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. 

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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 Appreciation Day was Friday, I’m proud to report that, at Baudville, we did it right! The day was a huge success!

Our Baudville Winter Olympics provided a great day of team building, improving employee morale and had employees feeling appreciated all over the place. We had fun. We laughed. We celebrated. And most importantly, we ate.

Why does Employee Appreciation Day work for us? Because we don’t do it just one day a year, but we make employee appreciation a fun part of our culture. Planned employee celebrations and events (like our Winter Olympics) can be vital to an organization’s culture. Hosting these events sends a message to employees that you value them personally as much as you value their business results.

If you celebrated Employee Appreciation Day, great! Hopefully our content and resources helped. Now that you’ve had one great day of appreciation, try to make it two. Equip yourself with a manager tool that provides multiple recognition items you can hand out on a regular basis. You can save 15% on all our manager tools by becoming a fan on Facebook.

And the next time one of your employees does something outstanding, recognize it. You won’t even have to give out a gold medal (like we did). A handwritten note will do just fine.

To see highlights from our Winter Olympics Employee Appreciation Day, check out the pictures on Facebook or Flickr.

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 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.

Tomorrow is THE BIG DAY. We’ve been talking about Employee Appreciation Day for five weeks, and it’s finally here! Hopefully our webinar, blog posts, articles and ideas have fueled your passion for employee appreciation!

Now that Employee Appreciation Day is upon us, we want to know how you’re celebrating. Tell us what kind of activities you did, what gifts you gave out, and what your theme was for the day. You can post your comments on our blog or Facebook page. Be sure to take pictures, and post those, too!

We strongly believe that one of the best places to get ideas for employee recognition is from your peers. So don’t be stingy! Share all those great ideas!

We’ll get the sharing started with a preview of what’s in store for our Baudvillians. We’ve seen several articles about using the momentum of the Olympics to keep employee spirit and morale high at work, and we’re acting on it!

Tomorrow, we’re hosting the Baudville Winter Olympics for our Employee Appreciation Day celebration. All employees have been assigned to one of eight teams. Each team is assigned a color for its identity, and we passed out colorful bandanas to serve as “uniforms.” We made sure to create cross-departmental teams, so employees will interact with peers they may not typically work with. Teams are already getting into the competitive spirit! Bandanas are proudly displayed on desks and cubicles and some rowdy team members have started singing their team's praises. Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day!

There’s a schedule of six events, and at the end of the day we’re hosting closing ceremonies complete with awards! To keep up the team’ strength, we’re having lunch catered by Moe’s Southwest Grill - a Baudville favorite for lunch. It’s quite a treat!

I can’t share many more details right now, but I’ll be sure to give you a complete summary next week!

Enjoy Employee Appreciation Day!

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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.

In a rare bout of late night TV watching, I saw Jimmy Fallon’s thank you note skit for the first time Friday night. Apparently, it’s a regular part of the Late Night Show (unknown to me since the show airs way past my bedtime) and pretty popular (it has its own Facebook page).

As a recognition specialist, I silently rejoiced as Jimmy wrote thank you notes to the Olympics. After all, if Jimmy Fallon thinks thank you notes are cool, hopefully managers and supervisors will jump on the bandwagon, too!

Again and again I hear stories from employees about how a simple note from a manager made an individual feel valued and appreciated. In one particularly memorable story, the individual received a letter of praise from the company’s founder and president. It was a big deal because the company culture revolved around this person, his character and values. The employee framed the letter and still displays it at his desk, years later.

Friday is Employee Appreciation Day, and we’ve been talking about this holiday a lot around Baudville because we know it can have a big impact on how employees feel about their jobs and their employer. Celebrating Employee Appreciation Day doesn’t have to be a large production. It simply needs to be sincere.

Take a lesson from Baudville (and Jimmy Fallon!) and write a thank you note to each of your employees for Employee Appreciation Day. Have all the cards waiting on their desks when they come in Friday. The surprise will make the appreciation memorable long after Employee Appreciation Day has past.

Give employees flair for their desks with your handwritten thank you notes.

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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.

When it comes time to plan for Employee Appreciation Day, I always recommend making manager-to-employee handwritten notes a part of the day.  My enthusiasm for this simple act of appreciation comes from my experience at Baudville.

Each Employee Appreciation Day, I've always started the day by finding a handwritten note from my manager on my desk.  I still have each of these notes (and many others) stored away for safekeeping because the personal note reminds me that I'm a valued part of the team.

As you prepare for Employee Appreciation Day, – only 16 days to go! – you may want to start writing your notes of appreciation early, especially if you have a large team. I’ve put together 8 steps that you should follow when writing each note. Follow my guide, and your employees will be saving their notes for safekeeping, too!

If you’re looking for more ideas to make Employee Appreciation Day personal and meaningful for your employees, sign up for our live video webisode this Thursday at 11:30am EST. You can register on our website!

1. Begin with the recipient’s name.

2. Say “Thank you.”

3. Be specific about what qualities in the recipient you appreciate. 
    “The dedication you put into every project…” 
    “Your positive attitude…”

4. Discuss the impact of the behavior or action. 
    “Your effort keeps our projects on time and under budget.” 
    “Your creative thinking keeps the team energized with new ideas.”

5. Connect the behavior to the company’s goals and mission. 
    “Thanks to you, we’re sure to meet our goals!”

    “You’re a great leader.”

6. Say “Thank you” again.

7. Wrap up your thank you note with an appropriate sign off. 
    “Keep up the great work!” 
    “Cheers!”

8. Sign your name.

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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.

We all love receiving gifts. And giving a gift is a unique way to let someone know you were thinking of them. Each gift we receive carries a significant message. We know that the giver was thinking about us, spent time choosing the right item and used hard-earned resources to give it to us. That’s a lot of thought and effort!

Everyone is on a budget these days, and gift-giving has likely taken a back seat to more pressing priorities. However, like the good bargain shopper that I am, I would advise that you can find a great gift at a great value as long as you know where to look.

To make a big, positive impact on your employees, celebrate Employee Appreciation Day by giving gifts to your employees. It doesn’t have to be big, name brand or trendy – it just needs to be thoughtful. Like giving a new travel mug and a coffee gift card for your employee who walks in everyday with, not one, but two Starbucks coffees. Or a fresh bag of candy for your employee who always has a full candy dish that she’s willing to share.

After all, it truly is the thought that counts when it comes to gift giving.

We think employee gifts are a pretty important element of Employee Appreciation Day, and Baudville is making an effort to make gift giving affordable for all managers. Each week leading up to Employee Appreciation Day, we’ve got special discounts and offers for our Facebook fans. This week, you can save 15% on all mugs, so you can give your team a fresh cup of coffee. The offer is only available on our page, and you have to act quickly because it’s only valid for a week. We also just discounted nearly 200 items on the Clearance section of our website.

You can even get help selecting just the right Employee Appreciation Day gift with our Gift Finder tool on our website. You input your gift criteria, and we’ll suggest products we know your employees will love. 

So put on your bargain shopping hat, shop responsibly, be sincere, and make a big impact on Employee Appreciation Day!

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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.

I’ve been getting pretty excited about Employee Appreciation Day, but I’m probably even more excited for our first webinar that we’re hosting on February 18th. We’ve been talking about webinars for quite a while around Baudville, and it’s finally becoming a reality!

I’ll readily admit that I’m a webinar junkie. I love all the free information and education I can get from the convenience of my own desk, but sometimes those hour long presentations can become a little dull. That’s why we decided to infuse Baudville’s webinars with a little positive mojo.

Instead of scrolling PowerPoint slides, our webinar will feature our Director of Positive Mojo, Kurt, broadcasting LIVE from his office on ustream.tv. You can watch Kurt via video as he shares ideas for Employee Appreciation Day – complete with props! Plus, you can chat with Kurt and attendees via Twitter or on the site’s chat room to ask questions, pass along ideas or simply say hello. We think it’ll be pretty cool!

We’re calling it Recognition TV and next Thursday is our first webisode where Kurt will share Employee Appreciation Day ideas for the upcoming recognition holiday. Register on our website now to attend. I hope you’ll join us!

For a small taste of what our webisode will be like, view Kurt's "commercial"!

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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!

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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.

Companies are responding to the crisis in Haiti and supporting the recovery efforts of the earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince last week. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that U.S. companies pledged more than $43 million dollars within the first 72 hours after the earth quake, and many more have donated since then. Baudville has also joined the cause.

Baudville’s Helping Hand, Baudville’s charitable fund, has made a $5,000 donation to Partners in Health (PIH) to assist with medical care in Haiti. PIH’s mission is to provide a preferential option for the poor in health care. The organization has had a presence in Haiti since 1985, and currently operates 8 medical facilities in the country.

Partners In Health will be integral in the medical care of the relief efforts. Because PIH is a primary healthcare provider in Haiti, patients are flooding their sites outside of Port-au-Prince for help and medical care. Donations to PIH will assist with their earthquake relief efforts and provide medical care to those wounded in the quake.

For more information about Partners in Health and to donate to their Haiti relief work, please visit www.pih.org. Together, we can make a difference.