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November
2004
The Power of Praise
and Recognition
This is the time of year when we give thanks for our health, our
family, and our happiness. Many of us send thank you cards to
our customers, vendors, friends, and colleagues. But we often
forget to thank the people to whom we owe the most praise -- our
employees. The top reasons why people leave their jobs is
because they do not feel valued or recognized for their contributions
to the work place. Praise can lift a person feeling down,
improve morale, increase productivity and make the workplace
a more pleasant place to be. A best-selling human resource
book “Love ‘Em or Lose ‘Em”: Getting Good People to Stay by Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans, shows how
to praise your employees:
- Be Spontaneous! Catch your employees doing something right and thank them
right then and there!
- Be Specific! It is best to praise an employee for a specific
skill that led to a successful work outcome rather than generic.
- Take an employee
to lunch to show your appreciation for a job well done!
- Praise an employee
in front of peers, family members and your boss.
- Privately! Go
to the employee's work area and give a personal thank you and
recognition.
- Recognize the
little things. Is the employee always on time? Perfect
attendance record? Always positive and upbeat? Mention to them
how much you appreciate them. Many times we focus
on these things when an employee is not doing them.
- In writing.
Send a memo or email and copy team members or higher level-management.
Praise
and recognition are the stepping stones to positive and happy
workplace. We all want to be recognized for a job well done. Praising
employees can be easy and cost-free. Determine what works
best with your employees and praise and recognize them for "job
well done!"
Working Solutions is a non-profit organization
providing employee training and leadership development services
for healthcare organizations, non-profits and corporations.
This retention tip is published monthly to provide tips,
strategies and new ideas for HR professionals, managers and executives
to help retain their employees.
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