Use Social Media to Tell Employees How Awesome They Are!

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This brought back the idea to me. Most companies restrict access to most social media sites. So that takes the idea out of starting off a program using things like Facebook and Twitter groups for workplace recognition. However, I realized that our place, along with several other offices that I know of, still allow LinkedIn access. So what's an easy way for recognition?
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Apolo Ohno: Dedication For His Day Job

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How often do employees put in the same dedication to their job? It's rare to hear of someone putting forth that much work and effort into what they do for a living. Sure, there are different ultimate aspirations and your company's accountant is not likely going to have their face on a Wheaties box at the end of the day. However, it often takes more than just the base salary to garner that extra dedication into an employee's work. Incentives programs, designed to fit the employees' specific needs, will help root out complacency in day-to-day work. Rewards accompanied by an equally appropriate amount of recognition can do wonders for performance and influencing work behavior.
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Unexpected Incentives

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Employee recognition doesn't always have to be anticipated by your staff for morale to improve. Sometimes it's unexpected little things that can boost morale and drive motivation. Tanveer Naseer posted a write-up last week explaining how a soda machine could teach all of us a thing or two about motivation. His post included a video of Coca-Cola placing a vending machine on a college campus and providing students with more than just the one Coke they were expecting.
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Employee Recognition is STILL Important

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Several blog posts of late have discussed how employee morale is at an all-time low (EEA reports is staying steady). Just because the economy seems to gradually be getting back on track doesn't necessarily mean that employee motivation is on the rise as well. Satisfaction rates are down below 50%, which means a lot of workers want to jump ship at the next opportunity.
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Employee of the Month: A Lesson At Jim Halpert's Expense

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Jim Halpert: recently promoted to the co-regional manager of the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin. In last Thursday's episode, fellow employee Andy suggests starting an employee of the month program. Thinking how this could improve office morale and by judging performance based on completely unbiased metrics, Jim makes an executive decision to implement the program.
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Taking "Trophy Value" Literally

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While most claim to work harder for cash, studies have proven that tangible, noncash incentives have a more positive effect on performance. According to the University of Chicago study cited in our Trophy Value Continuum post, people tend to prefer cash but perform at much higher levels when in pursuit of a noncash incentive. I wanted cash for running but worked harder for noncash options. The same holds true for your employees.
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