Employee Motivation, Recognition, Rewards, and Retention By: Dan Kostecki

Article: http://humanresources.about.com/od/motivationrewardretention/Employee_Motivation_Recognition_Rewards_Retention.htm


I found and article about Employee Motivation, Recognition, Rewards, and Retention, I really wanted to see what companies are doing to keep their employees happy. The article has many interesting topics on how to keep employees motivated and what to do when problems may occur. I think this is a very important topic to understand and know because as HR Professionals we are going to have to deal with these situations and if we have a heads up on what others are doing, we will be positioning ourselves to be better managers.

The first thing the article talks about is how are your recognizing your employees, are you showing your employees you care about them and how they are benefiting you or are you just treating everyone the same and not trying to make any one on one connection with them. The article says that if you can prioritize employee recognition you can ensure a positive, productive organizational climate. I really believe that statement to be true, everyone wants to be recognized for the work that they do even if it is something as small as a “Thank You” or “Good Job” if you show your employees that you are appreciating what they are doing for you I believe that they will put their best effort forth each and every time for you. If you neglect your employees I think they are going to do the minimum to just get by and not put in any extra time or effort that could really help the business. The article says that the best way to provide positive recognition is to first figure out what is important to you and your company, this will help you create goals and plans that will allow you to recognize those employees who are doing an exceptional job. It is also important to be fair and consistent, you should always recognize those who are doing well and not block anyone out, if one employee receives positive recognition for a job and another employee doesn’t for doing the same thing people will continue to be upset. What I got out of this whole section was the fact that in order to be successful you need to have a plan and follow that plan and everything will be alright.

The article also brought up some points on employee retention which I found to be interesting, the first thing I found interesting was about employee complaints. The article stated that complaints are something that will have to be dealt with on a daily basis, someone is always going to complain and it is very unlikely you are going to be able to make everyone happy; however there are ways to tackle complaints in a more positive manner. The first thing was to listen to everyone, which I think is a very good idea, I believe that if you at least listen to everyone and what they have to say it will show them you are making an effort to fix the problems. Employees will feel better about their situation if they know you are willing to listen. Other important employee retention includes providing things such as competitive salaries, flexible work arrangements, benefits and even tuition assistance. I believe that all these would help but I think as an organization you have to really look at which situation would work best for you, I don’t believe that offering everything would be helpful for the business, knowing what would be most important to your employees and work from there would be the best idea to provide incentives in my opinion.

The thing I learned most while reading the article was the fact that you need to be friendly and interested in your employees, you need to interact with them and show them you care about what they are doing for you. You need to encourage social interaction, and maybe even set up company picnics that allow employees time to hang out and build relationships outside of the workplace. If you are able to create a positive work environment for everyone you will be able to meet company demands and be prepared for anything that is thrown your way

Additional Sources:

http://www.wisegeek.com/how-can-i-improve-employee-morale.htm

http://www.anonymousemployee.com/csssite/sidelinks/poor_employee_morale.php

http://www.forbes.com/2008/08/28/small-business-morale-ent-hr-cx_ja_0828boostmorale.html

http://www.sideroad.com/Customer_Service/improve-employee-morale.html