Make Their Day!

Employee recognition that works by Cindy Ventrice

Imagine a company without staff. Then imagine if a company have staff but only demotivated staff.
These two visualizations are sufficient to remind us how motivated staff can be the important asset
of the company. Motivated staff will go beyond the core of their scope of work to keep the
company in top priority. They are willing to save costs for the company, contribute ideas constantly,
highlight the problems and suggest solutions, defend the company’s reputation, stay loyal, remain
integrity and willing to work extra hours – you can easily identify such behaviours of a staff who is
highly motivated. The irony is, most of these staff are only energetic when they are new in the
company. That means, the level of motivation of him will decrease as he works longer. That would
happen when the company doesn’t do anything to recognise the performance of this staff. The issue
here is, some staff are identified to be not so brilliant, therefore, they do not deserve any
recognition. This is an open argument but where possible, we should give recognition to that staff
based on his skill or value or other contributions. Do not totally single him out from any career
advancement opportunity just because you don’t like him coming late for work (in case he’s so good
in achieving sales target for your company).

When Recognition Misses the Mark

• Bonuses aren’t recognition
Staff love bonuses and some of them need them desperately. It is best to offer bonuses to staff but
do not misunderstand that this is a form of recognition unless you tie it with some specific ‘Thank
You’ remark. Staff normally see bonus as a bonus while Recognition is another thing.

• Plaques and awards aren’t always recognition
When the author shared about this, I instantly recalled the awards that I had received from BET. I
agree with what it says that plaques and awards do not really make you feel recognised unless it is
something ‘made’ remarkable. I won the Best Book Summary award somewhere in 2006 and 2008. It
was a certificate presented to me during annual dinner … The MC announced “The Best Book
Summary Award goes to …..” That’s it. But normally I won’t feel any better or motivated after
winning that award. It seemed something was missing as if the MC/ Management was rushing to
give away the certificate just to meet the time scheduled. What’s more, only one person earns the
Best Book Summary while the rest who have been doing their best were not recognised. Using this
example, recognitions are not very equally given to the staff who have done very good summaries.

What Makes Recognition Works

Recognition doesn’t have to be something expensive. You need to know what exactly trigger staff to
be motivated without the involvement of cash or material rewards. Is it praise made in front of the
staff or an email cc to the staff? Is it a plaque with picture of staff hung on the wall in the office? Is it
an incentive trip to overseas? This is something that the Management needs to assess because it
depends very much on the company’s majority’s staff’s interest.

• ‘Identify’ and ‘acknowledge’
Identify means you show commitment and effort to recognise the staff who deserve recognition.
Staff feel appreciated if you show that you spend efforts to recognise them. Acknowledge is showing
that the Management is aware about the staff’s contribution. It is decent to occasionally speak
verbally to the staff concerned that they have done a good job in specific projects or tasks.

Management should give feedback to staff. I myself would not know whether what I do is up to
company’s expectation if they don’t communicate to me on regular basis. I won’t know if I need
further improvement or what I did has exceeded their expectation. The ‘silent treatment’ of the
company or Management will demotivate me. Feedback is not meant to be given only at the end of
the year where evaluation is conducted. Most staff don’t have the patience to wait until year end.
The Head of Departments or management should give feedback, words of encouragement or
acknowledgement whenever something good is done by their staff.

• A Thank You
Thank you is the two MAGICAL words that would make a big difference. An employer who says
Thank You to a staff after a job well done will uplift the morale of that staff. I still can remember the
sincere Thank You words from my employer after I’ve prepared a powerpoint. It is indeed my job but
an appreciation like such means that Management recognises my effort. Sometimes, we might do
the wrong things but instead of being scolded, a Thank You from The Management upon
accomplishment would make us feel like keep on doing similar projects again. The staff will get the
hint that the Management appreciate their contribution and are further encouraged with more
opportunities for improvement.

Four Elements of Recognition that Work

As described earlier. Money and rewards are not all the things the staff need. To be motivated, they
deserve some positive forms of communication, verbal cues or treatment from the Management.

• Praise
Praise the staff who have done a good job, either personally or in front other staff. Some of them are
too timid and dislike being in the spotlight. You may praise them in private depending on their
behavior. Praise whenever they deserve it and don’t overpraise. You will spoil the mood.

• Thanks
This magical words were mentioned earlier. Say thanks sincerely and constantly whenever the staff
deserve it

• Opportunity
Offer opportunity for that staff for career advancement or in other words, tie recognition with
performance or KPI. Staff that do very well in deemed appropriate duration should be offered
opportunity to shine, new responsibilities or promotion.

• Respect
Acknowledge the importance of all departments. Provide tools, resources, and information for the
staff to perform their duties. For instance, the staff in Sales need supporting information such as E-
library and proper updated softwares to make work simplified. Same as the Accounts, HR and other
departments. In Marketing, supporting resources such as destination and wildlife/ bird books are
important to make their work such as article writing effective. In other words, Management must
assess the needs of each department and provide materials that will make them work easily and
happily. Similarly, all staff want to be informed and updated with company’s news, vision and
directions. If too many information (except those private and confidential) are hoarded, the staff
won’t feel respected and they feel that they are not important in the company.

What to be Recognised

• Purpose and quality
Focus on staff’s contribution to department or organisation based on department or company’s
mission statement and vision. Reward based on quality of work done, not just quantity

• Trustworthiness
Staff that are honest, when spotted should be recognised. Reward their good attitude and let that
be a good example for others

• Individual value
Staff have the things that they value for example, promotion, salary increment, assistant, or training.
Identify these values and reward them based on what they need, not the things that they don’t
want:

1) Opportunities for growth: Staff would love constant opportunity for growth. Do set up a
program to monitor their progress and make it known to them that they have opportunity
for growth if their performance hit the mark
2) Pay and benefits: Do not underpay someone or overpay (demotivate others). The pay should
commensurate with the staff’s skill, experience, values, contribution or position
3) Work environment: Providing healthy working environment to staff is important. Think
about the level of noise, office cleanliness, space, interior design, smell, safety, software and
hardware, room temperature, welfare etc. All these could determine the job satisfaction of
staff. They feel recognized and respected if the employer offer a comfortable working
environment for them

Recognition is about Relationship

It is evidence that Strong relationship between Management and staff would create lasting loyalty.
Have we asked ourselves how is the relationship of our company with the staff? This needs to be
assessed thoroughly if staff is deemed as the core of company’s business growth. The relationship
between staff shouldn’t be all the time business or formal relationship. At times, Management or
Head of Departments must approach the staff and sync into a friendship relationship with the staff
(understandable that there is a limit to this). Indeed, an organization is a family unit. If a company
does not operate like a family unit where there is no common ground among departments and
between Management (parents) to staff (children), you can be very sure that the ‘family’ is having an
internal crisis. If you have internal crisis, how are you going to work with your clients? Therefore,
placing some heart to heart relationship with the staff could make a big difference in the
performance of the company. The One on One Program is a good start in BET in terms of
Management-staff relationship but how equal is this program implemented at all level? Do we
assess this? Is this very much implemented and monitored in Sandakan and SRL like in KK? Are the
staff getting the most out of the program? Should we refine the program so that the objectives of
Management is clearer? Are all the staff willing to share their ideas or problems in a group? Should
we reshuffle the groups end of every year so that group members can listen to words of wisdom
from rotating leaders? There are so much we can improve with our existing program.

To go further, the Management should consider the following in their relationship plan:

Remember all staff by name, remember their birthday and their interests
Fill their basket to the brim. Support them, give them all the tools and encouragement. Send
them to seminars or training that would add values to them
Employees have their say. Give more rooms for the staff to speak up such as through Idea
Box and One on One. Whatever programs you have created for this, the single most

important thing you must do is to listen attentively to them and to record down, plus to
follow up. Never underestimate their ideas or problems. Do not cut their conversation in the
middle. Respect must be shown so that they feel they are well taken care of. Do not offer
suggestions too soon or jump into any conclusion before they have completed their
message. It is wise to allow some time to think about their ideas or grievances as you might
get some good solutions to it. Sometimes, their ideas can be contradictory to the company
policies but allowing some time to think about it before replying them is good. This is
because when a staff is voicing grievances or ideas, their emotion is high and they only want
to be listened.
Give sense of ownership. Empower staff with more projects and give more authority for
them to make decision so that they don’t feel they are working for somebody, but, a sense
that they are the owner of the project – though some guidelines must be given by the
Management

Recognition – Whose Job Is it Anyway?

Managers, Head of Departments and supervisors are the persons responsible for
recognition. Recognitions can involve many levels. The best would always be recognition
from the top. Lower ranked leaders like Supervisors also can play their roles by highlighting
staff that deserve recognitions to the top.
Human Resources Department is not the main channel to give recognition since recognition
by nature comes from the supervisor or Head of Departments, as well as from the Top
management. However, HR plays supporting role as coordinator or facilitator for recognition
programs and help to prepare evaluation as well as monitoring the recognition programs.
Every employee can do their bit to give recognition. In some companies, nomination forms
or e-nominations are filled in or sent by staff to recognize the contribution of their co-
workers.


Self- Recognition

Does the Management think that instead of the Management giving recognition all the time, at
times, it should be the staff who should develop self-motivation? Self-motivation is very important
as the company doesn’t have all the time in the world to monitor on the recognition program.
Awareness of self-motivation should be addressed to the staff and the Management can come up
with some initiatives to get staff motivate themselves. Here are some points to consider:

Do your-self compilation. Encourage the staff to keep good comments from guests or
Management so that they can read whenever they feel down. This is what I have been
practicing. I have been keeping encouraging email from Management and co-workers since
2005, the year I joined BET. Reading such good comments motivate me

On top of encouraging self compilation, Management can ask staff to share their good
comments to the rest of the staff or in a company blog. This sounds odd but we need to
break the habit of keeping silence or timidity. Some staff would think that doing this sounds
being pompous but this is worth considering.

Celebrate with the Staff

BET has been practising this during Annual Dinner as well as after we win an award. However, it is a
good reminder that we should celebrate achievement of company with the staff and where possible,
recognise everyone of them. Perhaps the Head of Departments can do that part. Give a specific

reason why we want to recognise them and why we want to celebrate the success together. In our
Annual Dinner, you would notice some staff are hiding from the spotlight or sitting in isolation. We
need to break this barrier and nobody should be left from having a fantastic mood during such
event.

If possible, let the venue event organiser (to outsource) do most of the programs and arrangement
so that everyone, especially Annual Dinner committee have time to relax and mingle around with
the staff to join in the fun. Having been in the Annual Dinner committee for 6 years in a row, I do
admit that much of my time was spent in worries as well as organising programs which didn’t allow
most of us an enjoyable time during the celebration. We hardly have time to talk with other staff
from SDK and SRL, of which, I think annual dinner program should be made simple so that everyone
can have a fun time together.

Assessment of Recognition Programs

Other than planning, implementation and monitoring, assessment of the recognition program is very
crucial. We need sufficient feedback from the staff on the overall job satisfaction. Asking feedback
from staff proves that Management cares and although this can be carried out during One on One
program, a more proper formal survey need to be conducted at least once or twice a year to show
that the Management is serious. Once feedback is obtained, Management must take necessary
action depending on urgency or the importance of the issues highlighted by staff. This follow up will
make staff happy thus make their day!