Management support is a vital part of a successful recognition program, especially when a program is just beginning. This month, we’ll bring you tips and ideas to help gain and maintain management buy-in for your recognition program. Whether you are starting a new recognition program this year or trying to preserve momentum internally, these tips will help! 

Also this month, we will be discussing management buy-in for our first Recognition TV webisode of the new year. Don’t miss any of our tips, watch the webisode today! 

Peer-to-peer recognition is a growing trend in companies looking for ways to increase engagement and morale without over burdening managers. In WorldatWork’s 2008 survey, Trends in Employee Recognition, they discovered that 42% of the 554 companies that responded offer peer programs. Of those, 67 percent stated the program's impact on retention was moderate or high. Human Resource Executive also recently wrote an article on the Power of Peer-to-Peer. 

Peer recognition programs are very popular in organizations today. Peer recognition increases the quantity and frequency recognition is given, and it takes pressure off managers who are typically responsible for top-down recognition. We published a peer recognition white paper that explains the benefits of this type of recognition program– including improved culture, loyalty, job satisfaction and camaraderie. 

Creating a peer recognition program is very easy thanks to existing, ready-to-use programs. We currently offer three peer recognition programs, and I’m going to give a brief how-to for two of them today. 

Welcome back from the holiday weekend! I hope you had a fun and safe holiday and enjoyed some relaxation over the long weekend. I know I did. I used my extra day to recuperate from the Society for Human Resource (SHRM) Annual Conference in San Diego. I spent four days in San Diego working the Baudville booth, mingling with the crowd at the SHRM-Monster Tweetup and talking to thousands of human resource professionals – literally! 

If you’ve ever attended the SHRM Annual Conference, you know that it can be an overwhelming, exhausting and fabulous few days. You can see all the pictures from our trip to San Diego on our Facebook page. 

Thanks to everyone who attended our live video webisode, How to Be a Day Maker, this morning! If you weren’t able to attend, you can view the recorded version in the Recognition TV section of our website or on our Facebook page. 

In the next few weeks, you’ll hear a lot from Baudville about being a Day Maker. That’s because we’re releasing over 250 new products next week, and we believe you can use these products to make someone’s day at work. As a result, you’ll see employee morale, satisfaction and retention improve.