Employee Recognition and Reward Ideas
No Cost Low Cost Ideas
1. 2. 3. 4. Acknowledge and celebrate birthdays. Acknowledge employee in department's newsletter, intranet site or staff meeting. Allow an employee to choose his/her next assignment. Ask your boss to attend a meeting with your employees during which you thank individuals and groups for their specific contributions. 5. At a monthly staff meeting, award an Employee of the Month and invite co-workers at the meeting to say why that person is deserving of the award. 6. Call an employee to your office to thank them (dont discuss any other issue). 7. Encourage and recognize staff who pursue continuing education. 8. Encourage employees to identify specific areas of interest in job-related skills. Then arrange for them to spend a day with an in-house expert to learn more about the topic. 9. Encourage employees to participate in community volunteer efforts. 10. Establish a Behind the Scenes award specifically for those whose actions are not usually in the limelight. 11. Establish a place to display memos, posters, photos and so on, recognizing progress towards goals and thanking individual employees for their help. 12. Express an interest in employees career development goals. 13. Find ways to reward department-specific performance. 14. Have a recognition event created by a peer group that decides what they will give and why they will give it. 15. If you have a department newsletter, publish a kudos column and ask for nominations throughout the department. 16. Keep a supply of appropriately funny notes that can be given as immediate rewards. Keep the supply visible in a basket or box in your office. 17. Keep in mind that managers should serve as coaches to indirectly influence rather than demand desired behavior. 18. Nominate the employee for a University formal award program such as the Presidents Meritorious Service Awards. 19. Plan a surprise achievement celebration for an employee or group of employees. 20. Pop in at the first meeting of a special project team and express your appreciation for their involvement. 21. Post a thank you note on an employees office door or cubicle. 22. Present State of the Department reports periodically to your employees acknowledging the work and contributions of individuals and teams. 23. Privately recognize employees personal needs and challenges. 24. Publicly recognize the positive impact on operations of the solutions employees devise for problems. 25. Recognize employees who actively serve the community. 26. Send a letter to all team members at the conclusion of a project, thanking them for their participation. 27. Send a thank you letter to an employee. 28. Send an email of thanks to an employee. 29. Start a suggestion program.
Employee Recognition and Reward Ideas #614
Revised 08/21/12 Page 1 of 3
30. Use personalized note cards to write Youre special because statements. People can collect the cards and refer to them when things arent going well. 31. When you hear a positive remark about someone, repeat it to that person as soon as possible in person or electronically. 32. Widely publicize suggestions used and their positive impact on your department. 33. Write a letter of praise recognizing specific contributions and accomplishments and send to the employee electronically or in person. 34. Reward an employee with outstanding performance by requesting Administrative Leave with Pay, in accordance with applicable university rules and standard administrative procedures. Information about Administrative Leave with Pay is available online at http://employees.tamu.edu/managers/positions/flexibleCompensation/default.aspx. 35. Have a potluck staff meeting to celebrate employee achievements, birthdays, etc. 36. Support flexible work schedules.
Moderate to High Cost Ideas*
1. Allow an employee to attend a work related conference. 2. Bake/bring a gift (cookies, bread, cake, etc). 3. Create a Hall of Fame wall with photos of outstanding employees. 4. Design a Stress Support Kit that includes a music CD, funny book that will make an employee laugh, a stress ball, etc or design your own. 5. Give a deserving employee a mug filled with treats. 6. Give a framed certificate of appreciation. 7. Give a gift card or certificate. 8. Give a membership or subscription to a journal that relates to employee work. 9. Give a puzzle as an award to a problem solver. 10. Give an award plaque. 11. Give flowers to an employee at their office or home as a thank you. 12. Have weekly breakfasts with groups of employees. 13. Hold informal retreats to foster communication and set goals. 14. Make a photo collage about a successful project that shows the people that worked on it, its stage of development and its completion and presentation. 15. Make and deliver a fruit basket. 16. Once a year, have a Staff Appreciation Day where the managers supply, cook and serve food. 17. Provide a business related gift (example: pen set, office clock, leather portfolio). 18. Provide a lunch for project teams once they have made interim findings. Express your appreciation. 19. Reward an employee with outstanding performance by requesting a One-time Merit Payment, in accordance with applicable university rules and standard administrative procedures. Information about One-time Merit Payments is available online at http://employees.tamu.edu/managers/positions/flexibleCompensation/default.aspx.
Employee Recognition and Reward Ideas #614
Revised 08/21/12 Page 2 of 3
20. Provide a token of appreciation to employee such as a Texas A&M logo pen, mug, paperweight, lapel pin, watch, etc. 21. Provide tickets to a special event (sporting event, OPAS performance). 22. Schedule random fun events such as watching a movie or having an ice cream break 23. Serve ice cream sundaes to all of your employees at the end of a project. 24. Serve popcorn and treats on Friday (especially after a particularly hard week). 25. Start an employee recognition program. Give points for consistency/dependability, punctuality, teamwork, etc. Provide gift certificates, mementos, etc to employees who reach certain point goals. 26. Throw a pizza lunch party for your department/unit. 27. Treat an employee to lunch. *Please review applicable university rules and standard administrative procedures before purchasing awards. Information about Purchasing Guidelines and Procedures are available online at http://rules-saps.tamu.edu/. Please note, cash and gift certificates are considered income and are taxable. Please refer to Standard Administrative Procedure: 31.01.99.M0.01 Taxation of Special Payments and Awards to Employees for more information on this procedure. If you have any questions, contact Recognition and Rewards at (979) 845-0379 or [email protected].
Resources used to develop this document: 1. University of Washington Human Resources http://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/roles/mgr/ee-recognition/award-ideas 2. University of Michigan Human Resources http://www.hr.umich.edu/umatter/ 3. Nelson, Bob. 1001 Ways to Reward Employees. New York: Workman Publishing, 1994.
Employee Recognition and Reward Ideas #614
Revised 08/21/12 Page 3 of 3
