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Most people grew up counting down the days until school ended and summer vacation began. A Captivate Network study found that workplace productivity drops 20 percent during the summer months. “Projects take 13 percent longer to complete and workers are 45 percent more distracted.”

Knowing that people are more distracted during the summertime, you can take preemptive steps to motivate employees when the weather heats up.

Communicate with Employees

Ask your staff what would make their summers better. Would flex time be more useful than having every other Friday off? What do they think about mandatory summer vacations? Begin a dialogue about what summer expectations are so managers can adjust accordingly for the season.

Flexible Scheduling

One of the most effective ways to motivate employees during the summer is to offer them opportunities to rearrange their schedules.

That could mean later start times on certain days, work from home shifts, or working four 10-hour days and taking Mondays/Fridays off.

Make it easier for your employees to spend extra time enjoying the summer weather with their friends and family.

Promote Volunteerism

Encourage teams to take some time away from the office to work together on a volunteer project. The sense of accomplishment that the team feels after they’ve completed a major task for a nonprofit organization will make a noticeable difference in the overall mood of these employees.

Eat Together

Eat lunch outside with your staff during the summer.

Set up some picnic tables and host a picnic potluck, encouraging employees to bring in fun foods for an outdoor lunch. Or once a week, everyone can bring in their own lunches to eat picnic-style with their colleagues and managers. Find creative ways to gather your staff together for meals throughout the summer to ensure everyone is well-fed for the work ahead.

Team Building Activities

When people are slogging to complete projects, get them out of their seats and actively working together in creative, non-work related ways. Use games and challenges to stimulate thinking, encourage communication, and strengthen team bonds.

Get Outside

If you can host a meeting sitting outside rather than in a conference room, do it.

While it might seem counterproductive, the fresh air will have a positive effective on unmotivated employees.

Allow people to bask in the warm summer sun while working together. Shaking things up by moving venues might encourage new ideas that could work to your benefit.

Launch Employee Recognition Programs

Your business has considered starting an employee recognition program, and there is no better time to launch it than during the summer.

It’s an excellent way to motivate employees to power through their work, regardless of the season. Be sure to reward them with certificates and other formal methods of recognition to make your program a successful motivational tool.

“There are no little jobs. Only little desks.”

“There’s one simple action that can dramatically increase any manager’s success in gaining the support and engagement of subordinates: recognize great work,” wrote David Sturt in the Harvard Business Review last year. “In two separate but recent studies involving nearly 3,500 employees, from startups to Fortune 100 companies, we found that recognition directly affects morale and engagement.”

Despite its importance, employee recognition ends up on the back burner for a number of reasons.

Why is this?

“Clients Come First”

Many companies are still in the mindset that the customer is always the top priority, but is that true?

There have been countless studies that support the claim that the customer isn’t always right, and putting their concerns over your employee’s can be damaging to morale.

Treat your employees well. Compensate them fairly. Trust them. This employee-first attitude can pay off in big ways.

Lacking Enthusiasm

You’ve tried to launch an employee recognition program but after a few months, enthusiasm dries up.

If your employee recognition efforts did not make an impression on or engage your staff, it might be due to a lack of real incentive to be recognized. For example, if you’re running an employee of the month program, award recipients with a custom certificate along with a gift or cash that speaks to their interests or personality.

You have to make official recognition a worthwhile proposition for employees if you want them to feel inspired to work their hardest.

Unscheduled Efforts

Time has a way of getting away from you.

The year begins with new business and projects to tend to and before you know it, it’s December and you’re organizing the holiday party.

However, if managers and executives know that every other week they should take 30 minutes to write a few personal notes to exceptional team members, and that time is blocked out on their calendars, then that employee recognition technique will become a regular part of their schedules.

You have to make the time to recognize employees, otherwise, you’ll let other tasks take priority.

Directionless

You want to put employee recognition practices into play but you don’t know where to start. From establishing clear criteria to developing a thorough recognition program with various levels, managers should work with the human resources department to create a solid employee recognition strategy.

Making clear cut guidelines provides you with a roadmap for successful employee recognition!

Getting a paycheck is good, but being recognized for a job well done on top of the paycheck can be even better.

Regularly recognizing employee efforts and achievements can go a long way toward motivating top performance and maintaining a high morale. These employee recognition tools can help you do just that.

Online Employee Recognition Tools

Online employee recognition tools include tons of software apps that make it easy to provide, track and reward top performance. Teamphoria is one example of the handful of programs out there, with the platform serving as a veritable recognition factory, both internally and outside the company.

Live streaming showcases all the recognition sent to and from various managers, team members, peers, and employees, with four different award levels that let recipients rack up points. You can display the stream publicly while also allowing clients and guests to provide praise to employees when due.          

Cash Award Programs

Cash is one of those employee recognition tools that never goes out of style. We’re not talking about a $20 here or there, either.

Take a cue from the University of California and spread the love with generously. The university’s Achievement Award rewards employees with $2,000 for exceptional contributions over an extended period. The Spot Award offers $500 for extraordinary contributions as they occur.

Certificate Programs

Doling out cash can severely limit the number of awards your company provides, but you can keep the love flowing less expensively with any combination of certificate programs.

Make sure you award the certificates during staff meetings or events so the honor can be witnessed by the entire company. Stock up on snazzy certificates you can print up as needed, then hand them out monthly, annually or as-earned for achievements such as:

• Employee of the month
• Beyond the call of duty
• Top performer of the year
• Best attitude (no matter what)
• Most indispensable
• Best problem fixer

Hall of Fame

Setting up a Hall of Fame in the reception area, employee break room or other highly visible location can provide ongoing recognition for employees that make it into the ranks. Here you can establish criteria that merits the honor, posting employees’ pictures and a small blurb that explains what they did to be included.

Combine the Hall of Fame with a monthly or quarterly Employee Honor Roll and you can recognize outstanding contributions of all sizes on an even more frequent basis.

Recognition Boxes

Recognition boxes can serve as stellar employee recognition tools, and you can set up as many or as few as you wish. Ideas can include:

• Appreciation drop box: Employees can leave written praise and appreciation for fellow employees.
• Grab-a-kudo box: Employees can randomly select a notecard from the box for a job well done, with pre-written note cards containing motivational quotes, rhyming praises or other fun messages.
• You rock box: Managers can select cards that already contain the phrase “You rock because…” and then fill in the blank with the honor deserved.

While these employee recognition tools can be combined, adapted and customized to your specific office culture, they all serve to achieve the same goal. They let your employees know they’re appreciated for the outstanding work they do.

Happy employees are productive employees, and one way to keep employees happy is with new gadgets, toys, and policies that align with the freshest office trends. Even if the trends seem way too far-fetched for the more traditional businesses, you’re better off giving them a go than listening to employees rave about perks they certainly wished they had.

Standing Desks

Instead of sitting at a desk all day, employees can instead stand at taller desks specifically designed to keep them on their feet. One study found the desks improved health as well as productivity, and think of all the money you’ll save on office chairs.

Balance Ball Chairs

If you still need to invest in chairs for workers who prefer to sit, go for balance ball chairs to improve posture, strengthen the back and add a dose of fun. Even the dullest task can be much more amusing when seated on a big, fat ball.

Groovy Snacks

“Groovy” in this instance translates to yummy and healthy. Forget the energy zapping candy and carbs in the office vending machines. Serve up delightfully healthy fare – free to all for the taking. Snacknation is one company that’s scoring big points in the healthy snack arena, delivering a rotating selection of good-for-you goodies to offices on a monthly basis.

Plenty of Play Time (in the Office)

Employee lounge areas, basketball courts, gyms and putting greens are popping up in companies like across the nation. Even if you don’t have the room or budget for a full-fledged exercise room, you can strategic place smaller equipment throughout the office and cushy couches and chairs in the break room. Encourage frequent breaks so employees can take advantage of it all.

Plenty of Play Time (outside the Office)

Extensive vacation time and flexible hours are two more office trends employees have been going gaga over.

The policy at Netflix’s California headquarters, for example, is not to track work hours or vacation days. The company instead measures how much work employees get done, allowing them to set their own hours and take vacations as long as their output is meeting or exceeding company expectations. You won’t see any slackers over here, either, as abusing the policy gets you kicked out the door.

Tangible Appreciation

If employees going wild with their own hours and vacation schedules simply won’t cut it in your company, you can still provide bonus time off, loads of praise and other tangible appreciation with customized certificates.

Have a slew of blank certificates on hand you can fill out as needed when employees go above and beyond the call of duty. Some can be traded in for time off, some can be used for a free lunch and still others can mark awesome achievements as they hang merrily near your new lineup of standing desks.

Happy employees are not only productive employees, they’re good for morale, company culture and your overall business.