We all know recognition is important in a work environment, but how do you continue to give recognition that’s sincere and meaningful? This is a topic that various writers and employee recognition experts have tackled in the Authentic Recognition series on the Ready to Feedback blog managed by Sonia Di Maulo.

Today, I had the privilege of contributing a post on the series, “Regular Recognition Says It Best.” Check it out!

Then let me know how you give authentic recognition. How do you define authentic recognition? What does authentic recognition look like in your organization? How do you help your managers give recognition that is authentic and effective?

Leave your response as a comment on this post, and we'll continue the discussion of authentic recognition that Sonia started right here on the Baudville blog!

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.

I’ve talked about having fun at work several times in the last year, and various Baudville bloggers have posted fun at work tips and ideas.

But you don’t have to take just our word for the value of having fun at work. A Forbes.com article claims there is a “definite correlation between happiness and productivity on the job.” Apparently, a happy worker is also a more productive worker.

It makes sense. If you like what you’re working on, you’re more likely to approach your work with passion, enthusiasm and drive as opposed to procrastinating and pushing tasks to the bottom of your to-do list.

Here are a few encouraging stats about happy workers from Forbes:

- Happy workers reported spending 80% of their week on work related tasks, while less happy workers spent only 40% of their time on work related tasks.
- The happiest employees take 66% less sick leave.
- Happy people are good for teams and can boost the mood of colleagues.
- Being happy at work can lead to higher income and higher quality of work.

Read the entire Forbes article on being happy at work, and then get a group of fun and creative employees together to discuss how you can make work more fun and employees happier. It can be as simple as empowering a few people in each department to organize occasional low-cost events.

Our department threw an impromptu bean bag tournament one Friday afternoon. We set up the games in between our desks, and let the bean bags fly. Employees brought in their personal game sets, so the only cost to the company was a small prize for the tourney champion. We had so much fun, we were still talking about the tournament on Monday.

We’ve also staged our own minute-to-win-it competitions for meetings and events. We have a resident Face the Cookie pro, do you? NBC has a complete Minute to Win It game library, so you can get all the details for a multitude of games that you can easily host in your office.

We’re always looking for new, fun activities to do at work. Share your ideas for having fun at work with us here!

Action shots from our Face the Cookie Challenge and Bean Bag Tournament.

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.

Award certificates are a great way to show off achievements, but I can think of a few reasons why a department manager might not use them for everyday employee recognition:

They’re more formal than some occasions merit. With the exception of a couple of our newer contemporary styles, most of our certificates feature ornate, sophisticated designs with traditional colors or foil accents. While these are just what you need for recognizing prestigious moments, they don’t necessarily fit the bill for day-to-day recognition.   

They take a little more time than an on-the-spot note. Baudville does offer easy-to-use templates for printing certificates, but you may not have time to download a template, type out your message, and run a certificate through the printer. (In truth, this only takes a few minutes, but I’m trying to make a point here…)

They require resources you might not have. If you work on the go or visit multiple locations—or you simply don’t have access to a computer or printer, certificates just won’t work for you at all.

Or will they?  

Ta-dah! Our new Day-to-Day Certificate Bundle Binder goes where you do and contains a variety of informal, all-occasion certificates that you fill in by hand. No technology required!

With theme sentiments that recognize everything from great moments to great attitudes, you will never be without a way to show appreciation for your team. Each binder includes tabbed dividers that organize 10 each of six different certificates for you to use when you want to:

Recognize all-around greatness. Maybe someone on your team helped out a coworker or finished a task ahead of schedule. The You’re Awesome certificate from our new Positive Praise theme and the Positive Mojo certificate from our ever-popular Exclamations™ theme are both perfect for when you need to acknowledge someone who goes the extra mile.

Say thank you. The You Are Truly Appreciated, Shining Star, and Thanks for All You Do! certificates are there when you need to show your team members a little gratitude—whether it’s for consistently providing great customer service or taking on extra work when you’re shorthanded.

Applaud a job well done. Ideal for when someone gives a great presentation, meets a goal, or completes a challenging project, the Great Job certificate says it all—simply.

Easy to use, ready for any occasion, and less than $1.00 each, these day-to-day certificates can’t be beat!

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Allison is Baudville’s one (and only) Copywriter. She’s been writing for a variety of media for more than nine years, so if she tells you she has been there and done that, she probably has. Before embarking on a career in writing, Allison worked as a department manager where she used Baudville products to motivate her team. She’s what we call a true believer!

I’m not going to tell you that it’s all fun & games up here in creative-ville, but every once in awhile, we do get to have a laugh. We certainly did when we were working on the new Positive Praise recognition theme. The Goofy Guy Squeezable Praise became everyone’s favorite new projectile and the Goofy Guy Pens were the perfect remedy whenever things started to get a little too tense.

Having fun at work not only lowers stress and improves morale, it can also increase productivity. I’ve see it first hand in our department, but this WorldatWork article does a great job of backing me up as well.  

If you need to have more fun in your office, our Positive Praise theme is an excellent place to start. Maybe you took the quiz in that link I just posted. If so, let’s see how you scored.

If you answered mostly no, I’m afraid your situation is pretty grave. You’re going to need to take serious measures to increase employee morale. For this, I prescribe:

Totally Wacky

   

In your next meeting, toss the Goofy Guy to someone who has a great idea or suggestion. It will lighten the mood, plus the “woo-hoo” sentiment on the back is perfect on-the-spot praise. The talking and bobble-head pens are another way to lift spirits. It’s pretty hard to scowl with one of these grinning back at you.

If you were about 50-50, then you need:

A Little Bit of Silly

   

These notepads come with a smiley-face pen for a lighthearted yet useful reward. The Appreciation Gift Sets feature a sweet treat for your team members to enjoy now, plus a fun keychain they can use every day. 

If you answered mostly yes, then you’re in good shape. You just need some:

Everyday Fun

  

Both the Pocket Praise and Cheers Kit in this fun theme have brightly-colored notes and great sentiments for day-to-day recognition. They’re just what you need to keep up the momentum!

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Allison is Baudville’s one (and only) Copywriter. She’s been writing for a variety of media for more than nine years, so if she tells you she has been there and done that, she probably has. Before embarking on a career in writing, Allison worked as a department manager where she used Baudville products to motivate her team. She’s what we call a true believer!

Peer recognition programs are very popular in organizations today. Peer recognition increases the quantity and frequency recognition is given, and it takes pressure off managers who are typically responsible for top-down recognition. We published a peer recognition white paper that explains the benefits of this type of recognition program– including improved culture, loyalty, job satisfaction and camaraderie.

Creating a peer recognition program is very easy thanks to existing, ready-to-use programs. We currently offer three peer recognition programs, and I’m going to give a brief how-to for two of them today.

Our Shout Outs Peer Recognition Program  (Allison wrote a great writeup of the program last January) is one of our most popular and certainly deserves to be included in our How-to Recognition series.

Shout Outs are simple to use, and you start it by posting the Shout Outs pad in a public location. It can hang on a hook, be displayed on a bulletin board or stand on its own. Whenever an employee wants to recognize a co-worker, she tears a sheet off the pad, writes her personal thank you note, and posts it in a public location. That way, everyone can witness the recognition. 

Here’s how one of our customers described the program:

“I was looking for a tool that I could use to motivate my employees and build a team atmosphere among them. I was already using ePraise, Making a Difference and Thank You note/pin cards as a morale booster coming from me.

When I first explained the Shout Out recognition tool, I noticed some hesitancy on some of my employee's faces. It took about 4 days before the first Shout Out was posted, and after that many more were posted very quickly. I had someone from another department post a Shout Out for one my employees.

When employees read the nice words that someone had written about them and it was posted in a public area, their demeanor changed. They were very proud of the job well done that they were recognized for by their peers. This is an awesome and powerful tool. I would recommend this tool to anyone implementing an employee recognition program. It works!”

 

If you're looking for a peer recognition program that ties behaviors directly to goals, take a look at our Spot On Peer Recognition Program. You get everything you need in one box, including Spot the dog who serves as both a traveling trophy and mascot.

In the Spot On program, every employee is encouraged to deliver personal thank you notes to their peers. Each note has a receipt that is deposited in the dog house and tracked by the manager. The employee who received the most notes wins Spot. Other prizes are also available, and some organizations choose to include a save and redeem element, too.

Spot has a robust free recognition downloads section with additional tools and resources that make implementing and maintaining the Spot On Peer Recognition Program easy. We recently added new resources, so be sure to stop by for more free Spot On recognition downloads.

Peer recognition programs  empower employees to be responsible for recognition and increase the amount of recognition that takes place. And with so many simple and affordable program options, not having a peer recognition program is sure to put you in the dog house!

Watch how-to videos on both Shout Outs and Spot On on Baudville’s video page.

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.