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.

Even if you love your job, you probably still spend a little time Sunday night in denial that Monday is just a few hours away. I do and I do.

But last Monday was different, because several of us in Baudville’s creative group were looking forward to an afternoon field trip to a letterpress studio in downtown Grand Rapids. One of our design interns has a small setup called Not Design and she was more than happy to let us invade her space for a few hours to learn about old-school printmaking—a very hands-on process that’s a far cry from the high-tech computerized graphic design and desktop publishing tools we use today.

I had such a great time that I really wanted to tell everyone about it; but, before you think I’ve hijacked the Baudville blog for my own personal agenda, let me illustrate the many tangible business benefits of such an excursion:

Building Camaraderie. Also known as teamwork’s kissing cousin, camaraderie is as much about working together as it is about working nicely together. Let’s face it, when you see the same people every day, you tend to take them for granted. Engaging with your coworkers “out in the wild” can rekindle your appreciation for their contributions and unique talents.  

Offering Growth and Fulfillment. Learning opportunities can be a part of an employer’s total rewards package. In addition to compensation and benefits, many companies offer different educational activities as a way to sweeten the pot, so to speak. Even a modest field trip can have a profound impact on job satisfaction and, in turn, morale. (the fact that I’m so eager to tell you about it is proof right there.)

Inspiring Innovation. Magical things very often come out of these experiences. They’re called ideas. Whether it’s a training conference, or a seminar, or a tour of a local business, if it’s relevant to the work you do (and even if it’s not), something is bound to create a spark. We’ve seen it first hand at Baudville, which is why we usually kick off a new product development cycle with some kind of off-site brainstorming session to take our minds out of the familiar. (By the way, you can check out all the new products that came out of our last session here!)

Put all of these benefits together and you have the makings of a great place to work. In fact, there’s a web site called Great Place to Work®, which describes the five fundamentals of a great place to work (hence, the name). You can learn more here.   

And, finally, here we are, creating our masterpieces:

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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 two years and has worked in a variety of business settings for more than 17 years. Before becoming a professional writer 10 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!

Our team 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!

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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.