organization and they should be recognized for their hard work on a continual basis. Gallup research shows that engaged employees are more productive employees. They are more profitable, more customer-focused, safer, and more likely to withstand temptations to leave the organization. Actively disengaged employees erode an organization's bottom line; within the U.S. workforce, Gallup estimates this cost to be more than $300 billion in lost productivity alone.

Believe it or not, I’ve found that a simple “thank you” with a smile can go a long way. Encouraging employees to express their ideas and opinions will promote the kind of constructive atmosphere you need to achieve your goals. Prioritize employee recognition and start by treating others as you want to be treated.

A Towers Watson’s study of 90,000 employees found that “employee engagement rises when people experience a combination of effective and caring leadership, appealing development opportunities, interesting work, and fulfilling tangible and intangible rewards.”

Employee engagement begins by listening to what others have to say, showing appreciation for a job well done and reinforcing positive behaviors that you want to see repeated. Rewards and recognition help managers and employees get what they need from work while creating a win-win situation.

Meat
While I am always an enthusiastic fan of a delicious ham or turkey to go with my mashed potatoes, the idea of giving meat as a holiday gift has always been disturbing to me. Even ignoring the fact that some of your employees may be vegetarians and vegans or prohibited by health reasons and religious beliefs (or just not huge fans of meat), giving meat as an employee gift probably doesn’t have the heart warming, memorable gift-giving effect that would benefit you as an employer. Personally, I feel that if my employer is gifting me with food s/he is assuming that I don’t make enough money to provide my family with a good holiday meal and that raises some serious doubt as to whether I’m being paid what I’m worth. Definitely not the reaction you’d like your employees to have when you’re generously handing out the holiday bounty each year.

Plastic
Over the last several years, gift cards have been popping up everywhere and seem to be easiest gift option available. I’m not a big fan of gift cards though. The only time I tend to give them is when I need a last minute gift and don’t have a whole lot of time to put thought into it. That or I don’t know the person well enough to give them something that would actually be meaningful to them. During my bi-annual wallet cleaning, I generally discard 3-5 unused gift cards; usually to places I don’t frequent or for things I don’t like (before I drank coffee I probably received more Starbucks gift cards than anything else). Chances are, gift cards are either going to be forgotten or lost and on top of that, you have no real way to make sure there’s one place that will be useful to all of your employees.

Cold, Hard Cash
Alright, now I’ll admit that I love money…getting it, spending it, heck, I even like saving it in the rare instances that I actually get the opportunity to do so. Neither I nor any of your employees is likely to turn down a holiday bonus and chances are, if you poll them, everyone would opt for money rather than any other type of gift. The problem with cash is that it's too often just used for paying bills, buying groceries and being “borrowed” from your wallet by unruly children. Rarely is the gift of cash actually put towards the purchase of a memorable item (although don’t tell that to my grandma - I always make a specific point to tell her I spent my Christmas cash on something nice…even though it’s usually just being sent along to the credit card company).

Now obviously, everyone will probably be thankful for whatever employee gift you decide upon, even if you go with one of the three options above, but the real question is what type of lasting impression does the gift give them? These three employee gift options may please some people, but none of them create any sort of lasting, tangible memory of your appreciation and that is the real aim of employee gifts (or any other type of gift, for that matter). Not only does giving your employee the gift of choice from a wide variety of brand name merchandise ensure that they select something they want and like and that they will think of you every time they use it, it is also a quick solution that’s easy for budgeting while allowing for a memorable and personalized presentation.