Customer Service Week is underway at Baudville! This year, we are having a spirit week. Each day has a different theme, and employees are encouraged to dress up and get in the spirit. In addition to all the fun outfits, each day there are activities and games for employees to play. Monday, there was a sports quiz featuring local sports teams. All correct entries were entered into a drawing for two tickets to a Griffins hockey game. Rockstar Day was complete with a rousing game of Rock Band as well as a word search, trivia and one hit wonder matching game. Only our SPIRIT Team knows what's in store the rest of the week! 

Last week we conducted a poll on our blog asking visitors if they use social media to give recognition. Here were the responses: 

You’d expect that Baudville, being a recognition company, would have some pretty solid recognition practices in place—and you’d be right! In addition to regular award ceremonies, we also have a lot of day-to-day recognition activities going on, as well as special events and individual department initiatives. Over the summer, we also introduced a company-wide peer recognition program that has been a huge hit. 

When we first introduced it, it was overwhelmingly popular. We could chalk that up to simply having excellent employees, which we do; but, I think another reason for the enthusiasm was the absence of any structured program for us to use before that. Sure, we have all kinds of recognition products at our disposal, but here the tools were put directly in our hands—and with the institution of a specific program, we simply had more motivation.

And people did go crazy with it. Obviously, there were a lot of pent up feelings of appreciation that were just dying to get out.

But just like any new relationship, the test is if it can evolve from the infatuation stage to deep commitment and not, instead, into complacency. To keep the passion for our program alive, our recognition leaders knew from the get-go that they needed several processes in place to make sure we could keep up the momentum.

Most importantly, the program incorporates our core values. When we recognize someone, we need to make sure the act or behavior fits into a category that merits recognition (performance, innovation, integrity, etc.). So, as much as they might want to, my peers cannot congratulate me on the awesome outfit I’m wearing today. Our objectives are clear, so it’s easy for us to know what to look for.

We also get regular reminders. We all get busy, or get focused on our daily tasks, so we may not stop to think about what others are doing around us. In addition to being encouraged to write at least one recognition note to a peer each week, we get email reminders to “put on our recognition goggles.”

Then there are the incentives! For one, we earn company-wide prizes for 100% participation (remember those extra casual days?). The other incentive comes from actually being recognized. It fosters a feel-good, pay-it-forward mentality that on its own keeps the recognition flowing.

If you’re thinking about starting a peer recognition program, or have one in place already, you can incorporate these simple practices that Baudville uses to help maintain the enthusiasm and longevity it needs to be truly effective.

The other day, I sent an ePraise to a coworker who had done some really nice work on a product idea. Then she emailed me back to tell me I had made her day. I was so happy to hear that, it made my day. Seriously! 

Last week, Cindy, our HR Manager, shared some information about how we plan special employee recognition events at Baudville. She talked about the cross-department team that organizes all our employee recognition events. We created the SPIRIT team to represent all departments in event planning, to bring more recognition ideas to the table, and add extra hands to the employee recognition event planning process.