About four times a year, we busy ourselves creating catalogs that feature our new and bestselling products. We do this because we know that, in your hands, our products can bring value to you and help you create a positive and rewarding environment for your team.

But, one day we asked ourselves, “What more can we do? Above and beyond our products, how can we engage with our customers in an informative and thoughtful way?”

The result of this pondering became RecogNation: a quarterly supplement to our catalog, written by recognition experts, that addresses a common workplace concern with a variety of articles on that topic. In addition, this publication features an interview with an up-and-coming CEO, whose success on the current issue’s topic offers inspiration and insight to our readers.

Our first issue is all about building stronger teams and is just days away from hitting mailboxes everywhere. Sound interesting to you? You don’t have to wait: you can download it now for free from our Recognition Resource Center!

Take a few minutes to give it a read, and if any of this hits home with you, tell us about it—we’d love to hear!
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Allison is a self-proclaimed Copywriting Diva and has the certificate to prove it! She’s been writing for Baudville for four years and has worked in a variety of business settings for more than 19 years. Before becoming a professional writer 12 years ago, Allison worked as a department manager where she used Baudville products to motivate her team. She’s what we call a true believer!  


One of my favorite parts of the HR and employee recognition industries is networking with other professionals and learning from their experiences and best practices. That’s why I’m thrilled Jennifer V. Miller is our guest blogger today! Jennifer has years of experience training and developing talent, so she understands the value of recognition!

 

If you’re here at the Recognition at Work blog then chances are you’re on board with the idea that giving people praise for their efforts is a good thing. After all, this is “the place for daily recognition”, right?  So, let’s say that you’re a manager who wants to recognize employee efforts. Or, perhaps you have a peer who saved your bacon and you want to say a heartfelt “thanks!” What’s the best way to get your message across?
 
My answer is, “it depends”. While all people enjoy being recognized, they don’t enjoy being recognized in the same way. So, for some people, the recognition with all the hoopla at the monthly employee customer service awards is just fine. For others, they’d rather have a root canal than have everybody looking at them.

Here’s the thing about recognition: the people giving it have good intentions, but if they don’t know at least a little bit about the recognition recipient, the praise may fall far short of the positive benefits they’d hope for. That’s why we sometimes feel our tokens of appreciation aren’t, well, appreciated.

 

Before you write off these people as ingrates, consider how their personality may play into the picture. Is the person you praised outgoing and enthusiastic? Or perhaps she’s more reserved. Maybe he’s a hard-charging character, or is an analytical “thinking” type. Paying careful attention to your colleague’s natural preferences for recognition can provide you clues into the best way to show your appreciation.

You might be thinking, “What?! You want me to be an armchair psychologist just so I can say ‘thank you’ to a co-worker?” No, you don’t need to be a shrink; you just need to reflect a bit before you say “thanks”. People tend to prefer recognition that falls into one of four categories:

No-Frills. People with this preference are direct, “straight-shooter” types. This person does not want a 10-piece marching band to announce his or her accomplishment. Keep the praise simple.

Social. For this person, enthusiasm is very important. And if the praise can be done in public, all the better! People with this recognition preference are natural networkers— public recognition helps them feel connected to those who know them.

Low-Key. Some people just don’t want to have a fuss made over them. They appreciate recognition as much as the next person, but it needs to be calm and most importantly sincere. People who prefer this type of recognition can spot a phony a mile away.

Specific. “Nice job” may suffice for some people (think: No-Frills) but that won’t cut it with a person who craves details. People with this recognition preference like to be recognized for specific accomplishments or job skills. The praise doesn’t need to be effusive, just accurately stated.

Giving people recognition lets them know that their work matters. When you do it in a way that honors their own unique preferences, you take it a step further: you show them that they matter.

 

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Jennifer V. Miller founded SkillSource in 1995, with a mission to help leaders and their organizations “master the people equation”. She shares her thoughts on creating professionalism in the digital age on her blog, The People Equation

Today is my first day back in the office from the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) Annual Conference in Las Vegas. While at the conference, I had the opportunity to meet with some of the human resource bloggers I follow all year on Twitter and through my RSS feed. Since these individuals are known for their expertise on everything human resources, I asked them each to share their employee recognition advice for HR professionals and managers. 

Rachel Salley (@rachelsalley)from the Career Anarchist blog stopped by the Baudville booth twice to complete her interview! Thanks for your dedication, Rachel! Visit the Career Anarchist blog to read her musings on the SHRM Annual Conference, employee engagement, and more.

Jessica Miller-Merrell (@blogging4jobs) also stopped by twice to chat with me about social media, HR, and employee recognition. Jessica is well-known in the HR industry for her blog, blogging4jobs.com. She’s apparently also one of the most popular SHRM attendees. She confided that she had six parties to go to on Monday night!

Matthew Stollak (@akabruno) of the True Faith HR warned us that as a professor, he would give us an academic response to our question about employee recognition. We didn’t mind! We thought his answer was great.

It was wonderful to finally meet Sharlyn Lauby (@sharlyn_lauby)in person at the conference this year. Sharlyn is president of Internal Talent Management Group and blogs at HR Bartender, so we talked about how to use recognition to make training more effective. We were able to give her an exclusive sneak peek into some exciting new products we have coming out in September.

Finally, we see the “Pin Man” every year at SHRM. Since we’re big proponents of lapel pins, we had to interview him to learn more about his impressive collection. Naturally, we added a new piece to his collection!

Overall, the bloggers all echoed the same sentiment: that employee recognition is important and is most effective when it is personalized to the recipient and sincere. What’s your piece of employee recognition advice for HR and managers?

At Baudville, we encourage all of our customers to celebrate Employee Appreciation Day. Annually acknowledged on the first Friday in March (March 4 this year), Employee Appreciation Day reminds managers, bosses, and employers to appreciate the individuals who keep the company running.

Celebrating Employee Appreciation Day can be a simple celebration when you get the entire team involved. Peer recognition will make everyone feel appreciated on Employee Appreciation Day, and it can be continued long after the day has passed.

Ben over at UpstartHR is one of our friends in the HR industry (I told you about his ebook yesterday) who recently tried out Shout Outs at one of his facilities. Even before the program was officially launched, employees were using the notes to thank and encourage their teammates. He wrote his own blog entry about the program here.

Shout Outs in use.

To use a peer recognition program on Employee Appreciation Day:

 First thing in the morning on Employee Appreciation Day, clearly communicate how the program works.
 Make the tools accessible to everyone.
 Utilize the power of public recognition. Post the notes in a public location so everyone can read them.
 Talk about the recognition at the end of the day. Pull the team together and read some of the outstanding notes.
 To make your Employee Appreciation Day peer recognition activity even more exciting, create small awards and present them at the end of the day. For example, you could honor the most eloquently written shout out, best haiku shout out, and the individual who received the most accolades.

Read more about peer recognition in these blog posts:
Everything You Wanted to Know About Peer-to-Peer Recognition Programs
How to Boost your Recognition Program with Peer Shout Outs
Peer Recognition is Coming to your ‘Ville

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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.

Most of the time, I cruise along, churning out competent work that everyone is happy with. Once in a while, I knock something out of the park and, on occasion, I flat out fail. This probably describes many people’s day-to-day work life, or at least I’d like to think so. (That you’re all human, I mean).

A couple of months ago, I had one of those crash and burn moments and, I have to tell you, it really stunk. It hurt my confidence so badly that I wasn’t sure I was going to bounce back. But eventually I did, and in doing so, redeemed my reputation with my colleagues. I also got a high five from someone whose opinion in this company really matters—our CEO.

It was around this same time that I was working on a really tough project that required me to think analytically, rather than the way I normally think, which is random, scatterbrained, and…ooh, look, it’s snowing outside!

Everyone knew this was so not the job for me; but, for a number of different reasons, I was doing it. At a particularly frustrating point in this task, our VP of Product & Merchandising stopped by and rewarded me with something she knows I value greatly: a casual day.

After these two experiences, I was really struck by how easy (and cheap) it can be to make a person feel good. I felt encouraged. And motivated. And really happy that I was noticed and valued for my contributions.

With so many companies still struggling through the economic downturn, it’s reassuring to know that there are affordable (even free) ways to recognize your employees for their hard work and dedication.     

As you plunge into the New Year, think about how you can make an impact on employee morale through simple acts of recognition and appreciation. That’s what we had on our minds when we developed these new, low-cost products:

Our new Note Pods, which Cori mentioned last week, give you an on-the-spot reward that includes a fun lapel pin and a small note, packaged in a cool plastic capsule—all for just a little over $2.50 each.

Or, if you want to give out a casual day, consider these new “I earned a casual day” stickers.

At just $0.35 each, your awardees can proudly display the reason they’re wearing jeans when no one else gets to!

And, finally, there’s still the good ol’ high five. Works every time.

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Allison is Baudville’s one (and only) Copywriter. She’s been writing for a variety of media for more than 10 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!