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. 

Customer Service Week is October 4-8 (only 23 days away!), and this is an important week to recognize and acknowledge your customer service team. Your customer service team has a crucial role in the customer experience, and it’s important that they feel valued and appreciated. 

Customer service employees are often referred to as the face of a business. They have the greatest impact on customer satisfaction and retention. Industry reports have shown a direct link between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction, and between customer satisfaction and improved financial performance. 

Next in our How-To Recognition series is a focus on our new Happy Birthday recognition theme. Everyone has a birthday therefore every employer struggles with whether or not to celebrate employee birthdays in the office. I shared best practices on celebrating birthdays in the office in our Recognition TV Webisode today, and you can watch the recorded version on Baudville.com or Baudville’s Facebook page. Most of my tips, ideas and best practices are below. 

Celebrate!
The official Baudville stance on birthdays is: celebrate! Birthdays are a great opportunity to let employees know that they matter, you value them, and to foster a sense of belonging and camaraderie. On the other hand, ignoring birthdays can be hurtful to employees. Ignoring a birthday sends a message to employees that the company doesn’t value what’s happening in their life outside of work. Acknowledging employee birthdays, in small but sincere ways, can improve employee engagement and loyalty to the company. 

Celebrating birthdays at work can be tricky. Some people love a big production, and others prefer to be more private about their big day. Some managers go all out with for their employees’ birthdays and others aren’t even aware birthdays exist. 

Something as simple as birthday celebration inequities within your organization can hurt employee morale, loyalty and camaraderie. Creating a company-wide birthday program can level the playing field and make all employees feel appreciated and valued on their birthday. 

We had a great Recognition TV webisode yesterday where we shared tips on how you can be a Day Maker in your organization through positivity, recognition and fun. You can watch the video on our Facebook page, in the Recognition Resource Center on our website and read our tips right here on the blog.