We're bringing back the High Five for Friday blog posts from last year to share some of our favorite tips, activities, and ideas to make work more engaging. Our bloggers will take turns giving high fives to their favorite things, so you'll get a wide variety of information from week to week.

Let's get it started!

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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.

Each year thousands of people across the nation raise awareness and support women and breast cancer research  throughout the month of October by wearing pink, donating their time and money to breast cancer foundations, or participating in fundraising events. It goes without saying (but I am going to say it anyway), that I am proud to be part of a nation that values supporting one another and raising awareness for such important causes!

With October behind us, now it’s time to show our support for MEN! Our team at Baudville has joined with thousands of men (and women) all around the world by participating in the celebration of MOVEMBER!  What is Movember (pronounced MO-vember), you ask? Read an excerpt from the source below for more details or check out www.MOVEMBER.com

"During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces, in the US and around the world. With their Mo's, these men raise vital awareness and funds for men's health issues, specifically prostate and testicular cancer initiatives. Men start Movember 1st clean shaven. For the rest of the month, these selfless and generous men, known as Mo Bros, groom, trim and wax their way into the annals of fine moustachery. Mo Bros effectively become walking, talking billboards for the 30 days of November. Through their actions and words they raise awareness by prompting private and public conversation around the often ignored issue of men’s health."

So it’s pretty easy to see how men can get involved in this campaign to raise awareness for men’s health, but how do the ladies make a difference? With their support! The Mo Sistas pledge to support the Mo Bros throughout all of Movember – after all, growing that moustache can be hard work! 

Here’s how we’re sprouting ‘staches, and supporting the cause at Baudville:

- Each man participating came clean-shaven on Movember 1st with a donation of $5.
- Men who were already blessed with a hairy face could commit to not shaving for 30 days with a $10 donation.
- Men, women, and anyone else who wanted to support the cause, came ready to acknowledge a man in their life or support a Baudville ‘stache participant with a $10 donation.
- Baudville will match all employee donations, with all proceeds going to a local cancer-focused charitable organization.

All participants received 5 (that’s one whole work week around here!) casual days  to be used in the month of Movember.  Every Friday in Movember we will hold a fun activity – and photo op to gauge our facial progress – check out our Facebook page  for more! Our grand finale will be held on November 30th. Cash and prizes will go to participants and supporters alike – although super extra-credit will go to Baudville’s best and worst moustaches!

Our committed team of stache-ers, raising some CASH and making a difference in the future of men’s health. Fellas, may the ‘stache be with you…

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I don’t know about you, but I am terrible at sending written notes. I hear it is a problem with my generation, but I think every generation is losing their will to send out hand written notes. This is really too bad because people truly feel appreciated and cared about when you take a little extra time out of your day to write a special note. Luckily for us, we can start 2012 off right because January is National Thank You Month!

First let’s recap on how to write a thank you note. (For some of us it might have been awhile!)

1.    Start with a greeting and the Recipient's name.
           a.    Dear Baudville Blog Readers,
2.    Express your gratitude to them for something they have specifically done.
           a.    I really appreciate your dedication to reading our blog posts and your desire to change your employees’ experience in the workplace. I truly enjoy all your wonderful comments and ideas.
3.    Express your thanks once again and sign your name.
           a.    Thanks for being so awesome,
                  Kendra

Dear Baudville Blog Readers,
I really appreciate your dedication to reading our blog posts and your desire to change your employee’s experience in the workplace. I truly enjoy all your wonderful comments and ideas.
Thanks for being awesome,
Kendra 

WOW, it really is that easy to brighten up someone’s day! So why don’t we write thank yous more often?

Here to help are some of Baudville’s great products and themes that you can use to say thanks! 

Write a hand written note of thanks on our Thanks for All You Do! themed Shout Out,  then post the Shout Out. The nice thing about Shout Outs is that it gives you a little cheat sheet with ideas to recognize team members for. This is located right above the individual Shout Out sheets that you tear off to write a note.

Recognize a job well done with one of our fun and colorful Thank You themed pocket praise. Pocket Praises are small cards that are perfect for setting on a desktop or hanging on the wall of a cubicle.
        

Say thanks in a unique way. Our G-Thanks themed Birchwood note cards  are an eco-friendly way to express your gratitude.  Wooden note cards can be easily written on with a pen, pencil, or marker.

Leave a quick thank you sticky note at a team member’s desk. Our Thank You themed Sticky Note Booklet  comes with many sized sticky notes for you to choose from.

So, let’s take 5 minutes out of our weeks this month to write a team member a thank you note. That’s 5 thank you notes and 25 minutes out of the whole month of January. We can do it!

Share some of your hand written thank you note tips with me!

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Kendra is the newest Baudvillian. She is currently an advertising intellectual at Grand Valley State University, and is ecstatic about the change of atmosphere as Baudville’s web marketing intern. Watch out because this young professional just touched down at Baudville.

As the business day approaches its end, hushed whispers bounce around from cubicle to cubicle. “Do you think we’ll get one?” “I heard that we were going to have one.”  4:30 comes and goes… no word, 4:45… nothing. The realization sets in as Baudvillians shuffle papers, finishing their final projects of the day, sighing from the unfulfilled rumors. 4:50, out of the corner of my eye, an email pops up on the computer screen. Casual Day Tomorrow!!!

No email brings greater enjoyment then one proclaiming a Casual Day. Casual Days are cherished events here at Baudville. Rejoicing rushes through the entire building. “Yes! We get to wear jeans tomorrow.”  Being a college student I am personally all for casual dress, so I can’t help but look forward to a Casual Day. For me, Casual Days mean pushing the snooze button 1 extra time.

There are a number of reasons as to why your company can offer Casual Days. Your employees could have achieved a goal of theirs, they might have gone above and beyond by working late, or the company could have had a good sales day. This week several of our teammates were out of the office representing Baudville and Idville at the annual SHRM conference, back at the office, our CEO enticed us with a few Casual Days.

But there was a catch; to obtain our Casual Days we had to wear an “I’m Casual Today” sticker with a creative reason stating why we deserved to be casual. These reasons ranged from I am casual today because: I dominated a project, to I can recite the Jabberwocky passage in Alice in Wonderland. Allowing for lots of conversation and laughter throughout the day, as we read everyone’s I’m casual today stickers.

Casual Days for us are not a day to slack off in our jeans. It is a day when we are appreciated for doing a great job. To keep our morale going, we receive casual days to reiterate the fact that we have been working hard and to keep up the hard work.

As I finish up this blog post its 4:30, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed tomorrow will be day 3 of Casual Days!

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Kendra is the newest Baudvillian. She is currently an advertising intellectual at Grand Valley State University, and is ecstatic about the change of atmosphere as Baudville’s web marketing intern. Watch out because this young professional just touched down at Baudville.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Holidays are a great opportunity to have some fun in the office, boost morale, and improve employee engagement. We’re doing several things today to make St. Patrick’s Day fun for our employees:

- Casual day. Employees can wear jeans as long as they have on something green in honor of St. Patrick’s Day!

Enjoying a green casual day. Leprechauns are casual, right?

- Irish Music. Our office music was turned to an Irish station this morning to help everyone get in touch with their Irish side.

- Green Potluck. One of our favorite ways to celebrate! Our sales department is hosting their own potluck, and each employee was challenged to bring in a green item to share with the team. In honor of March Madness (also kicking off today), one of our employees made this green Spartan cake.

Goodies in our green potluck.

- Holiday ePraise cards. Send a special note to your employees or co-workers letting them know how lucky you feel to work with them. Our ePraise cards are free to send and – just for St. Patrick’s Day – all green!

Samples of free St. Patrick's Day ePraise cards.

- St. Patrick’s Day Lapel Pins. We’re big into lapel pins at Baudville, and I’ve already spotted a few Clovers Character Pins and green lapel pins decorating staff’s lapels.

How is your office celebrating St. Patrick’s Day? What kinds of fun activities or events are you throwing? Let us know!

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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.