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We spend a good majority of our lives at work. It's gotten to the point where almost every adult has to work in order to bring in a viable income for their family. While work is a big part of all of our lives, it can also be problematic when it comes to feeling motivated for most workers. Most get up in the morning and literally drag themselves to work, dreaming of the day they can get out of their dead-end job and go onto something new, exciting and different.

As a manager, the last thing you want is for your place of business to become a revolving door as far as employees are concerned. A happy employee is one who stays and does an outstanding job. If your employees lack motivation, you'll find that performance is lacking and people are apt to leave if something better comes along. This is why it's crucial that you keep your employees as motivated as possible.

Ways to Motivate Your Employees

Here is a list of ways to keep your workers motivated on the job:

1. Open the Door to Communication

A good manager is one who is easy to talk to. If a worker feels they cannot go to you with an important matter without being reprimanded or eye-rolled at, they're not going to be motivated enough to get help for their dilemma. You need to be a manager who listens to their employees and offers help when they need it the most. Don't make it feel daunting for your employees to come to you for help.

2. Offer Incentives

There are a variety of incentives that you can offer to your workers that will motivate them so that they do a better job. Holiday bonuses and employee-of-the-month salary incentives will get workers performing to the best of their ability. The incentives don't have to be extravagant, but they should be enough that your workers will want to obtain them by doing a better job.

3. Allow for Job Advancement

There is nothing worse to an employee than a dead-end job. If a worker feels like they aren't going anywhere and there isn't room for advancement, they will begin to look for other forms of employment. One of the benefits to staying at a job for a long period of time is that you'll get salary increases and job title advancements. If neither of these is available, your workers will leave quickly and often.

4. Lead as an Example

Your employees need to see that you're just as willing to get down and dirty for the company as you expect them to do. You need to get on their level and do the exact same work they're doing to show that you care and understand their everyday struggles. A manager who sits at a desk all lay in a cushy air conditioned office looks smug and arrogant to their workers, especially if you're the same person who tells people what to do.

5. Show Appreciation

Your workers want to know that they are appreciated and that their work matters. Giving out recognition awards or just telling an employee "thank you, you did a great job" can be the light of their day. In fact, it's been shown that workers who are given compliments on their job performance regularly do better and learn quicker than other workers who are never told the same things.

6. Offer Flexible Scheduling

People like flexible job schedules that enable them to juggle home life with work life more easily. Your workers will feel motivated and ready to do a great job when you're able to be more flexible with their lifestyles. This doesn't mean that you should allow employees to work whenever or however they feel like it, but if a worker needs Tuesdays off for their child's care, you should be ready and willing to meet this demand.

When you hire a worker, your goal should be to keep them for their entire career. While this may not be realistic for every person who becomes a part of your company, lower turnover will result in lower labor costs for the organization. Therefore, it is important that you create conditions that increase the odds that a worker will want to stick around for the years to come.

Recognize Their Achievements

No one wants to work for a company that doesn't recognize the hard work that he or she puts in. Therefore, it is always a good idea to call out your workers when they do reach a sales goal, hit a service milestone or do anything else that is worthy of praise. The best part is that it doesn't take much to thank your people for the things that they do to make the company a powerhouse in its industry. In most cases, a pin, a plaque or a $20 gift certificate is enough to show that the company cares.

Offer Them a Competitive Salary

Most people go to work each day because they need their paycheck to provide for themselves and their families. This means that a person is less likely to stay with your company if he or she can make more elsewhere. If you can't afford to pay a competitive salary, you may be able to make up for it with stock options or other benefits to increase a worker's overall compensation package.

Offer Room for Advancement

One of the easiest ways for a person to increase his or her salary is through promotions up the corporate ladder. While not everyone can go from janitor to CEO, you should aim to help your people get the most out of their skills. In some cases, you may be able to help a worker move up by creating new positions that are tailored to his or her skill set.

Act as a Mentor to Your People

In the business world, there is nothing more important than a relationship with another person. By acting as a mentor, you are creating one of the strongest connections a worker and manager can have. When you choose to mentor someone, you are telling that person that you care about his or success on a personal level. That type of loyalty is likely to be reciprocated, which may lead to lower levels of turnover.

Create an Enjoyable Workplace Experience

If you can provide nothing else to your employees, provide them with an enjoyable workplace experience. This may include a game room, free breakfast on Friday or an atmosphere where colleagues are allowed to be social with both customers and each other. It is not uncommon for people to stay with a company because of the people who they work with or work for even when they aren't being paid top dollar.

The best companies are the one that treat their employees with respect. This is because employees who feel good about their employers will work harder to serve the needs of its customers. Furthermore, people are unlikely to leave a place where they feel valued and appreciated as this can be worth as much or more than any amount of financial compensation. 

Want to Boost Employee Morale? Don't Miss These 5 Steps to Energize with Events!

Have you noticed something isn’t quite right in the office? Perhaps morale is down or your employees feel unmotivated by the tasks at hand. Perhaps when you talk to your employees, you hear dissatisfaction, and that is spreading among your teams.

You want to curb employee dissatisfaction and frustration as soon as you can, but it's not always easy to do if you have ignored the problem for too long. That's when it's time to plan an incredible employee appreciation event for your workforce!

If you want to boost productivity and energy all while showing your appreciation for the hard work your employees do every day, then it’s time to intervene and change things up.

What better way to boost employee morale than to plan an unforgettable work event that highlights both your appreciation and the accomplishments of your staff that make your company a success?

Best of all, executing an encouraging, energizing employee event doesn’t take a lot of time or effort, but the pay-off can be huge. Read on to get our top five tips for planning a work event to encourage and celebrate your workforce.

Step 1: Choose an Event Type and Theme

The first step in planning your employee appreciate event is to answer this question: Are there common activities my employees enjoy doing that put them on common ground? Naturally, eating and socializing are two activities that are equalizers, and, in our experience, these ideas are popular because there is a low barrier to entry and they are fun. Who doesn't want to eat free food and build stronger relationships?

In addition, you might think about additional attributes of your workforce. Are they competitive? If so, they might enjoy a Trivia Night, for example.

Here are other options for selecting a unique event type and theme:

• Employee Appreciation Breakfast – Cater a morning meal for your crew.
• Back Porch BBQ – As the boss, fire up the grill at the office and grill employee favorites for lunch.
• Happy Hour – The tab is on the company with this after-work celebration at a favorite local bar.
• Ice Cream Social – Create an ice cream bar with a variety of ice creams and toppings. Invite employees to take a break to socialize and eat a sundae.

The key is to select an event type that will bring your employees together and celebrate them via a kind and thoughtful gesture.

Step 2: Define the Purpose of Your Event

At the end of the party, what are you hoping to get out of it? What do you want your employees to do? How do you want them to feel? This will help determine what you actually do at the event.

For example, here are a few defined outcomes for an employee appreciation party that you may want to consider:

• Employee Recognition – Who are the quiet leaders, the all-star team players, the sales giants, etc. that make your company run smoothly? With this event, make sure you find a way to include and recognize everyone, such as giving out framed certificates or plaques with official achievements and appreciations.
• Boosting Morale – Are your employees feeling overworked and undervalued? If so, you may want to solely throw a great party that reminds them that your company wants to give back to them in a special way.
• Company Achievement – Did your company recently hit a sales goal? Did your organization surpass a fundraising goal? This is your moment to throw an event that recognizes how each person made it possible to get there.

It's possible that your event will have a dual purpose, and you can incorporate this into the flow of your event. It's simply good, however, at the outset, to remind yourself of why you are organizing the event and what you hope to give to your employees or have them take away from it.

Step 3: Decide on the Details

Event details for consideration can be broken down into three categories:

• Budget
• Location
• Activities

First, you'll need to set a budget. The only way to know exactly what you can pull off is to know what you can afford to spend. The budget doesn't matter as much for the amount of money you can spend as it does giving you a limit for spending and planning. You don't want to plan a $100,000 event when all you have available is $1,000.

Be savvy and smart with your budget and you'll be happy and less frustrated with the end result because you don't have to scale back.

Secondly, think about your location. Choose a location that makes it easy for all of your employees to get to – such as an event space at your place of work or close by. This works especially well if your employees commute in to work from other cities. You want to increase the likelihood that your employees will participate in your event by making the location an ideal and convenient one for as many of them as possible.

Of course, be sure to go with a location that fits within – again – your budget. Check into at least three places to get estimates for event space rental and catering. Do a cost/value comparison before deciding.

At the end of the day, however, your office space may be the best spot because it is convenient and a money-saver for your company. You won't have to pay extra for space rental!

Thirdly, consider the kinds of activities that will take place during the event. For example, are you giving out awards at your event? Is your event a team building one in which there are more physical activities? Are you hosting a party where there will be a gift giveaway by your company? In the midst of your activities, how will employees eat and drink? Is there a seated dinner or a snack table? Make sure you are thinking of all of the pieces that need to come together in order to pull off your event.

Step 4: Go into Action

With your plans set and your questions answered, it's time to go into action. You'll need to:

• Name your event.
• Set a date for your event.
• Secure the event space and catering.
• Write, design and send invitations.
• Order flower arrangements
• Order special gifts, certificates or awards.
• Order special swag to give away or any other necessary assets to pull off your event theme.
• Set up a system for measuring success.

It's important to make a list of all the items you'll need to order and to price them ahead of time to make sure they still fit within your budget. Also, factor in enough time to have the items shipped to you. You can't give out awards at an employee recognition dinner if those awards don't come in on time!

Finally, craft a survey as a way to quantify and evaluate the success of your event. This works especially well if you survey your employees in the month leading up to the event. If employees feel more appreciation and job satisfaction after your party via the survey you send them post-event, then you've been successful in meeting your party goals!

Step 5: It's Time to Party

With everything set in place, it's time to show up at your event or party and just have fun with your employees. Everything you've planned culminates into this event -- and it's up to you to be the emcee that cultivates a message of appreciation and pride in your workforce.

It's truly amazing what a few kind words can do to boost employee morale. In fact, research shows that employees are by far more motivated by a boss’s "Great job!" than they are by more money or other incentives. Keep the spirit of this revelation in mind as you plan your employee event and craft the message you will share with them.

At the end of the day, everyone wants to feel valued, included and part of something significant for the greater good. When they don't feel that way, they begin to look elsewhere -- and if you want to keep your staff and reduce employee turnover -- then make sure appreciation, encouragement and public recognition are part of your employee satisfaction strategy for the future!

Now get ready for a great party!

Ready to Start Planning Your Next Workforce Event?

Now you're ready to plan your very own event for your employees. Keep in mind that your employee appreciation event can be as simple or as creative as you want. It really depends on your budget and your sense of what would motivate your employees.

The goal, regardless of what kind of employee event you choose, is to have your employees feeling what can be summed up by the acronym MAUI:

• Motivated to continue working for the company.
• Appreciated for their critical and important work.
• Uniquely celebrated among their peers. Everyone needs to be recognized in some significant way.
• Invested and interested in a future with your company.

Keep this MAUI acronym in mind as you think through your end goals, and keep this quick guide with you as you plan your next employee appreciation event in just five simple steps!

When you hire a worker, you goal should be to keep them for their entire career. While this may not be realistic for every person who becomes a part of your company, lower turnover will result in lower labor costs for the organization. Therefore, it is important that you create conditions that increase the odds that a worker will want to stick around for the years to come.

Recognize Their Achievements

No one wants to work for a company that doesn't recognize the hard work that he or she puts in. Therefore, it is always a good idea to call out your workers when they do reach a sales goal, hit a service milestone or do anything else that is worthy of praise. The best part is that it doesn't take much to thank your people for the things that they do to make the company a powerhouse in its industry. In most cases, a pin, a plaque or a employee recognition certificate is enough to show that the company cares.

Offer Them a Competitive Salary

Most people go to work each day because they need their paycheck to provide for themselves and their families. This means that a person is less likely to stay with your company if he or she can make more elsewhere. If you can't afford to pay a competitive salary, you may be able to make up for it with stock options or other benefits to increase a worker's overall compensation package.

Offer Room for Advancement

One of the easiest ways for a person to increase his or her salary is through promotions up the corporate ladder. While not everyone can go from janitor to CEO, you should aim to help your people get the most out of their skills. In some cases, you may be able to help a worker move up by creating new positions that are tailored to his or her skill set.

Act as a Mentor to Your People

In the business world, there is nothing more important than a relationship with another person. By acting as a mentor, you are creating one of the strongest connections a worker and manager can have. When you choose to mentor someone, you are telling that person that you care about his or success on a personal level. That type of loyalty is likely to be reciprocated, which may lead to lower levels of turnover.

Create an Enjoyable Workplace Experience

If you can provide nothing else to your employees, provide them with an enjoyable workplace experience. This may include a game room, free breakfast on Friday or an atmosphere where colleagues are allowed to be social with both customers and each other. It is not uncommon for people to stay with a company because of the people who they work with or work for even when they aren't being paid top dollar.

The best companies are the one that treat their employees with respect. This is because employees who feel good about their employers will work harder to serve the needs of its customers. Furthermore, people are unlikely to leave a place where they feel valued and appreciated as this can be worth as much or more than any amount of financial compensation.

We're approaching the end of Quarter 1, and it's time to acknowledge the staff members that got the company off to a great start in 2017. While most of the awards that initially come to mind are for quantifiable results (ex: number of sales, star ratings, revenue, customer retention, etc), there are plenty of awards that you should also hand out that†recognize the vital employees that produce more†subjective results. Here's a list of appropriate awards for the end of the quarter. By no means are these the only awards you should give out-- feel free to get creative. The more opportunities you can make your team feel appreciated, the better. As your scroll through this blog post, remember this quote...

"Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person - not just an employee -  are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability." - former CEO of Xerox, Anne Mulcahy

1) Top Salespeople

We'll start with the obvious: you need to reward your top salesperson. This could be the highest number of sales or biggest dollar amount of sales. We'd take it a step further. Find ways to give out multiple sales awards. Give out awards to all your top salespeople that surpassed a certain quota. If you keep your salespeople happy, they'll most likely return the favor in the form of increased productivity and sales. Here's an example of a sales award you could give out: our American Rosewood Plaque

Here's an example of a less serious sales award you could give out:†the Sales Shark trophy.

2) Highest Rated Customer Service Reps

Your customer service representatives are responsible for dealing with complicated product issues and disgruntled customers. It's a tough job that can be psychologically draining.†Don't overlook the customer service reps†that consistently keep the customer happy. Here's an example of an award you can customize for your highest rated customer service representatives.

3) Most Punctual

The snooze button is every employee's first obstacle every day. If they overcome the temptation of the snooze, they have to plan how they'll combat the morning rush hour. Getting to work on time isn't easy. Reward those that find a way to be there every weekday, 5 minutes before 9am. Here's a good award for your punctual employees.

4) Most Innovative / Best Idea(s)

Your salespeople convert the leads, but how do they get the leads in the first place? Your marketing team drives the leads that end up becoming customers. Your marketing team†not only needs to execute tried-and-true marketing strategies, they also need to come up with new cutting edge ideas to bring in new leads. For the best ideas in Q1, we think this unique award should suffice.

5) Key Milestones

Did you bring on any new employees in Q1? Is anyone retiring at the end of the month? These are the types of key milestones you'll want to acknowledge at the end of each quarter. Here's a good award for employees that are retiring: the Rosewood Mantle Clock

6) Best Support Staff Member / Best Teammate

You can't forget about the staff members whose primary role is to support other staff members. They're responsible for the company's success too. For the best teammates, this award is appropriate.

7) Exceptional Leadership

Every company has a group of employees that go above and beyond the call of duty. Maybe they organize weekend outings to boost company morale. Maybe they take the lead on a charity initiative. These staff members not only perform their job duties well, they take it upon themselves to do more.†Encourage these types of employees to continue to surpass expectations by showing a token of your appreciation. This award should do the trick: the Flight Eagle

Show your appreciation

Your employees made Q1 a success. Let them know how much you appreciate them. This will ensure that you keep the momentum rolling into Q2 and beyond. If you have any questions about our products, don't hesitate to call us at†800-377-8646.

Employees like to be recognized for good work and loyal service. That's why it's a smart move for managers to frequently acknowledge their most dedicated employees, and periodically give them awards for exceptional work or key milestones. The common work-related sitations you should already be giving awards for are:

• Employment anniversaries (ex: 25 years with the company)
• Employee of the Month
• Employees who surpass quotas
• The retirement of longtime employees

These essential employee awards will go a long way in retaining valued workers, but these aren't the only types of awards you can dole out. Running a business takes a collection of great efforts from a stellar team, and you should always be finding ways to acknowledge the people that make your company successful. We came up with a list of less common types of awards you can give to employees. Feel free to chime in with any unique award ideas you have in the comment section at the bottom of this post.

1) The Most Punctual Employee

It doesn't matter how much someone loves their job-- it's tough to avoid slamming the snooze button in order to arrive at work on time. Employees who continually show up to work on time should be commended for their discipline. You don't have to just give an award for workers who arrive at work on time though. You can also recognize employees who are never late for a weekly meeting or conference call. Any of these clock awards will work, but if we had to pick one, this is one of our most popular in this category.

2) Employees Who Work Overtime

You never want to overwork your team, but sometimes there are big projects that require extra hours so that they get finished by a strict deadline. If you have an employee or group of employees who worked extra hard to ensure the timeliness of a project, they should probably deserve a free day off (or at least half day) to relax. And what better way to relax, than with a custom-etched bottle of wine.

3) Employees who made a good judgement call

You can train your staff to deal with the most common hiccups, but you can't cover every situation during your employee orientation. Sometimes an employee needs to make a clutch judgement call. For employees who make a great judgement call during a tough situation, we recommend our gavel awards. This is a popular gavel award that we sell...

4) Holiday Party Planners

The office holiday party is a fun time every year, but there's always someone behind the scenes that stresses out in order to make it happen. You might be giving this person a Christmas bonus already, but it doesn't hurt to also give them a long-lasting token of your appreciation. We recommend our custom tree ornaments.  Here's one of our ornaments that our customers seem to like...

5) Costume Contest Winners

It's OK to have a little fun in the office from time to time. There's a good chance your company does a Halloween costume contest every October, and if you do, we have the perfect prize...

6) Office ninjas

This type of award goes to the employees who continually work hard, regardless of whether or not they're being monitored. This goes to employees who go above and beyond to make sure the office is running smoothly. This is an award for a worker who kicks butt... 

Don't be afraid to give awards to your most valued employees

As a manager or business owner, it's your job to make sure that your employees want to work for you. One of the easiest and cost-effective ways is to give them awards or trophies to make sure that they know they're appreciated. If you have any questions about our products, don't hesitate to call us at 800-377-8646. 

We're biased, but we believe that rewarding your top employees with custom awards, plaques, trophies, etc is an effective way to keep your team happy and motivated. Another good way though is to give your employees words of encourage or good quotes to sticky note to their desk. 

Below are 3 motivational quotes that we really like. Feel free to share them on Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn...you got the idea ;-)

We always appreciate customer feedback, good or bad. It helps us know if we're doing a good job and the areas where we need to improve. When we get a really glowing review, sometimes we like to feature them on Facebook or our other social media channels. Below are just 3 of the latest flattering reviews we've received. 

If you're a customer and would like to give us some online feedback, you can review us on Yelp, Facebook, Google, or send us an email. 

Crystal Awards

Desk Name Blocks

• Engraved plaque awards can be used for recognition, motivation , or a gift 
• Choose from traditional style cove-beveled plaque boards to sophisticated plaque frames and shadow boxes
• These are great for anniversary gifts or for other lifetime achievement awards

Engraved Pens

Employee Recognition Awards

Employee awards show your staff just how much you appreciate their hard work and effort around the office.

Earning awards can make employees strive towards a positive goal and it can improve office morale.

Types of Employee Awards

There isn’t just one type of award your employees can earn. They have the chance to show their commitment in many different ways. 

Some types of common employee awards include:

• Teamwork awards
• Employee of the month
• Sales awards

Glass and Crystal Awards

Glass and crystal awards are impressive and show your employees that their dedication is noticed and appreciated.

Striking glass and crystal awards last for much longer than other types of material and are usually used to craft more prestigious awards. 

Sports Awards

It doesn’t matter whether you use trophies, plaques, or medals, any sports team you support would be honored to have a recognition award for their team spirit and victorious wins!

Recognition awards aren’t just for employees, they can also be used to recognize sports teams as well. 

Acrylic Awards

Acrylic awards make wonderful recognition gifts for business and sales awards. They aren’t quite as expensive as crystal and glass awards, but they are stylish and can be easily engraved with any message you wish. 

Many acrylic awards can also be custom made for any type of occasion.

Custom Made Awards

Custom made awards can be crafted for any special event. 

As an employer, custom made awards show that you really believe receiving the award is a big deal and the employee deserves special recognition, not just a routine pat on the back. 

Custom Name Badges 

For minor awards and office contests, custom name badges and table displays are the perfect gift.

Personalized table displays are also an excellent way to commemorate the number of years an employee has been with the company. It shows that you value your employees like a family and you want to celebrate the time you’ve spent together. 

Academic and Religious Awards

Personalized awards can also be given for academic achievements or for religious ceremonies such as confirmation. 

Contests like spelling bees, art and music concerts, and academic club accomplishments are also suitable occasions to receive a custom award. 

Why Give Awards?

Giving awards of any kind shows appreciation for a job well done. It’s a tangible reminder of hard work and a strong commitment to excellence. Hard work isn’t always appreciated, but when it is, it’s all the more rewarding and satisfying.