What is an employee of the month program?

An employee of the month program is an example of an employee recognition method. Recognizing an employee of the month is a very popular way of rewarding employees for their hard work and achievements.

In order to have a successful employee of the month program, your company has to set out specific standards in order to give the award to the best-performing employee. Once you have set the standards and terms, let employees know of the program and possible prizes. This is a great way of motivating employees to work hard, which means the company can benefit from giving out an employee of the month.

Keep reading for more on the benefits of an employee of the month program.

Benefits of having an employee of the month program

There are many benefits to having an employee of the month program. By having an employee of the month program, you will be recognizing your employees for their hard work, which is always a positive thing to do. Here are a few of the positive returns your business can expect when creating an employee of the month program.

• High Productivity: When companies are able to provide employee recognition through an employee of the month program, they will see a bump in productivity. Having a bit of friendly competition can make employees want to push themselves a bit harder. Some people thrive when competing, so for them, the employee of the month program will be extremely motivating.
• Boosts Morale: Having something to look forward to always makes people feel better. When creating an employee of the month program, you will give employees something to look forward to hearing about at the end of each month. Having good morale will make the workplace a positive environment, and the entire team will benefit.
• Increased Employee Retention Rates: When employees are happy, they tend to stick around. Having some recognition for hard work built into the office culture is a great way to keep employees happy, which will make them want to work for your company in the long term.
• Positive Work Environment: Having an employee of the month program will increase happiness and create a positive work environment. With regular recognition of a job well done, the workplace will become a positive place to be. This positivity will also feed into higher productivity levels and increased employee retention rates, so you will find having an employee of the month program benefits the entire company.

Related: Signs of A Poisoned Work Environment (Plus Ways to Prevent One)

The above benefits of having an employee of the month program should be reason enough for your company to try implementing the program.

Tips on starting an employee of the month program

If your company decides to create an employee of the month program, there are a few tips that you can use to make the program successful. The following tips will make sure that your employee of the month program is well implemented:

Define Clear Objectives

Make sure to be very clear on what your objectives for the program are before you implement it. What is the main thing that you want to achieve with an employee of the month program? There is a big difference between wanting to improve retention rates and simply wanting to have a bit of fun with your coworkers, so make sure you know exactly why you are implementing this program.

When you do define the objective of having an employee of the month program, make sure that it aligns with the company’s values. For example, if one of the company’s core values is teamwork, maybe instead of rewarding one employee a month, you reward teams. This type of clarity will help make the employee of the month program successful and run smoothly.

Have Specific Criteria

When creating an employee of the month program, you want to have specific criteria for winning the award. If there are no specific standards, then the award could start going around arbitrarily, and the program will become meaningless.

Make sure that you have a set of behaviours or accomplishments that you will want to reward. Also, be transparent with your staff about how they can win the award. Having guidelines defined before the employee of the month program starts will help it be successful.

Involve Peers

In order to avoid unhealthy competition among staff, make the employee of the month award something you have to be nominated for by coworkers. That way, people will not have to be concerned about favouritism, and it ensures fairness with employees deciding to participate themselves.

Also, having to nominate a peer for the employee of the month program will increase camaraderie among the staff, and they will be able to strengthen their working relationships. This will also strengthen teamwork in the office, meaning that collaborative projects will be successful.

Set Attractive Awards

The awards for winning employee of the month should be attractive enough for employees to feel motivated to strive for them. A good way of doing this is to combine monetary and non-monetary rewards. Do different types of rewards each month so that employees’ unique tastes are accounted for. Not everyone is going to be motivated by the same reward, so switching up what the employee of the month receives is a good way to accommodate different tastes.

Before you start the program, you can also consult employees for ideas on possible rewards. This way, you will have an idea of what type of reward would be the most popular, making the whole thing less of a guessing game.

Here are some examples of awards to give the employee of the month.

• Social media appreciation posts through
• Personalized gifts like coffee mugs, t-shirts
• Paid vacations and days-off
• Monetary rewards like bonuses, cash awards, gift cards
• Food and restaurant gift cards
• Tech and work equipment upgrades
• An exclusive feature on the company website or newsletter
• Certificates, tokens, or plaques

Be Creative

Try to be creative when creating the employee of the month program. For example, instead of calling it the employee of the month, try something more fun like Ultimate Team Player Award. This can create more interest in the program, especially at the beginning.

Also, think of ways of making the announcements for the employee of the month memorable. Making the announcement public will give them a sense of achievement and will motivate others to pursue being the next employee of the month. Being a bit fun and creative with the program will make employees happy to receive the award and is a great way of adding a bit of positivity to the office.

Measure Impact

After a few months of running the employee of the month program, check to see if you’ve made an impact on your defined objective. You’ll want to check if employees are enjoying the program and if it’s helping motivate them.

Related: How to Motivate Your Employees

To get good feedback from the employees, try sending out a survey on the program itself. That way, you will know how the employees feel about the program, and you can decide whether to make it a long-term program or something that was just a fun experiment. The survey may also point you in the direction of a few changes that the program can adopt to make it more successful.  

By using the above tips, you should be able to create a successful employee of the month program. Remember that the employee of the month program is a way of recognizing employees for their achievements, so even if you have to make a few changes to how it is run, it will be worth the effort. The benefits of this type of program are numerous, so working on making it successful will be positive for your entire company.