Employee of the Month Program - Innovative Ideas for 2022

How to Implement an Effective Employee of the Month Program?

First of all, you will need to employ a good employee of the month program to include all your employees and enhance your office culture. Here are some factors you should consider while developing your employee of the month program.

• Setting up definite goals and criteria
• Monitoring the progress carefully
• Make sure the participation of all employees during the decision-making process
• Celebrate the achievements properly
• Reward the winner according to their best interest

Here are three steps to employ an effective employee of the month program:

Step 1: Setting Goals and Determining Criteria

Setting goals and determining the criteria are the foundation of your employee of the month program. It allows the employee to know what they need to accomplish to be recognized as the month’s employee. 

Show your team members what improvements they need to make. It will allow them to organize their activities that help increase sales and gain profits. You may already be tracking some of these metrics to calculate the KPI of your company.

Here are a few factors you should consider while setting up criteria for the employee of the month program.

• Goals of the company
• What will make the company stand out from others
• What performances do you need to improve

When you find out the answers to these questions, you can easily set up the criteria to recognize your employees.

Step 2: Monitoring

Once you set up the criteria and employee of the month program ideas, you can now monitor your employees. Explain to them the system and metrics to get them on board.

Answer any questions they have to make the system easily accessible. Inspire them to earn the reward and make the system visible to your employees whenever they want. You can utilize a break room board or online recognition platform for easy tracking.

Thoroughly update the points your employees earn in the system. Online platforms can automatically update the points within a moment’s notice. On the other hand, if you are using an offline platform, you will need to update it after certain intervals manually.

Step 3: Celebrating

At the end of the month, you will have your winner of the employee of the month program. Make sure you recognize your winner appropriately.

The success of your whole program depends on how you celebrate the achievements. It will create a huge difference in making employees engaged with your program and encourage productivity all over the company.

Immediate recognition and awarding will make the program more effective. Otherwise, your employees will lose interest in the program, and it won’t bring the changes you hoped for. Also, make sure the reward you present aligns with the employees’ tastes. Only then can you make the employee of the month program effective and engaging.

Why Specifying the Parameters is Important?

As we mentioned earlier, you need to specify goals and criteria for awarding your employees. It will allow them to be clear about their objectives and be more productive in achieving success.

You cannot hit a target without having a clear idea about it. Specifying parameters give your employees the target that they need to achieve. Therefore, they will be keener to participate and bring substantial productivity to the organization.

Making Sure Employee Of the Month is a Team Decision

In most cases, the employee of the month awards gets tainted with the acquisition of favoritism. It makes the program totally ineffective and alienates employees from the organization.

To resolve such problems, it is wise to make the program transparent and make it exclusive for every participant. When the organization creates a system that anyone can access and see their progress, it can highly solve the problem.

The set parameters help in this situation a lot. Here the participant can see where they stand in accomplishing the program’s goals. Therefore, when an employee receives employee of the month prizes, everyone can appreciate that individual’s accomplishments.

The goal of your employee of the month program should encourage teamwork and collaboration rather than encouraging workplace hostility. Therefore, it is wise to include everyone while announcing the winner. This will be a great team-building exercise and make sure there is no acquisition of favoritism or dictatorship.

A Proper Gift goes a Long Way

Awarding the perfect reward to your winner of the employee of the month program is crucial for the program’s success. Most companies tend to add a bit of monetary prize to the winner. However, it may not be the best practice to have.

A recent survey has shown that employees nowadays crave recognition rather than the monetary prize. So, distributing cash without proper recognition may not bring you the optimum success you are looking for from your employee of the month program.

Company-wide recognition and shout-out to company social media can help greatly in these situations. Additionally, you can offer the winner a certain experience that will give them satisfaction for the rest of the month and inspire them to do better.

Gift cards for fueling their hobbies, all-inclusive vacation, self-care packages are some of the examples for giving your employees a better experience. It will allow them to see that the organization cares about their well-being, and they will feel more engaged and productive in their workplace.

The Announcement Should be a Big Deal in the Office

Announcing your winner for the employee of the month needs to be grand for upholding the overall vibe of the program. Most of the program’s significance relies upon this announcement, and you will need to demonstrate it accordingly.

Your employee has achieved something wonderful, and the announcement should uphold that vibe. Otherwise, the whole program will lose its meaning, and the employees will feel disengaged from the program.

The managers and leaders of the organization should take the proper time to celebrate the employees’ achievements and encourage others to replicate the achievements. They can announce the employee of the month during their morning briefing or during break time, where all the employees are present. Also, mentioning their achievements can go a long way in increasing productivity all over the organization.

Bottom Line

Motivating employees and keeping them motivated can be a challenging task. However, if you follow the above-mentioned procedures, your program will soon kick off and bring more productivity to your organization.

Start by employing a great program and closely monitor your employees’ activities. Then include all your employees in the decision-making process and celebrate and reward the employees appropriately. This way, your employees will feel more engaged with the organization, and you will see a certain positive change in productivity.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What do you give an employee of the month?

Ans: You can give your employee of the month a certain experience to get refreshed or something that enhances their ability to work. Depending on the execution, gift cards, self-care packages, better equipment, all-inclusive vacation, or even paid vacation days can work.

Q. Are these recognition programs effective?

Ans: Yes. When done right, it can make the employee more engaged and productive in their workplace.

Q. How to announce employee of the month?

Ans: Take adequate time to announce and celebrate the employee of the month. You can announce the winner during the morning briefing or during break time while all the other employees are present. Make this announcement a big deal for your organization.