#Employee recognition

Turn an employee's excellent work into a lesson for everyone else

After being served a perfectly made sandwich, Jimmy Collins, Chick-fil-A's former president, would take it back into the kitchen and find out who made it. He would then say, loud enough for everyone to hear, "This is a beautiful piece of work," and then explain in great detail what the employee did right and what makes it a perfect sandwich. This was not only a great way for him to publicly praise outstanding work but also teach everyone a lesson in operational excellence.

Reward employees frequently and publicly

Some Chick-fil-A owners carry around $10 gift certificates in their pocket to reward employees after they say or do something special for a customer. This not only serves as a public example of excellence, but engages employees to try to be the next winner.

Give experience awards, not cash awards

It is well known and accepted by Google staff that top performers receive much higher compensation than average employees. Any jealousy is reduced because salaries are a private matter and not shared. However, Google's large end-of-year cash awards given to top performers are very public.

After receiving criticism from staff, Google ran experiments to see if employees would be happier with experiential awards instead. Google created a control group of staff who were given cash, and experimental groups who were given trips, team parties, and other gifts of the same value as the cash awards.

When surveyed, staff found experiential awards to be "28% more fun, 28% more memorable, and 15% more thoughtful." Five months later Google surveyed winners again only to find that the happiness of cash recipients dropped by 25%, while the experimental groups were even happier about the experiential award than when they received it. Google has given out experiential awards since.

Reward impact, not hard work

As CEO Reed Hastings says: "When it comes to how we judge performance at Netflix, hard work is irrelevant."

There are no rewards or promotions for attending the most meetings or being chained to your desk for 80 hours each week. All that matters at the end of the day is how much of an impact you have made.

Collect, share, and reward WOW stories

Each year The Ritz-Carlton sets a standard of how many WOW stories each hotel is expected to submit. The stories are then sent to the internal communications team, who review them and choose a select few to be included in the Commitment to Quality daily lineup sheet that is shared with the entire company. Any Lady or Gentleman who has their WOW story spotlighted in the sheet receives $100.

Create ways for employees to reward and recognize each other

First Class Recognition Cards are simple note cards that can be filled out by any employee to thank their colleagues for helping them out. Although they can be shared at any time, some staff members wait for the hotel-wide Friday lineup to celebrate their fellow employee in front of everyone.

Five Star Staff Awards occur at each hotel quarterly. Employees nominate their colleagues based on how well they are living up to the brand's Gold Standards. The leadership team then chooses five winners, who will:

• Have a luncheon thrown for them in their honor
• Receive acknowledgment at the hotel's lineup
• Receive a Five Star winner pin
• Become ambassadors for the hotel who will share their stories with new hires at orientation

At the end of the year, five quarterly winners, are then selected as annual Five Star recipients who receive approximately $1,000, a round-trip airfare for two, and a week's stay at a Ritz-Carlton property.

Re-certify and celebrate your new hires on Day 365

The Ritz-Carlton created Day 365, as a way to revitalize their staff's commitment and passion for the company. A full day event, employees are first re-certified in their roles with a written test, interview, and role-play session (which is all cake walk after over 250 hours of training in the year).

Once re-certified, employees are presented with service pins—a distinguished symbol of being part of The Ritz-Carlton family. They are also treated to a lunch banquet that is attended by everyone who is celebrating a service anniversary that month. The rest of the day is spent sharing stories and reflecting on the time they have had with the company so far.

Become a servant-leader

Instead of staff working to solely serve their manager, at Starbucks managers exist to serve their teams. Leaders ensure that staff has what they need to do their job and serve as role models on how to live the company's values. Ultimately, the way they treat their staff is exactly how their staff will treat their customers.

At Starbucks to be a true servant-leader, you are expected to:

• Hold open forums at least once a quarter allowing partners to ask whatever questions they want, including "How much money do you make?"
• Celebrate partner achievements in front of other partners and with hand written thank you notes.
• Visit stores, roasting plants, and walk the floors of the office daily to chat with partners with no other agenda than to see how they are doing or ask if they need anything.
• Pay close attention to how people might interpret your actions, including who you talk to, the tone of your voice, and your body language.
• Invite partners to email you directly and answer each one personally.
• Visit stores and do the job of the baristas with positivity, joy, and playfulness. And yes, this includes cleaning the bathrooms.
• Accept that there will be times when partners spend too much on surprising guests, and let it go without any disciplinary action.
• Volunteer to show that community involvement is a prized value.

Empower staff through rewards, recognition, and engagement programs

Just telling Umpqua staff they are empowered to make decisions was not enough to create an empowered culture. Staff wanted assurance that it was safe for them to make decisions independently and that their work would be appreciated. Former CEO Ray Davis began introducing new incentive programs to reward good judgment and to signify that management trusts and believes in their associates.

• Brag Box recognitions: On Umpqua's intranet, associates can submit a story of how a team member went above and beyond to solve a customer's problem. Each month, Brags are selected, and those associates receive $50 and special recognition on the company's intranet.
• Spirit of Excellence Awards: Every month, associates are selected by their peers to receive $100, a plaque, and an extra day of paid vacation for doing extraordinary things for both customers and other associates.
• Team Recognition Fund: Every store and department has a special fund that associates can freely access to send team members something special, like gift cards, flowers, and a free dinner at a local restaurant.
• Team Awards: The President's Club recognizes the team or department that they feel is best living up to the company's standards in the most professional way.
• Culture Champion Awards: Each participating department's executive chooses a winner based on that department's criteria of cultural excellence.
• World's Greatest Bank University certification programs: When completing a certification program within the Umpqua training department, associates are recognized with an announcement on the company's intranet, a certificate of achievement, a graduation ceremony, and a recognition luncheon.
• Recognition cards: On the first of every month, Ray Davis would send out about 250 cards to associates celebrating their anniversary, letting them know how much he appreciates them, their work, and their dedication to customer service.
• Years of service awards: On landmark anniversaries, staff are presented with a gift box that includes a personalized plaque and gift catalog that associates can use to select a gift for themselves.
• Return on Quality (ROQ) crystal trophy: Each month, the department and store with the highest ROQ scores are awarded the highly coveted traveling crystal trophy.
• Celebration of Excellence: This yearly black tie event is like the Academy Awards. There is a master of ceremonies and a live band. Gold statues are presented to associates for their individual and team accomplishments.
• Annual Chairman's and President's Award: Presented at the Celebration of Excellence, these awards go to associates who exemplify Umpqua's core values. Winners receive seven days for two in Hawaii, $1,500 in spending cash, and a week's paid time off.

Inspire staff by sharing WOW stories

Umpqua added a WOW! blog on their intranet for associates to inspire colleagues with stories of how they went above and beyond for customers. Stories were organized into seven "superpower" categories:

• MegaEar: Listening for and fulfilling even the faintest customer needs
• Unbeatable Heart: Displays of care and compassion that shine through no matter what
• Bankability: Helping customers with banking and protecting them from fraud
• Hooray Holler: Loudly and proudly celebrating the great things others do
• Presents of Mind: Thinking of a personalized gift that makes someone's day
• Helping Hand: Jumping in to assist or rescue someone
• Dr. Umpqua: Prescribing the perfect products and services to serve a customer's financial needs.

View WOW story examples.

Create ways for employees to reward employees

It feels good to be recognized, especially by your peers, so Zappos devised ways for employees to recognize each other. Recognition doesn't have to be for extravagant gestures, Zapponians are recognized for opening doors, remembering birthdays, and sometimes for just always having a smile on their face through several types of programs:

• The Zollar Program: Zappos has its very own currency that can be redeemed for Zappos branded swag at the company store. Employees recognize someone with Zollars by filling out the person's name online and saying how they were WOW'd.
• Master of WOW Parking: Win a covered parking spot for a week right near the office entrance. Zapponians nominate each other for this coveted spot by submitting a brief story of WOW to the Zappos Concierge (ZCON) team.
• $50 Coworker Bonus Program: Each Zappos employee can give one $50 bonus per calendar month to any other Zapponian. Employees print out these certificates and deliver them to co-workers in fun ways, usually with an explosion of glitter.
• Hero Award: Based on that month's Coworker Bonus submissions, a panel chooses a 'Hero of the Month' and three 'Sidekicks.' Heroes receive a $250 Zappos gift card or an experience of their choosing (e.g. jumping off of the Stratosphere tower), a reserved parking spot, a Zappos Hero cape, and a Hero pin. Sidekicks receive their own parking spot as well, a $50 Zappos gift card, and sidekick cape. No pin unfortunately.

Share WOW stories by soliciting customer feedback

As part of the Sharing Great Calls program at Zappos, team members are encouraged to let their leaders know when they have made a strong personal connection with customers. The leader will then email or call the customer directly to receive additional feedback on the experience.

Zappos receives over 100 Sharing Great Calls examples every week and posts them on the company intranet and also uses them for quality feedback and training purposes.

And in case you're not sure how to approach a customer for feedback, the Zappos message sounds something like this:

"Our Team Member said what a great time she had talking to you! We want to give our Team Members an extra pat on the back, so I have a huge favor to ask of you. It will not take much of your time, but it will help us enormously. Please tell us about the service you received and any points of feedback regarding the conversation you had with our Team Member. "