If you want to get the best out of your employees, you need to identify the right times to award them. Recognizing their hard work and appreciating them through prizes will go a long way in boosting their performance. Whether you have hundreds of employees or just a few of them, they expect you to show appreciation for their dedication to work. The problem, however, is that most employers do not know when to give out prizes. You do not have to do it every day, but you should be consistent and let them know when to expect an award. In addition to that, you should let them know the achievements that they have to accomplish to qualify for a prize. Here are some of the occasions when you can do it using things such as awards plaques.
After successful completion of a project
When your employee is working on a project and they execute it flawlessly, you have to show appreciation. Some workers will take up a project and complete it faster than you imagined. For instance, if the project was planned to take a whole month and they do it in two weeks, they are the kinds of people that you need around the office. Employees will be motivated to do it even faster next time if you reward them. It could be a day off, a lunch, or any other awards.
At the end of the month
Creating monthly awards is an excellent way to keep employees’ spirits high. Make sure that you set targets that they should achieve every month and when they do, you should be there with an award for each one of them. You can make it be the first weekend of every month when you review their performance and find out who has been working and who has been doing less work. You can be sure that everyone in the office will be looking forward to that weekend and they will want to have completed their assignments before that time comes.
When they hit their targets
This system works best for a marketing firm and similar businesses. In such a setup, you will be expecting your marketers to hit a specific goal every day, week, month, or year. For instance, when you ask them to sell ten computers every week and they hit the mark, that is a good time to award them. Let them know when you are happy with their achievements so that they can be motivated to work even more and surpass the targets. Apart from awards, such employees can earn a certain amount of money for every sale that they make above the set targets.
When they exceed the goals
Have you ever had those employees who make work look so easy even when you know that it is not a simple task? For example, some employees will be through with the day’s work before noon, and you will be left wondering how they did it. This situation can occur even when other colleagues are struggling to complete their work. If you have such a worker in your organization, you will want to make sure that they are awarded for their great work habits. There is no better way to let them know you have noticed than by rewarding them every time they exceed their goals.
When they complete a team project
Employees who work as a team accomplish a lot together. In such a setup, it is difficult to tell how much every individual contributed to the project. Each one of them will be making a significant contribution and, therefore, you should reward the team as a whole. You cannot go about singling out specific members of a team to be awarded when they have been working together. As you will find out, awarding a team is a simple task because you may reward them a dinner, enjoy an afternoon off, or try a trip to their favorite destination.
You can also find several other reasons to reward your employees depending on the nature of their work. No matter what you want them to achieve or how you choose to award them, you have to make sure that they feel appreciated and that they always find a reason to work harder.
