From Susan M. Heathfield,
Your Guide to Human Resources.
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Employee recognition is best approached creatively. While money is an important form of employee recognition, ideas for employee recognition are limited only by your imagination. Use the following ideas as you approach the provision of employee recognition.

Money

• Base salary
• Bonuses
• Gift certificates
• Cash awards

Written Words

• Handwritten thank you notes
• A letter of appreciation in the employee file
• Handwritten cards to mark celebratory occasions
• Recognition posted on the employee bulletin board
• Contribution noted in the company newsletter

Positive Attention From Supervisory Staff

• Stop by an individual’s workstation or office to talk informally
• Provide frequent positive performance feedback – at least weekly
• Provide public praise at a staff meeting
• Take the employee out to lunch.

Encourage Employee Development

• Send people to conferences and seminars
• Ask people to present a summary of what they learned at a conference or seminar at a department meeting
• Work out a written employee development plan
• Make career development commitments and a schedule

The Work Itself

• Provide cross training opportunities
• Provide more of the kinds of work the employee likes and less of the work they do not like
• Provide opportunities for empowerment and self-management
• Ask the employee to represent the department at an important, external meeting
• Have the employee represent the department on an inter-departmental committee
• Provide opportunities for the employee to determine their own goals and direction
• Participation in idea-generation and decision making

Gifts

• Company logo merchandise such as shirts, hats, mugs, and jackets
• Gift certificates to local stores
• The opportunity to select items from a catalog
• The ability to exchange "positive points" for merchandise or entry into a drawing for merchandise

Symbols and Honors

• Framed or unframed certificates to hang on the wall or file
• Engraved plaques
• Larger work area or office
• More and better equipment
• Provide status symbols, whatever they are in your organization

Benefits

• See the article Are You Getting the Best Benefit From Your Benefits? for a comprehensive list of over 120 more ideas.

Make employee recognition a common practice, not a scarce resource, in your organization. With these 30 ideas and the 120 provided in the earlier article, you have many ideas that will help you develop a work environment that fosters employee recognition and hence, employee success.

Motivated employees do a better job of serving customers well. Happy customers buy more products and are committed to use your services. More customers buying more products and services increases your profitability and success. It's an endless circle. Hop on the employee recognition bandwagon to keep the circle spinning.

What makes employee recognition powerful and positive? Find out more about employee recognition.