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.

---------------------- 

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 just got back from Boston and the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) Education Forum and Annual Meeting. What a whirlwind! Even though the Office Expo is only two days, they were both incredibly busy!

Our booth stayed busy talking to attendees and showing off our new products!

I truly enjoyed talking to all the attendees because they understood the importance of recognition. Attendees went crazy for our new Premium Cheers Kits because of the ability to write a handwritten note on each of the kit components. It doesn’t hurt that the kits have unique keepsakes, too!

When it comes to practicing recognition, IAAP attendees must convince their boss to make the investment. This is common across industries and professions which is why we design products that are affordable (Cheers Kits are only $1 each time you recognize!) and easy to use. There’s no contract or high minimum to buy, and our recognition products don’t require intensive manager training.

I encourage customers to start small and try on recognition before they purchase tools for everyone. Plus, we have our 30 Day Employee Morale Guarantee. If you don’t see a rise in employee morale after using our recognition products for 30 days, we’ll refund your purchase with no questions asked. With that promise, you can’t afford not to recognize!

I also recommend reading our recognition white papers and sharing them with your boss. The Day-to-Day Recognition White Paper is full of valuable information and resources that demonstrate the value of regular recognition. Follow Baudville on Twitter and like Baudville on Facebook for regular recognition articles, blog posts and tips that can bring increased value to your organization.

Although our new IAAP friends are still in Boston today attending classes, I’m getting ready to continue our conversation. We will be following up with all of the attendees we saw at the booth with a special email offer, and for everyone who stopped by when our catalogs were gone, we’ll get one in the mail to you right away!

Thank you IAAP for a great expo and fun times in Boston!

One of the attendees recognized me from our webisodes, and she wanted to have her picture taken with the Director of Positive Mojo!

-------------------------------

On the surface, Kurt is Baudville’s mild-mannered Director of Sales, but when it comes to recognition, he quickly turns into the dashing Director of Positive Mojo. Using his powers as a Certified Recognition Professional, Kurt infuses his team with recognition knowledge and experience, while encouraging them to practice daily recognition with his energetic and creative flair. We’re pretty sure there’s a cape hanging from the back of his door. 

We’ve been having a lot of fun around Baudville in the last few weeks. Part of it is due to the general level of busyness we’ve been experiencing and the anticipation of over 250 new products we’re releasing in two weeks. Stay tuned for more information about those coming in the next week!

But a lot of the fun is thanks to our latest addition to Club Baudville…

A beautiful new table for table tennis!

This summer, Baudville is a sponsor of the USA Table Tennis US Open taking place in our hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan, June 29-July 3. Baudville has a longtime connection to Dell and Connie Sweeris, Grand Rapids natives, USA Table Tennis Hall of Fame Inductees and advocates for bringing this event to West Michigan. When they asked us to support the US Open, we got right on board!

To get our employees into the table tennis spirit, we got our own table and held an internal table tennis tournament that wrapped up on Friday. The tournament was the talk around the ‘ville, and employees turned out to watch some heated matches and cheer on their co-workers. We had some pretty creative cheerleaders!

Congratulations to Pete, Carl and Deb, our table tennis champions!

The table tennis tournament was an easy way to get our employees engaged in something non-work related, build rapport across department lines and boost morale of teams, departments and individuals. More significantly, hosting events like the table tennis tournament helps to define our corporate culture: one that is centered on fun, teamwork and results.

What have you done recently to build or promote your culture? The summer is a great time for fun teambuilding events, and many organizations host company picnics, management outings or both. Putting on a small activity for your employees can make a world of difference in their levels of engagement and morale, and it will be fun for everyone, too!

Baudville has been active on Twitter for almost a year. We post tips, offers and content that’s relevant to employee recognition and engagement. My favorite thing about Twitter – other than engaging with interesting and knowledgeable professionals – is discovering and sharing new content. 

On any given Friday, you’ll see a multitude of tweets including #followfriday or #ff for short. Follow Friday was started by a single Twitter user who wanted his friends and followers to each suggest a person to follow, and the trend grew. Follow Fridays have been going on for over a year now. In social media years, that’s old! 

This week, I wanted to share a few articles and Twitter accounts with you through my own expanded version of Follow Friday. I’ve listed a couple interesting articles from the week and the author’s Twitter account. If you decide to join Twitter, you’ll already know who to follow!

"What HR Can Learn from the Oscars" by @jpelliotphd

On his blog Managing the Curve, JP Elliot shares his insights into the true significance of the Oscars and – shocker – it’s not the fashion. It’s the recognition. For Hollywood, winning an Oscar marks the pinnacle of a career. Achievement awards can hold the same cultural significance in your organization, too. Read JP’s article for his tips to create your own award program.

"Working on your bracketology? The boss hopes not!" from the San Francisco Chronicle

Sunday is selection day for the NCAA men’s basketball championships, and next Thursday and Friday rival Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving) for loss of productivity in the workplace. Although employees may spend work time filling out brackets and checking game scores, the common activity improves employee morale and camaraderie. Is the trade off worth it? Let us know what you think by leaving a comment. 

The Forum for People Performance Management on Twitter @FORUMForPEOPLE

The Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement has long been one of my go-to sources for valid research on employee engagement and motivation. Their Twitter account updates followers on their latest research topics, reports and relevant articles. A great follow for anyone on the lookout for workplace motivation strategies. 

 --------------------

Cori is a Certified Recognition Professional at Baudville and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her daily Employee Appreciation Day tips and weekly deals by becoming a fan of Baudville on Facebook.

Employee morale. Employee engagement. Employee retention.

These workplace issues have already dominated 2010 business news. Employee satisfaction is reportedly at a 22 year low in the United States with only 45% of Americans satisfied with their jobs and half of current workers planning to make a career move as the economy recovers.

The first Friday of March is an opportunity for employers and managers to boost employee morale and satisfaction in workplaces. Employee Appreciation Day annually focuses the attention of all employers in all industries on employee recognition. Employee recognition is a powerful motivator for employees and when used regularly, can give a company an advantage over the competition. Read our white papers for more data and stats on the benefits recognition can have in the workplace. 

Employee Appreciation Day can have a significant impact on the attitude and morale of your employees this year. To help make it successful, we’ve prepared 25 Employee Recognition Day tips and ideas that we will share daily through Twitter and Facebook. Plus, each Monday our tip will include a special weekly deal (become a Facebook fan to get all the details!) to help you plan your Employee Appreciation Day. Become a fan or start following us today so you won’t miss any of these great tips!

If you’re serious about making a difference in your workplace culture this year, you can get more in depth information and ideas in our Recognition Resource Center. We’ve created several articles especially for Employee Appreciation Day. Have a question? Got a great idea to share? We want to hear it! You can send it to us through Facebook, Twitter or by posting a comment on this blog.

We hope you have a successful and influential Employee Appreciation Day!

Employee Appreciation Day Articles
 Employee Appreciation Day Team Activities
 Why You Should Celebrate Employee Appreciation Day
 Employee Appreciation Day Gifts
 Employee Appreciation Day Themes

This week calendars are promoting Fun at Work Day; our calendar lists it on Thursday, January 28. Though some people may roll their eyes or consider office diversions like Fun at Work Day to be frivolous, having fun at work can actually be extremely profitable, as Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For prove.

At SAS, a privately owned software company at the top of Fortune’s list this year, an employee-friendly culture reigns supreme and fun isn’t hard to find. Employees watch intramural teams compete in volleyball and soccer during weekdays and M&Ms are readily available for staff (they go through 22.5 tons a year).

One employee from Wegmans Food Market, third on the list, is quoted by Fortune on how a fun atmosphere encourages him to work harder: “I just love it. No day is the same as the previous day. I'm usually here until 6 in the evenings and on Fridays I work until 8, or if it's really fun I stick around until 9. Sometimes I lose track of time.”

Fun at work can translate to lower employee stress levels, higher commitment, increased engagement and improved results. While Fortune’s 100 best are able to offer desirable employee perks and benefits, organizations of all shapes and sizes can create a fun work environment that employees will appreciate. Remember, the key to a successful fun work culture is consistency. Managers and company leadership need to encourage and embrace fun all year round if they want to impact corporate culture.

Bring fun to your work this week (and beyond) with these ideas from Baudville. Having some fun may take a little bit of time out of the typical work day, but it will be well worth it.

• Play board games at lunch.
• Host a ping pong tournament.
• Get creative juices flowing with a game of Pictionary or charades
• Build ice cream sundaes together.
• Make the traditional potluck more interesting by having employees guess who made which dish.
•  Host a caption contest. Take a picture of someone in the office, add a thought bubble and have employees fill in the bubble. Post the results and give everyone something to laugh about.
• Have an "Embarrassing Incident" contest and give a prize to the person who suffered the funniest cringe-worthy moment.
• Give employees a set of our Print and Post sayings. Encourage them to give the sayings to their peers and brainstorm their own.
• Host a department spirit day or week and celebrate all the great things about your team.
• Have a paper air plane throwing contest.
• Keep a stash of Everyday Certificates handy and give out “You’re the Bomb Diggity Awards” often.
• Do an old-school arts and craft project like paper maché or anything involving macaroni or play-doh.
• Give employees their own candy dish full with sweets.
• Hand out Pick Your Nose Party Cups and take pictures of your staff with their new noses.
• Give employees their own set of coloring books and crayons for stress relief.

Allison, one of the regular contributors to the blog, was the subject in this Fill-in-the-Thought-Bubble exercise.

What are some of your organization’s fun office ideas? What activity or event do employees ask for over and over again? Tell us about it! We’d like to try it out for ourselves!

------------

Cori is a Certified Recognition Professional at Baudville and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her daily recognition tips by following Baudville on Twitter at Twitter.com/Baudville.

It’s time to put 2009 behind us – finally! – and set the priorities and resolutions that will bring success in 2010. To help you get a fresh start in the new year, we’ve come out with 142 new products, 3 new themes and 14 new manager tools. Plus, this month we’re implementing our new Employee Morale Guarantee.

Baudville has always stood behind its products with a 30 day product guarantee. The Employee Morale Guarantee also backs up the impact we believe our products can have on your staff. We’re so confident that our products will be effective that we’ll give you a refund if you don’t notice a rise in employee morale.

We recommend that managers who have previously identified themselves as “recognition skeptics” – and you know who you are! – use this opportunity to take recognition for a test drive. What do you have to lose? If the product doesn’t work, you can get a refund! And if it does, you’re stuck with all the advantages of increased employee morale: higher engagement and ultimately improved company performance.

Managers can find the right recognition product to use by completing our Recognition Tool Finder quiz, a five question quiz that determines, based on your answers, the right recognition products for them. And you’re sure to find something you like within our large repertoire of recognition products.

       Making the Difference is one of the six different themes the Pintastic Manager is available in.

Our latest and greatest manger tool is the Pintastic Manager. It’s our latest “signature” product that joins our popular Caboodle and provides everything managers need to give day-to-day recognition all in one binder. The binder comes with 32 coordinating lapel pins and cards and has built in spaces for making a record of all the recognition you’ve given.

2010 is underway, and there’s no time to lose when it comes to increasing employee morale and motivation. This year, you can’t afford not to recognize employees. Give it a try and let us know how it goes. You’ve got nothing to lose…and lots to gain!

--------
Cori is a Certified Recognition Professional at Baudville and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her daily recognition tips by following Baudville on Twitter at Twitter.com/Baudville.

The holidays are an important time of year to express appreciation for friends, family and especially employees. It’s not too late to order thoughtful holiday employee recognition gifts for your entire team. And with employee morale, engagement and loyalty nearing rock bottom, managers can’t afford not to recognize employees this holiday season.

I’ve put together a small selection of holiday employee recognition gifts that have been so popular this year, customers are already submitting positive feedback on our website. You can view all holiday recognition gifts here, or visit their individual product pages.

Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of time to get your gifts. We have same-day shipping to ensure your recognition can happen in a timely manner!

Spinner Ornament – Customers like the personalization options on the ornament; you can add recipients’ names or a logo. It also arrives in a gift box, so it’s ready to give.

Character Pins – The Character Pin is a popular holiday employee recognition gift because of the themed message and collectable lapel pin. Managers can read the story out loud to the group and avoid the struggle for the right motivational words.

Travel Mug – Employees love to receive gifts that they can use everyday. A handy travel mug will serve as a daily reminder of your appreciation for everything they do.

The holidays are approaching, and everyone agrees that employee morale has experienced a turn for the worse. Corporations are expected to have a record low number of employee holiday parties. Give your staff a boost with an inspiring and optimistic theme for the year end.

In this blog entry, I’m throwing the spotlight on one of our latest additions to our Recognition Theme library, New Beginnings.

We designed New Beginnings especially for the 2009 corporate climate. The year has been especially challenging for companies and employees who have struggled with layoffs, budget cuts and just plain hard times. The soothing color palette and optimistic story motivates your team for the next year and hints at better things to come.

So how do you use New Beginnings in your organization? Give your employees a small token of your appreciation for the year by selecting a personal gift for the entire team. You can also engrave the story on a number of products and personalize it for your recipients.

Most importantly, though, your employees want to hear from you. Add a holiday greeting card to your gift and take the time to write a personal note inside of each one. Let your employees know what it is you appreciate about them. This is the greatest gift you can give this year.

Will New Beginnings be your theme for the end of the year? Tell us how you’re using it! Email us at recognition@baudville.com.

The New Beginnings Story
Freshly fallen snow revives the senses, Inspiring new ideas. Each tiny flake glistens with optimism and the promise of new beginnings. ‘Tis the season for possibilities.

---

Cori is a Certified Recognition Professional at Baudville and a member of the Millennial generation. Follow her recognition tips at Twitter.com/Baudville.

The holiday season is underway. All the usual signs are here: retail stores have put up the holiday displays, toy advertisements are in circulation, and that one annoying radio station has started playing Christmas music. At the same time, companies are beginning to consider the state of their holiday company celebrations. Typically, organizations take the end of the year as an opportunity to recognize the accomplishments of staff and the successes of the company. However, this year, it may seem like there are fewer reasons to celebrate…and less to celebrate with.

After a challenging 2009, many organizations are wondering if they can afford to have the traditional holiday party. Even if budgets are tight this year, we recommend not giving up on the holiday party altogether. This event is a primary employee morale booster and an important demonstration of good will for your employees. Instead, brainstorm ideas that will help cut back on the costs of the event without sacrificing the appreciation employees receive. This Associated Press article by Joyce M. Rosenberg has several ideas to pare back your company celebration costs.

Baudville’s also risen to the challenge to help organizations give their employees some much needed recognition this year. We’ve created three new holiday themes and coordinating employee gifts that help managers and company leaders give appreciation during the holidays. Most of the products in the collections are under $10 each, making recognition extremely affordable.

This year, when you select your employee holiday gifts and awards, you may find yourself recognizing different behaviors. Instead of broken sales records and exceeded revenue goals, accomplishments this year may be more subtle. Recognize the effort and hard work that helped you get through the year. And if you’re lucky enough to be able to recognize exceeded goals, make a big deal about it!

Don’t forget that for appreciation to be truly effective, it needs to happen more than once a year. An excerpt from Joyce Rosenberg’s article says it all:

“The boss needs to let employees know their work is appreciated no matter what time of year it is. And along with the positive feedback an owner needs to give, there should be periodic events to lighten the collective spirit…If you lay the groundwork throughout the year, it makes for a much richer environment, and people are much more willing to share."

Try “laying the groundwork” of recognition all year with day-to-day recognition practices, and extend employee cheer year-round.

----
Cori is a Certified Recognition Professional at Baudville and a member of the Millennial generation.