Never underestimate the care it shows when you thank your staff for a job well job or for going the extra mile on something for the practice. There are many, many ways of showing appreciation, from just a straight, “Thank you for doing a great job this week!” to meaningful rewards and recognition. It raises morale and makes the staff member feel appreciated.
To get the juices flowing in the right direction, here are a few ideas you could do to thank your staff for doing a great job or something special:
- Acknowledge and celebrate birthdays and other important events in your staff’s lives, e.g. have a birthday cake and give a b-day card everyone signed.
- Give the staff member an extra long lunch break.
- Recognition (verbally, in front of others) for active community volunteer work.
- Swap a task with an employee for a day – her/his choice.
- Write a commendation to the staff member and post it on staff bulletin board in the kitchen.
- Start an employee recognition program. Give points for attendance, punctuality, teamwork, etc. Give a gift certificate to those who were over a certain number of points. ($10 Starbucks or Tim Horton’s gift certificate, for example.)
- Start a suggestion program that staff can make submissions to, and when that suggestion is implemented, give a gift certificate.
- Share compliments that the patients or clients made about a specific staff member, e.g. do this at the weekly or monthly staff meeting.
- If a staff member stays excessively late, give them a thank you letter.
- Take a staff member out for lunch for making an outstanding contribution to the practice.
- Plan a surprise picnic or dinner for the team if they pulled off a feat or achieved a certain practice goal.
- Find out the person’s hobby and buy an appropriate gift.
- Make and deliver a fruit basket.
- Bake or bring a gift of cookies, bread, etc. for an outstanding team member.
- Hold informal retreats to foster communication and set goals.
There are millions of ideas such as these. We would love it if you could send us YOUR favourites if not on the list above.
Get going on this and have fun with it. Watch the moral rise!
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