- Publish in the company newsletter and hand out “specialty” shirts for employees that have outstanding (exceptional) customer service performance.
- Have your employees nominate an employee for an “out of the ordinary” service award.
- Have your customers nominate an employee for an “out of the ordinary” service award.
- Issue special Company note cards to all managers for the managers to use with employee to recognize exceptional effort.
- Print business cards that say “Thanks”, “Good Job” or “Keep it Going” and hand them out when you see exceptional effort. Collect them back at the end of the month for special gifts, long lunch, delayed starting or early dismissal.
- Start marquis board with congratulatory, great news or great performance messages about the employees.
- Buy lunch for the department or business when a difficult customer leaves with a smile or when a branch record is set.
- Have a customer service rally and event week – the week before the the height of the company’s primary season. Combine education and energizing events to focus the business on the customer and teamwork.
- Create a wall of praise by framing all letters from customers complimenting the branch on its performance or service. Read the letter out loud at a team meeting and congratulate the team on the ability to “wow” another customer.
- Hold a daily huddle when the day first starts to stay organized and to identify what is critical or important. End the huddle with a GO TEAM! cheer.
- Have a “What would you do?” E-mail or memo every month to ask employees how they would hand a specific issue. The letter should come from the manager and invite all employees to be involved. Any ideas selected are publicly noticed and a reward is given such as an “Idea” shirt, plaque or pin.
- Write a note to the families of employees at the end of a particularly busy point in the season, thanking them for their personal sacrifices during the intense pool season.
- Send company birthday cards with certificates for a free coffee (ice cream, etc).
- Hand out 2 movie passes to each employee on his/her birthday.
- Take your best non-managers and promote him/her to manager for the day. Brief him/her on the specific responsibilities and encourage him to rise to the challenge. In addition to the reward, you may see how the individual acts as a manager – you can find the “diamonds in the rough”.
- Know the important dates of the families of employees; send birthday cards to employees’ children, anniversary cards to the spouses, special occasion cards for births, graduations, awards, etc.
- Have a supply of business appropriate cartoons (Dilbert, The Far Side) to pass out daily or weekly to keep employees from taking the stress of the job too seriously.
- Have a Day of Excellence – close the business and have an information (training) session followed by a barbecue, volleyball game, neck and shoulder massages, guest entertainers, etc.
- Show short movie comedies at lunch or after work one day a month – Monty Python, Three Stooges, etc.,
- Tie a program of rewards to the changes in the stock price. Hand out certificate (ice cream, burgers, etc) every time the stock price rises a certain %. This will get all employees involved in watching the price and brainstorming ideas on how to help raise the price. Offer a larger prize for a certain percentage growth over a specific time period.
- Host theme days – Halloween, Valentines, Cinco de Mayo, etc. and decorate the branch and offer specials.
- Free vending machine day for record sales or a business record.
- Idea cards – employees are paid $3 for each idea; $50 for any idea implemented; or invent amounts that make sense.
- Have employees bring 2 suggestions for improvement to every staff meeting they attend. All ideas should be written and management must respond to each. Publicly acknowledge the great ideas.
- Create an “EE” pin – Exceptional Effort. This pin is given to those employees that pass certain service training programs and are nominated by their customers or manager because of their continual excellence in service.
- Ensure that an employee suggestion box is available. Employees feel more motivated in their jobs when they see their ideas used and making a difference. Be sure to check the employee suggestion box often (just before each team meeting) and be sure to follow up on every idea even if you (or the team) choose to use it directly.
- At each team meeting have a different team member lead a brainstorming session about a critical issue that they face - have them explain the importance to the customer, process or business. Make them responsible for coming up with several alternatives to improve the situation by using the ideas of everyone on the team.
- Have all employees complete a sheet that identifies what they value, what is important to them, hobbies, interests, how they like to learn, what areas in the business interest them. Use the information on this sheet to determine the best way to involve each employee.
- Share the results of the business or department with all team members. Make a point to review the performance – sales, spending, profitability - with all employees. This encourages better understanding and responsibility for performance. Be sure to assign areas of responsibilities and review them with the responsible parties.
- Hold frequent employee performance reviews and development discussions.Use the time to keep employees actively participating in their development and learning process. This improves communication and helps the manager to understand the employee better (helping the manager develop a better response for each employee). It also challenges the employee to create and track a development plan that has both the company and the employee’s interests in focus.
- Have all employees suggest ways to develop an integrated team or team unity. Ideas may include: daily humor corner or jokes, monthly barbecue or pizza party, dress code modifications, appreciate the customer day, celebrate an employee day, etc. Be sure that everyone suggests ideas and that everyone is included in the ideas.
- Have all team members define the value they provide – have them present their ideas at the next team meeting. Challenge all team members to find additional value in each position.
- Start all team meetings off with a recognition moment. Comment on the successes and extra effort – those not receiving it will quickly change their approach so that they become included as well.
- Cut small pieces of paper equal to the number of employees in your branch or department - put the name of each employee on one of each of the pieces of paper. Put the stack of paper pieces into your left pocket. As you recognize or reward any employee during the course of the day, move the piece of paper with the employee’s name to the right pocket. Use this to insure you are watching and commenting on successes for each employee on a daily basis.
- Host a “getting to know you” session with all employees. Have each explain a little about their interests, goals, hobbies and families. All other employees should remember this information to insure that when employees reward or recognize other employees, it is done in a way that is personal and unique – and therefore meaningful to the recipient.
