Harnessing the energy and effort of your employees is one of the best ways to increase your profits without adding to your costs. You should always be looking to develop an office culture where employees feel recognized and rewarded for their efforts. This will often boost overall productivity and improve morale in the office. Learn how to start employee of the month awards that will motivate and celebrate hard workers in your office.
Set criteria for evaluating employees
Although you could arbitrarily choose your employee of the month, everyone will be much more motivated if they see that the award consistently goes to the hardest working employee who has contributed the most to the company that month. Therefore, you’ll want to set some objective criteria to evaluate people. These could include special projects completed, value of innovative ideas, overall positive attitude in the workplace, supervisor recommendations, or peer nominations.
Create compelling incentives
Your employees will be much more likely to change their work habits as a result of the program if you offer incentives that they view as worthwhile. For example, you may offer a free lunch out with the boss, a “sleep in” day where the employee can come to work an hour late but get paid for a normal day, casual dress days, or a gift card. Once you have the incentives, announce the program, evaluation criteria, and incentives to employees.
Celebrate your first employee of the month
You’ll want to announce your winner at an all-office meeting so everybody can celebrate 
together. Build anticipation by describing the employee’s accomplishments before announcing the name so people will be on the edge of their seats trying to figure out who will win. Present the employee with a certificate in an elegant frame that can be displayed in the employee’s office or cubicle. In addition, consider creating a plaque or other permanent award to display centrally with the name of each month’s winner engraved on it.
You will know you have created a successful employee of the month program if you hear people talking about it throughout the month. Having a goal in mind provides motivation for employees to go above and beyond expectations. Get ready to launch your program right away by shopping at PaperDirect for fun awards for your workplace!
