THESE FIVE TACTICS PROVE A LITTLE GOES A LONG WAY

EVERY PRACTICE owner wants to see his or her employees reach their full potential. We want our staff to show up early, work late, give great patient service and, of course, sell our products and services. Keeping your top performers engaged and enthusiastic could be as easy as implementing a staff appreciation program that ensures a schedule of recognition and rewards by you and your business partners.

Here are five ways you can start an ongoing appreciation program with your employees:

1 SAY THANK YOU TO ONE EMPLOYEE EVERYDAY

Take the time to single out one employee a day, and thank him or her for something he or she has done recently. Make it sincere and personalized by targeting something the staff member actually did or accomplished.

2 EACH WEEK, PUBLICLY CONGRATULATE ONE EMPLOYEE

Every week, something special happens in your practice. Whether a staff member has dealt with a particularly unruly patient or he or she went above and beyond to help a co-worker, special things go on all the time. The goal is to catch and reward these acts of workplace honor. For example, highlight them in a weekly meeting or on the staff communication channel.

3 GIVE PERSONALIZED GIFTS

Say thank you, and recognize employees in a fun and inexpensive way, such as by buying some “Extra” gum and writing, by hand, a note that reads: “Thanks for going the Extra mile.” Want some additional ideas? Check out this Pinterest board about employee recognition: https://www.pinterest.com/4ecps/employee-recogntion/ .

4 POST A NOTE

This is still one of my favorite ways to thank employees for a great job — or just for being themselves. The way I do it is to take colored Post-It Notes and write different personalized messages to employees. I leave them in places I know each individual will find them. It always goes over well, and we hear lots of chatter among the team on what note they received.

5 GET THE TEAM INVOLVED

Have a “Staff Shout Out” wall or chalkboard where you can put recognition notes, and the staff can also post stories about each other. This helps to build comradery and office culture.

REPEATING THE PERFORMANCE

If you’re not yet convinced to start employee appreciation and recognition, think of it this way: People love to hear they did something well and, when they hear it, they want to do it again! OM

MS. CHAREST is the co-founder of 4ECPs, a business resource company for eye care professionals. It has six divisions: marketing, training, eye care jobs, social media, payments and events. Ms. Charest can be reached at www.4ecps.com , or email trudi@4ecps.com.