You may be wondering by now whether selecting an employee of the month is a good idea or not.
If your answer is affirmative, you will ask yourself, how do I do it? How can I select the employee of the month?
A current trend is being used in companies to motivate workers, detect errors and improve them, and train them for personal improvement. It can be a great way to improve the employee experience.
The election of the employee of the month is a human resources tool that consists of choosing every month one of the workers who has stood out during this period, according to the conditions that are established.
The employee of the month may have stood out for personal evolution and growth in record time, for exceeding defined objectives, for camaraderie, etc.
These conditions will depend on the company or what the human resources area advises. But be careful with what we are going to tell next. We are indeed talking about a double-edged sword.
And here is the reason for this: when this technique is not carried out well, it can cause specific, irreversible damage. Why?
The work culture may become intoxicated due to an over-competitiveness among workers caused by the demands of superiors and the incitement to improve one another.
This is not the sole responsibility of entrepreneurs since, on many occasions, we find that there are components in teams that, far from being guided by camaraderie and group work, seek to satisfy the personal ego by sowing competitiveness and striving to be above the rest. And, unfortunately, this can become intoxicating to the rest of the departmental team.
Therefore, it is essential that whoever decides to choose this employee motivation technique knows how to do it properly.
Table of Contents
Before we start. what is an employee of the month?
As we anticipated, the election of the employee of the month is an incentive in the workforce to achieve the award given to the chosen worker. It is, after all, a recognition of merits and achievements.
From a technical point of view, within the work of a human resources department, it is usually decided to do this when the company has a moderately considerable volume of workers.
Why?
It is not very coherent to choose an employee of the month when the company consists of three workers, one of which is the manager.
This objective is to incentivize employees by rewarding those who work best, as we have already said, according to what the company considers to be “working better,” since there are many ways to optimize performance and many and different values to reward.
All The Ideas We Can Give You To Choose And Award The Employee Of The Month
Now, we will tell you all the ideas that we had saved up to now to choose and reward the employee of the month who does the best. Get a pen and paper! That we started.
What Are You Going To Reward Your Employees?
First of all, you must ask yourself what you would like your employees to improve in this competition. The performance? The productivity? The punctuality? The objectives? The companionship?
As you can see, there are many options you have to choose from and decide which points are those in which you would like your employees to strive. If you are not sure, we advise you to make a list of those things that, in general, you think should improve.
For example, certain things usually come in handy to optimize:
- The goals are achieved weekly or monthly. They are always scalable, and it never hurts to exceed them.
- Tasks closed weekly. The more that are done efficiently, the more the pace and productivity increases in the company.
- Punctuality. Both during working hours and when delivering or closing tasks, it is about awakening a specific discipline and habit.
- Teamwork. In all workgroups, there are always people who are more involved or help others motivate themselves, thus increasing the group’s performance.
- The evolution and professional growth. The workers who strive to improve end up being the fastest-growing in the profession, not getting stuck and embracing new responsibilities and optimal work attitudes.
Perhaps there is no motivation in your company to arrive early, complete tasks on time, or reach specific goals at the end of each week.
Focus on these weaknesses and use them to reward whoever does the best.
Thus, you will motivate the rest also to want to do well to be rewarded.
Establish A Procedural Protocol
To avoid possible future conflicts, you must establish a particular order and leave it in writing. Once you have gotten used to what you want to encourage your employees to improve, draw up an election process, some conditions, and the monthly monitoring you are going to carry out on each worker.
Also, make sure to guarantee objectivity, neutrality, and impartiality when choosing the employee, changing him every month, to avoid confusion and misinterpretations.
This action protocol must not discriminate against workers based on rank, position, or department. Everyone feels included in the election and has the same opportunities to aspire to be the month’s employee.
Make Them Part Of The Process!
What better implication than to make them feel within this protocol? Make their opinion count in deciding how to do it.
Feeling that they are taken into account for the company’s internal decisions will make them feel better and more part of a team, which is one of the purposes of this human resources strategy.
This can be achieved by conducting surveys to state whether or not they agree with the way and the criteria for awarding this award and receive, incidentally, some feedback through a suggestion box.
In this way, it will be a company-wide process for all employees.
What Are You Going To Give To The Employee Of The Month?
The award you will give to the employee of the month you choose can range from a salary increase to vacation days, bonuses to enjoy leisure activities: hotel night, spa, a getaway to a destination where you can disconnect, bonus restaurants…
There are so many options that you will have a hard time deciding!
We leave you some incentive ideas for your employees:
- Hotel nights for two.
- Activity vouchers for two.
- Salary increase of a certain%.
- Vacation days to choose from during the year.
- Coupons for restaurants, SPA.
- Discounts for medical, aesthetic, or therapy treatments.
Salary increases are a desirable incentive, but there is nothing like personal benefits and knowing that the corporation you work for cares about your emotional well-being.
Encourage Teamwork
An employee of the month is usually a personal competition, but it can also be done in groups. This will depend on whether the modus operandi of your company allows it. That is, if you usually work in a team, by projects, or not.
For example, this activity can be implemented as a team-building exercise. Remember that another of its purposes is to form a united and hard-working team.
The competition to be the employee of the month must constantly adapt to the form, rhythm, and work habits of a company and encourage effort, but not the execution of tasks out of context.
Also Read: Team Building Activities: How To Motivate Your Team
Why Choose An Employee Of The Month?
Studies confirm that one in three companies that fail have not focused on improving and optimizing their human resources. Some companies do not even have a human resources area dedicated to it. And it is a fatal mistake on the part of an entrepreneur not to devote time to his human capital.
Are not the workers who get the job and the company forward? Let’s do our best to improve the experience for our employees!
If you want to keep your workers motivated, make them as productive as possible, and that professional performance favors business growth. You are implementing this technique as employee care is a perfect option.
Are you going to implement this strategy in your company? We want to know! If you have followed our ideas and aspects to consider when choosing the employee of the month, tell us about your experience.
Also Read: How To Increase Productivity In 4 Steps
