Elevating Employee Recognition; Subtle Strategies for Celebrating Exceptional Performance

Mike Stover, Corporate Director of Talent & Culture, PCH Hotels & Resorts

The hospitality industry is always focused on delivering positive guest experiences and building relationships that result in return visits and long-term loyalty. However, recognizing and appreciating the efforts of your team members is crucial for fostering a positive work environment and ensuring the delivery of these exceptional guest experiences. While formal recognition programs and awards ceremonies have their place, there's something special about the power of subtle and personalized recognition. These ideas can be budget-conscious and relatively easy to implement, regardless of industry, with great impact on the culture of your team and organization. Many of these are simple concepts, but all too often overlooked by leaders that are busy managing their areas of the business and often large teams.

1.Personalized Notes of Appreciation

Remember when your parents told you to write a thank you note to someone who gave you a gift? Or maybe when someone advised you to send a thank you to a potential employer after you interviewed? A personal note can have impact in many ways, not only to family, friends, or professional contacts. A handwritten note goes a long way in making employees feel valued. Take the time to craft personalized messages expressing gratitude for specific contributions. This not only demonstrates that their efforts are noticed but also shows that you genuinely appreciate the unique qualities they bring to the team. The personal touch of a note can have a profound impact, leaving employees feeling acknowledged and motivated.

Actionable Tip: Set aside time each week to write a few notes recognizing outstanding efforts. Be specific about the contributions you're highlighting, and consider leaving the notes in a place where employees will find them as a pleasant surprise. Be careful that this doesn’t become just a common “thank you” for doing their job that is taken for granted, so be sure to make the note specific to a situation where they were a little extra special or where they might need a boost of reassurance.

Potential Outcome: Increased employee morale, enhanced job satisfaction, and a positive impact on overall team dynamics.

2. Surprise & Delight

In the hospitality industry, “surprise and delight” is something that we talk about often in the context of guest experience. Harness the power of these unexpected gestures to surprise and delight your team members. Whether it's a surprise treat, a small gift, or a spontaneous break, these surprises show that you're attuned to their needs and appreciate their hard work. The hospitality industry can be a grind at times, where busy is the norm and people can get lost in the shuffle of trying to stay ahead of the needs of our guests. Take the time to recognize your employees to demonstrate your care for them as a coworker and as a person.

Actionable Tip: Keep a stash of small, thoughtful gifts like gift cards, vouchers, or company-branded merchandise. Distribute them spontaneously when you notice exceptional performance or a job well done.

Potential Outcome: Improved employee engagement, strengthened emotional connection to the workplace, and a boost in motivation.

3. Public Recognition in Meetings

While formal recognition programs exist, incorporating public acknowledgment into regular team meetings is a subtle yet effective way to recognize achievements. Share success stories, highlight individual contributions, and celebrate milestones in a public forum to emphasize the importance of each team member's role. This recognition not only demonstrates what excellence in action can look like, but it reiterates to the team that they are valued, noticed, and cared for by their leadership. Use these public recognitions to promote new ideas and superior performance, which elevates the members of the team to have higher expectations of themselves.

Actionable Tip: Dedicate a section of your regular team meetings to celebrate achievements. Encourage team members to share their success stories and express appreciation for their colleagues.

Potential Outcome: Enhanced team spirit, increased camaraderie, and a culture of mutual appreciation.

4. Professional Development Opportunities

Show your commitment to your employees' growth by offering professional development opportunities as a form of recognition. This could be in the form of workshops, training programs, or access to industry conferences. By investing in their development, you communicate and recognize their potential and value their long-term contributions to the team. We all recognize that time away from the job can be complicated to manage and expensive at times, but demonstrating that you appreciate employees who are high-performers and want to invest in them is key to retention and growth in your team. I’m sure everyone is familiar with the often-repeated quote “The CFO asks the CEO, ‘What happens if we invest in developing our people and they leave us?’ and the CEO responds, ‘What happens if we don’t, and they stay?’ Find creative ways to invest in the development of your employees as a way to recognize their contributions.

Actionable Tip: Regularly assess the professional development needs of your team. Provide opportunities for skill-building and career advancement, aligning them with individual aspirations and organizational goals.

Potential Outcome: Improved employee retention, increased loyalty, and a workforce that feels invested in the company’s success.

5. Flexibility & Work-Life Balance

Many areas of the hospitality industry operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Other industries operate with a similar cadence and flexibility in schedules can be very challenging to manage. However, we should all recognize that our team members have lives outside of work and offer some flexibility when possible. Allowing employees to manage their work schedules within the constraints of the business can be a subtle yet powerful way to recognize their hard work and dedication. Adjusting work schedules with a colleague, allowing flexibility in how some of their work gets done, or other creative ideas that allow the business to run effectively while accommodating the demands of life can be a very impactful way to show employees that they are important as people first, not just as a mechanism to complete a task. The dynamics of managing exempt and non-exempt employees is a challenge, but work with your HR teams and other leaders to be attentive and creative in how you balance your staff to show appreciation for outstanding work.

Actionable Tip: Implement flexible work arrangements or consider offering occasional early release days or extended weekends to reward exceptional effort. For example, a reward for being recognized as the employee of the month might mean a half-day off, or potentially granting them additional flex hours depending on how PTO is awarded for the company. There are creative ways to achieve this goal while still managing the overall staffing of the business unit.

Potential Outcome: Enhanced employee satisfaction, improved work-life balance, and a positive impact on overall well-being.

6. Nomination-Based Recognition Programs

Empower your team members to recognize each other through a nomination-based program. This allows employees to highlight their colleagues’ achievements, fostering a culture of peer recognition.

Actionable Tip: Implement a nomination system where employees can submit brief descriptions of their colleagues’ exceptional contributions. Recognize and reward these individuals periodically. For example, a budget-friendly program that is easy to manage would be a nomination box to collect “excellence in action” nominations throughout the month. At the end of the month, select one that stands out and give them public recognition (#3 above), a gift of some kind (#2 above), or personal time (#5 above). However, you should also consider additional recognition of everyone that was nominated that month with a genuine thank you (#1 above) for continuing to do a great job.

Potential Outcome: Strengthened team bonds, increased employee engagement, and a culture of continuous acknowledgement.

With all types of recognition for your teams, it is important to know your employees and what might resonate best with each. It is also critical to know their personalities and understand the type of recognition that might feel uncomfortable to them. For example, some people are much more reserved, so public recognition might impact them negatively. Take the time to know your teams and find the right opportunities to show your team how much you care for them not only as contributors to the workplace, but as people.

In conclusion, recognizing employees for going above and beyond doesn't always require grand gestures. In the hospitality industry like many other industries, where personalized service is paramount, subtle and thoughtful recognition strategies can make a significant impact. By implementing some of these actionable tips, you can create a workplace culture that values and celebrates the exceptional efforts of your team members. In my career in various industries, I have witnessed firsthand the transformative power of subtle recognition, leading to improved employee morale, heightened job satisfaction, and ultimately, a team that is inspired to deliver above and beyond the basic expectations of the job. These employees are the secret to a company that rises above and outperforms their competition.

Mike Stover is a 25+ year veteran of HR, recruiting, and consulting with experience in hospitality, manufacturing, higher education, and other industries. Connect with Mike on LinkedIn to continue the discussion of employee engagement, talent development, and company culture. www.linkedin.com/in/mikestover