Member Expert: Giving Kudos; Employee Recognition at Its Finest

By Kayla Riemensperger, Executive Admin, California Custom Fruits & Flavors | | 9.16.20

Aspire Economic Development Chamber Alliance Johnson County Indiana

Employee recognition comes in a plethora of forms. From a small gesture, such as communicating about a job well done, all the way to formally giving a shout-out for an employee’s excellent work to the entire company. No matter how you choose to acknowledge and thank your employees…trust me…a little goes a long way.

More often than not, companies get caught up focusing on the big accomplishments, the failures, and everything in between. This can sometimes lead to neglecting employee recognition. Now, no company ever abandons employee recognition on purpose, it’s just easy to forget about recognizing those, even for the small tasks, when the focus is on completing the larger task at hand. Emphasizing giving kudos for challenging work, whether it be manager-to-employee or peer-to-peer makes a substantial difference when measuring employee satisfaction and engagement. When employees feel underappreciated your company may run into issues such as low employee retention, disengaged employees, and overall a loss of productivity. The bottom line is…the more you recognize your employees the more engaged they become which leads to an increase in quality work, productivity, and overall a more positive company culture.

Recently, I had the opportunity to create a project focused on boosting employee recognition and positivity in the workplace. I was astounded by how much of a difference acknowledging others made for the company culture that I wanted to share my simple solution with others looking for ways to boost morale in the office. I began with wanting to create a way for all employees and managers to recognize each other anytime that they witnessed someone go above and beyond. So, I created a “Shout-out Board” which hangs in the breakroom for all to see. The directions to use the board are simple, an employee grabs a sheet of paper and fills out a personalized shout-out (big and small wins), pins it up on the board, and each Friday I send out an email with every single shout-out from that week to the entire office. Then at the end of the month, I tally up each employee’s shout-outs and the person with the most is rewarded with an appreciation lunch!

I have found that this simple idea has brought much joy and positivity to the entire office. Many employees have told me how much they appreciate getting a simple thank you for the demanding work that they have done. It has been a way to put our employees on a well-deserved pedestal and boost morale for the entire office. Plus building a kudos-giving culture has had no added cost to our company yet has had a massive impact on our team’s overall success.

Just remember if you practice and strengthen giving kudos at your company you should see a stronger culture, happier employees, and higher performance all around. Like I always like to say, “spread kindness around like confetti”, as you never know who you will make smile just by recognizing even the smallest of accomplishments.

About the Author

Kayla Riemensperger graduated from DePauw University with a major in English Writing. She happily found employment with CCFF which gave her the opportunity to begin developing skills in many different departments. She has found that HR has been her favorite department to learn and grow from so far. She hopes that her advice on boosting employee morale can help others!

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