We recently asked blog visitors to answer the question, who do you like to receive recognition from? These were the responses:
 
- 11.1% said My mom
- 44.4% said Peers
- 33.3% said Manager
- 11.1% said CEO

The results of this poll reveal two important recognition principles that I think you should take to heart.

Number one: The poll gives insight into what employees really value: recognition from individuals who witness performances first hand.

Peers and managers are a bigger part of an employee’s everyday work life than the CEO – or their mom for that matter. Peers and managers see how hard you work on month end summaries, implementing a new process or cranking out a major project. They observe your triumphs, struggles and achievements on a regular basis, so it makes sense that you would value what they have to say about you and your work.

Number two: Frequent exchanges of recognition between peers and employees and managers is key. Peers have very few opportunities to recognize one another unless you have a peer-to-peer recognition program in place. Most often, recognition is placed primarily into the hands of the manager who likely struggles with a full workload and large team. Equipping all employees with the tools to recognize their peers can have a huge impact on morale, employee satisfaction, engagement and create a more positive work culture.

Peer-to-peer recognition programs can be a little scary for some organizations. Everyone worries that the system will be abused and employees will recognize one another for trivial matters or only give recognition to their friends. Therefore, creating a strong recognition foundation is important to a successful peer recognition program. Establish clear guidelines about recognizing one another for specific behaviors that are tied into your corporate goals and values. Include a receipt portion in your program, too, so you can track who is giving recognition and why. For more detailed information and ideas on peer-to-peer recognition programs, visit our Spot On Peer Recognition Blog.

And remember, just because it’s a peer recognition program doesn’t mean managers are excused from participating. According to our poll results – and experience - manager involvement is very important. A peer recognition program is simply another valuable tool managers can add to their recognition arsenal.

Getting recognition from peers is important to employees.

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Cori is a Certified Recognition Professional at Baudville and a member of the Millennial generation. In addition to writing for the Baudville blog, she’s taking on the task of flooding the Twitterverse with positive mojo. Find out more - and join her cause! - at www.Twitter.com/Baudville using the hash tag #positivemojo.

Today marks the finale of our Customer Service Week festivities and the close of our poll on your favorite Customer Service Week activity. The results were tied! "Lunch with the team" and "Puzzles, games and prizes" each received 44% of the vote.

At Baudville, we had a lot of fun with our Customer Service Week celebrations, and we kept our focus on recognizing the great customer service our team consistently offers our customers. If you're not a Baudville customer (yet), you can read about one of our Customer Service Representatives who was recognized as an Everyday Customer Champion by a customer strategy website. Do you have a story about great service you received from Baudville? Tell us about it!

Wednesday - SuperHero Day

Thursday - Decades Day

Customer Service Week is underway at Baudville! This year, we are having a spirit week. Each day has a different theme, and employees are encouraged to dress up and get in the spirit. In addition to all the fun outfits, each day there are activities and games for employees to play. Monday, there was a sports quiz featuring local sports teams. All correct entries were entered into a drawing for two tickets to a Griffins hockey game. Rockstar Day was complete with a rousing game of Rock Band as well as a word search, trivia and one hit wonder matching game. Only our SPIRIT Team knows what's in store the rest of the week!

Monday - Sports Day 

Tuesday - Rockstar Day

Wednesday - Super Hero Day

Thursday - Decades Day

Friday - Baudville Spirit Day

Follow all the Customer Service Week fun on our Facebook page where pictures are being added daily. What are you doing for Customer Service Week? Show us how you're celebrating by adding pictures to the Facebook page or adding comments to this blog entry. And don't forget to participate in our poll about your favorite Customer Service Week activity!

Last week we conducted a poll on our blog asking visitors if they use social media to give recognition. Here were the responses:

- 11.1% make sure every post has recognition
- 22.2% occasionally tweet a shout out
- 66.7% believe Facebook is a foreign entity

Our poll shows that 33.3% of respondents are using social media to express recognition and appreciation. I predict it will continue to grow as communication continues to be shaped by social media.

Social media has become a valuable tool for marketing, recruiting and sharing information. As more people jump on the social media bandwagon, giving feedback and praise will also become a common practice in these forums.

Today, many employees create and maintain personal “feel good files.” You may have given it another name, but I think you likely have a spot in your desk where you stash past thank you notes and cards of appreciation.

Every once in a while you even review your file for a little pick me up.

The words of thanks and appreciation remind you of past great performances and contributions to the organization. Every time you add another note to the file, you feel a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.

Imagine if your feel good file were on your online profile or your Twitter page. Not only would you be able to read through your feel good file when you needed a morale booster, but co-workers, managers, friends and recruiters could, too.

How would you respond if your boss gave you some props on your Facebook page? Or if someone contacted you about a job because of all the good things they’ve read about you?

Imagine your social media, loaded down with recognition...

On another note…

Did I mention that we now have a poll on our blog? Be sure to check back each week as it changes to give your two cents worth. For each poll, we’ll have a little write up (like this one) interpreting the results. Be a part of it!

You can receive updates from all of our blog entries, too, by subscribing to our blog email list on in the right hand navigation…right…over…there. Don’t miss any of the recognition updates!

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Cori is a Certified Recognition Professional at Baudville and a member of the Millennial generation. In addition to writing for the Baudville blog, she’s taking on the task of flooding the Twitterverse with positive mojo. Find out more - and join her cause! - at www.Twitter.com/Baudville using the hash tag #positivemojo.