In every organization, some employees deliver exceptional performance that adds value and growth to the business. Rewards and rounds of applause can bring them to the forefront, but there's another better way to make them feel valued.
To value the best performers of your team, nothing can be better than the Employee of the Month award! By such awards, you may think about trophies and certificates. However, there's more. As a modern employer, you can offer various gift options to recognize their hard work.
Through practical and meaningful gifts, your employees will feel a sense of belonging, which will increase their loyalty to your company. Moreover, you can create a positive work culture through employee awards and gifts.
This blog will dive into the employee award ideas you can incorporate into your organization. Furthermore, you will get tips on creating employee award programs and their benefits.
When team members deliver performance par excellence, organizations offer them a prize to value their efforts and dedication. Such a prize is often known as the "employee of the month" award.
The award creates a repeatable experience to value the top performers. Through such a practice, you recognize your employees' contributions monthly. Hence the name, "employee of the month" award.
Depending on their performance, you can decide which awards to give your employees. For instance, if employees from the sales team have surpassed their targets, you can offer them an excellence award to show recognition.
Designing an employee of the month program can highlight the worker's contributions. As they feel recognized, the company sees them as an example of how workers are supposed to be.
Employee awards and recognition are special. Companies hand over or send these to workers who contributed significantly to their success journey.
Even though they form an integral part of the corporate gift ideas, the most deserving employees can get them. And what does it qualify to give such awards?
The following is the criteria for the employee of the month award, depending on which you can create ideas for the following rewards and recognition programs:
• Displaying an optimistic attitude and fostering a positive work environment.
• Meeting targets consistently or going beyond the targets with exceptional quality.
• Offering suggestions for the development of company operations and culture.
• Showing team collaboration and supporting members for unified growth.
Congratulating the employee of the month shouldn't have to be boring. As a caring employer, you should try to make the program inspiring. Ensure to incorporate ideas that will excite your organization's employees and motivate them to pursue it.
Ditch the cliché and create a solid employee of the month program in a few steps. These are as follows:
• Introduce a straightforward process that everyone understands. You can get everyone's input when creating the employee of the month award ideas.
• Encourage the team members to vote for the employees. This process fosters the authenticity of employee recognition rather than making it a popularity contest.
• Add new categories for the employee of the month award. Highlight employees who bring innovation and immense leadership to the team.
• Offer creative employee appreciation gifts even for small achievements, such as a career milestone.
• Email teams to inform them about the program and the purpose of the awards, which is to boost productivity.
• Offering employee awards is a significant part of ensuring growth. Take suggestions from teams and enhance the practice to create a better work culture.
When we say awards, your mind will process visuals of trophies and medals. While they are popular in the corporate world, you can also provide awards in another form: employee recognition gifts.
They can consist of gift cards or physical items. Depending on your employees' interests and needs, you can include them in your employee of the month programs.
We offer a handful of employee of the month program ideas to ensure you organize a successful event.
Digital Gift Cards
To recognize employees' work and commitment, you can offer them convenient and flexible awards. A digital gift card can serve the purpose well. It is useful, and employees can experience something invaluable. Some digital gift card ideas include:
1. Food & Restaurant Gift Cards: Give your employees Chili's gift cards. Such an award will allow them to enjoy a scrumptious meal.
2. Retail Gift Cards: The best employee recognition awards would be a GAP gift card. Workers can purchase clothing items as per their convenience, resulting in satisfaction.
3. Online Streaming Gift Cards: You can offer a Netflix card as an employee of the month award. This will create a sense of joy among the workers, allowing them to work better.
4. Technology-related Gift Cards: To value employees' contributions, you can give them an Apple gift card. Set a budget and let them have what they want.
5. Travel and Experience Gift Cards: Your hardworking employees deserve something meaningful, especially those performing exceptionally well. A Disney Gift Card will allow them to let loose and enjoy the day.
Food & Beverage Items
A simple food hamper can also make an employee happy. If you're brainstorming employee of the month ideas, consider offering them food and beverage items as awards.
1. Tasty snacks: You can reward your employees with delicious snacks for small achievements like career milestones. The Sweet & Spicy Mushroom Jerky from Moku Food is ideal for employee recognition.
2. Protein bars: Offering food items as awards can be healthy. With the Skout Organic Protein Bar Sample Pack, you can appreciate your employees' hard work and ensure their good health.
3. Cookie kits: Desserts are a great way to show appreciation. The Chocolate Chip Cookie Shots from Dirty Cookie are simple gestures in the form of impactful awards.
4. Exotic tea boxes: Employees enjoy the in-between tea breaks amidst the hustle and bustle. Firebelly Tea USA's Sweet Hibiscus Rooibos can be a great option as a form of recognition award.
5. Gourmet cakes: There's nothing a piece of cake can't fix. And when celebrating your employees' wins, the Chocolate Gâteau Basque from Dandelion Chocolates is an ideal award.
Electronics Gift Ideas
As employee achievement awards, electronic gifts can create more impact. There are various options that you can explore from this category:
1. Portable Bluetooth speakers: Employees love the idea of employer appreciation. By using a JBL Go 4 Ultra-Portable Bluetooth Speaker, you can allow them to enjoy their time, which will create a lasting impression on their minds.
2. Robust headphones: To recognize employee efforts, you can offer fabulous headphones to the best performers. The Beats - Solo 4 True Wireless On-Ear Headphones - Matte Black can be ideal awards for employees of the month.
3. Wireless earbuds: To reward deserving employees, you present wireless earbuds. The Beats Fit Pro True Wireless Earbuds—Stone Purple are a high-quality product that will allow your employees to attend calls on the go.
4. Wireless chargers: Give awards to employees who utilize them. Receiving a Samsung Super-Fast 15W Wireless Charger will motivate your employees to contribute more.
5. Smart watches: Employee recognition and awards aim to make the workers feel seen. And with the Tinymoose Tempo Smart watch with Bluetooth Calling, your employees can enjoy versatility easily.
Lifestyle and Home Gift Ideas
Along with an employee of the month award certificate, you can provide a simple home décor item. The mix of gifts and certificates can truly appreciate your employees' work. Below are some options you can consider:
1. Desk Plants: These items can add life to the workstation and serve as excellent home décor. The Casey Succulent from ReVased is the best employee appreciation gift you can offer in the form of an award.
2. Spa-like experience: Let your employees know you care about them with an easy spa-like experience. In the form of awards, the Pursonic Facial Steamer Hot Mist Moisturizing Spa can offer rejuvenation to the workers, resulting in better performance.
3. Yoga Mats: Just like you appreciate your employees' work through awards, they also notice if you understand their preferences well. For the fitness enthusiasts in your organization, you can provide Yoga Mats | 6mm Thick | Cow | Non-Slip | eco-friendly | Yune Yoga as awards.
4. Blenders: As employee recognition awards, you can offer them something they can use daily. A BlendJet 2 can be ideal for employee appreciation programs as they are affordable and practical.
5. Burners: Make the kitchen work easy for your diligent and high-performing employees. To celebrate the employee of the month, you can present them with the Ooni Karu 12 Gas Burner.
Practical Gift Ideas
As an award for employee of the month, you can consider offering practical gift items. Various elements from journals to power banks will make your employees' lives simple. Some of the ideas are as follows:
1. Lunch boxes: When you organize employee appreciation events, offer gifts they can use even in the workplace. The Hydro Flask 5 L Carry Out Lunch Box – Black is essential for most employees in the office.
2. Journals: As inspiring employee awards, journals can be a way to go. With Organized Chaos: Planner from Effie's Paper, your employees can plan their daily tasks efficiently and work according to the checklist.
3. Power banks: A rewarding present for employees could be a power bank. Giving UltraBLU Sanitizing and Charging Power Bank to workers will show that you appreciate their hard work. Also, it will allow employees to charge devices on the go.
4. Coffee mugs: Looking for simple gifts for employee recognition and awards program? The Get Shit Done: Coffee Mug from Effie's Paper can help your employees stay energetic all day and understand that you care for them.
5. Keycaps: These are small and practical structures you can present to your employees as awards. Terra Keycaps Runic Keycaps are eye-catching elements that protect the employees' keyboards from damage.
Employee of the month awards are more than an appreciation gesture by the organization. They can have a real impact on fostering engagement among teams. Also, upon receiving awards, your employees radiate joy, which improves the workforce environment.
Moreover, there are other reasons for employee of the month awards, which are as follows:
• Through these awards, you are recognizing the genuine efforts of employees. Employees feel motivated to deliver their best work when they feel seen and appreciated.
• Employee of the month awards reinforce organizational values. When you publicly offer employee gifts and awards, it increases the significance of employee recognition. And that can promote a culture of trust and collaboration.
• Organizing employee recognition events monthly builds a strong connection between workers and the company. As the team members feel seen, they create a sense of loyalty towards your organization.
• Offering awards to employees makes them feel joyous. As they feel happy in the workplace, the fair chance is that they will stop looking for organizations.
Thinking of giving awards for employee of the month, but don't know how to present them? Well, that's something you should muster.
Presenting employee awards is not only about offering thoughtful items. Instead, it is about providing an experience that they will remember for a long time.
You can consider organizing a ceremony to present the employee of the month awards. Begin the ceremony with a heartfelt speech and introduce the award nominees.
After the speech, the central part arrives: presenting the awards. Put on a smile and hand over the awards to the respective employees. You can also provide certificates highlighting their contributions and excellence to acknowledge their efforts.
Still wondering about the employee of the month award? Well, the traditional reward program has a modern twist. Even without trophies and medals, you can create unique ideas to tell employees, "You matter."
Such unique ideas combine gift items. With a mix of practical and meaningful gifts, you can show appreciation and recognition to your workers. Ensure you organize a proper ceremony to hand over the gifts to your employees publicly. That public recognition will allow them to thrive and make your company successful.
At Gifted, we welcome businesses to choose from various corporate gifts. Be it employee appreciation or creating a lasting impression on clients, our gifts can serve all purposes.
We have options ranging from gift cards to physical gifts. When you search for a gift item on our platform, we categorize it under food & drinks, experience, featured, and more. You can sort the gifts and select the ones that you want for your company event.
Explore our gift ideas and create an effective one for the employee of the month event.
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