If your organization frequently has guest speakers attend your meetings, you most likely want to show your appreciate for their time and efforts in the form of a gift. Speaker gifts are commonly presented to speakers following their presentation at meetings and conferences. Giving a gift is a polite and respectful way to thank an individual for sharing their time, talent, and knowledge with your group. It also helps to generate goodwill with your organization, so they'll be more willing to return in the future!

When it comes to recognizing employees, you should look beyond top performers, say several business publications. The article in Time magazine entitled, “It's the B Team's Time to Shine,” was based largely on a Harvard Business Review article, “Let's Hear It for the B Players,” by Thomas DeLong and Vineeta Vijayaraghaven, which also inspired "Employers Learning that 'B Players' Hold the Cards" by Del Jones in USA Today.
 
All three articles make one point: that 80% of the American workforce, the B players that do most of the work, this backbone of productivity and service, is largely taken for granted by their employers.

If you stay up to date on our blog, you know we love to celebrate and have fun here at the ‘ville. Our managers are always doing fun stuff around here for their staff and we wanted to share those with you. Hopefully you'll get some great new ideas to reward your staff members this year! Read on to check out what our fabulous manager, Melissa, did just recently for one her awesome employees...

Some people just don’t know how to give positive employee feedback. They want to give positive employee feedback, but they go “blank” when trying to be clever, witty or uplifting. The following is a sample list of possible short, positive employee feedback messages that could be handwritten or spoken. Tailor your own personal message to suit the people and performance goals in your organization.

You believe your staff is the best. They’re hard working, dedicated, and fun to work with. When was the last time you told them that?

You don’t need an official recognition holiday like Teacher Appreciation Week or National Nurses Week to celebrate your staff. Declare your own unofficial appreciation week and plan a celebration worthy of your awesome staff. We suggest planning something small for every day of the week. That way, everyone can participate in the celebration regardless of which days they work.