Tips and Tools to Keep Your Employees Where They Belong

Back in December, we shared some insights and revelations gleaned from ClearEdge President Leslie Vickrey’s facilitation of the 2011 TechServe Alliance Conference & Tradeshow. The conference included more than 60 women who work for or own IT services and staffing firms. Roundtable discussions covered relevant topics like social media, mentoring, recruiting & sales and employee retention.

Do you ever wonder what happens after these roundtable discussions? Whatever comes from them? 

Here at ClearEdge Marketing, we are constantly evolving and implementing some of the “tricks” and tools we share with our clients. And true to our word, we recently implemented a new employee recognition program. Our new quarterly employee recognition award—the Edge Award—was given to Marketing Director Carrie Loch. Carrie joined the ClearEdge team in 2009, and has emerged as a leader within our organization. She consistently demonstrates the highest level of service to her clients, and is the first to pitch in and help the team. We are proud to recognize Carrie’s efforts with the Edge Award!

You can reward and recognize your employees—now!

Employee recognition doesn’t always require a formal reward. As a matter of fact, you can create a culture of recognition (and retain your top talent) using some of these tips:

1. Get creative…or not. Maybe you’ve been itching to create a new award system. Quarterly, monthly or even weekly, you want to enact all the bells and whistles. That sounds great! But maybe your culture is a little different, or you don’t have the time and budget to institute a formal award. Employee recognition can be as small as sharing “kudos” during team meetings, or personally delivering praise and positive feedback on performance.
2. Be consistent. It’s great that you want to recognize the contributions of your employees, but if you don’t make a habit of it, you may lose the respect of your employees. New programs or initiatives can sometimes come and go, but when it comes to recognizing the efforts of your employees, don’t let it fall by the wayside. Experts say that habits can take 21 days to formulate. So start at the top, and assign one act of employee recognition to your managers and leaders. Pretty soon, you’ll have a culture of recognition—and happier employees!
3. Involve the team. A culture of recognition and support includes positive encouragement and recognition not only from management, but from within the organization. Find ways to involve the entire team in your culture of recognition. Take a few minutes during team meetings to encourage your employees to share positive feedback. Or if your team is nervous about speaking up, designate an area where your employees can anonymously deliver positive feedback to their co-workers. When your employees feel like valued members of the team, from management and their peers, they are less likely to be led astray by the competition!

Still looking for a little inspiration? Employee recognition programs are integral components of many top businesses:

Apple - Apple is known for its incredible security and secrecy. They’ve even gone so far as to hire employees for “fake” jobs to assess credibility and trustworthiness! But the company also realizes that without their top talent, their success would take a nosedive. As a result, the company has instituted extensive employee discounts—available to everyone from senior management down to part-time employees in their Apple Stores. Just last month, Apple added to its already-generous employee discount plan, with an additional $500 savings on a new Mac, and $250 off an iPad. Apple CEO Tim Cook even sent an email to the entire Apple team, thanking them for their contributions to the continued success of the organization. With a large company like Apple, it could be easy for recognition to get lost in the shuffle, or handed down to low-level managers. Instead, their culture of appreciation and recognition goes straight to the top.

Google - Fortune has named Google its #1 place to work in the country, and it’s not without good reason. Leadership at Google understands how difficult it is to find and retain top talent, and they’ve made a cultural commitment to keeping their employees where they belong. From free gourmet food to laundry facilities to surprise $1,000 bonuses and 10% raises, Google is constantly finding new ways to recognize the contributions of their employees and invest in their talent.

Wegmans - The Rochester, N.Y.-based grocery chain has seen double-digit growth in past years. How do they do it? Their motto is, “Employees first, customers second.” The company understands that to delight customers and surpass expectations, they must invest in the satisfaction of their employees. Back in the 1950s, founder Robert Wegman instituted a then unheard-of employee benefits program, understanding even then the value of a happy and healthy team. The company also makes a significant investment in its employees, offering extensive training and cross-training opportunities, as well as an extensive scholarship program for employees and their families. It’s an investment that has paid off. In addition to their incredible growth, approximately 20 percent of their employees have been with the company for 10 years or longer. In an industry with high turnover, the number is astounding. The industry turnover rate is approximately 19 percent. Wegmans’ turnover rate? A mere 6 percent.

Afraid you can’t compete with the high-level programs available at companies like Apple and Google? Don’t be! These are great examples to get your creative juices flowing, but they won’t be an instant fit for every organization. Whether you have a staff of 10 or 1,000, you can implement an effective employee recognition program that is right for your business.

Feeling motivated? Get out there and start recognizing your employees! And be sure to come back to our blog and share your successes.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 8th, 2012 at 10:00 am and is filed under Blogroll, Business & Marketing Strategy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.