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Keep the Ones Who Keep You Going: Recognizing Staff and Volunteers

RECOGNITION AS AN ATTITUDE

So, you’ve got buy-in from management and feedback from staff members or volunteers. You’ve gotten approval for an adequate budget, understand the importance of recognizing contributions, and you’re eager to get started. How do you begin to incorporate your new program into your everyday world? Remember, recognition is an attitude.

Live the Attitude

Some very basic ways to live this attitude include:

• Be pleasant and smile. Greet people by name. It costs nothing to be polite!
• Start a suggestion box – and READ THE SUGGESTIONS.
• Hold feedback sessions and value all volunteers’ or staff members’ opinions.
• Maintain a coffee/refreshment area – and to make it really special, stock it with goodies, such as some of the delicious items from AppetizersToGo.com Or choose treats from Black Hound New York. Or savor the fantastic flavors of Dale & Thomas Popcorn
• Invite volunteers to staff meetings or invite staff members to participate in volunteer advisory councils.
• Accommodate personal needs and problems.
• Keep volunteers challenged with interesting assignments that utilize their talents. Likewise, ensure staff members are challenged, have opportunities for growth and development, and can strive for excellence.
• Provide resources for staff members and volunteers to attend conferences and workshops. Professional and personal development opportunities are important ways to recognize people.
• Recognize birthdays and service anniversaries once a month with a cake, home-made or gourmet. Gourmet Birthday Cakes at BakeMeAWish.com!
• Take time to fully explain responsibilities.
• Create pleasant surroundings: play soft music or provide reading material for persons waiting to see you.
• Use soft lighting and warm paint on the walls.
• Enlist staff members or volunteers to help train new people. Be sure to provide specific goals and expectations and give clear directions on evaluation methods.
• Empower staff and volunteers by giving opportunities for growth. Create opportunities for them to work together and build relationships with each other by devising new work teams.
• Remember an employee or volunteer who is ill with Get Well flowers. Send Sympathy Plants or Flowers when there is a death in the family of someone in your organization.

Naturally, not all these suggestions will be appropriate for your particular program.

Kick-Start Your Program

Want to do something different at a volunteer or staff meeting to get the ball rolling? Try introducing a "Caring Kit." Look beyond the touchy-feely aspects of this idea and you’ll see some excellent symbolism at work (and none of the symbols cost much).

Each kit should include:

• Paper clips: Paper clips have many uses just like people have many talents. Paper clips are also used to hold a program together.
• Rubber bands: Rubber bands are flexible, adaptable, and stretchable. Just like the people you count on!
• Plastic bandages: These help others and are sensitive to others’ feelings, just as supervisors have to be tuned-in to the feelings of those they work with.
• A quarter and a dime: These coins represent the ability to call and ask for help, and remind staff and volunteers they aren’t alone.
• A paper bill: Volunteer and staff contributions are factored into the overall revenue of an organization. Paper money signifies the economic contribution of volunteers to nonprofit agencies or the balance sheet of companies for staff members.
• A balloon: It expands and grows, as people do when they learn from others.

You can compile all these items in bags and present the kits to everyone. Include tags or a card that explains the significance of each. You don’t have to call it a Caring Kit either – it can easily be called something more relevant to your organization such as a Tool Kit, a People Kit, or a Life Saver; get those brain cells working.

Whatever you call it, it contains an effective message that simply says, "You are valued." Customize it to suit your own needs, and feel free to add other items that are appropriate to your program: sunscreen protects us from computer glare, for example, and reminds us to take a break.

FORMAL RECOGNITION

When asked what recognition means, most people tend to think of the annual presentation of plaques, pins, and certificates handed out at the annual banquet. Indeed, this type of formalized recognition has its place and provides great structure to a reward program.

Formal recognition is generally awarded based on set criteria and presented to reward:

• Length of service

• Anniversaries

• Attendance

• Safety

• Achievement of goals

• Special achievements

All but the last are fairly easy to implement; special achievements, however, must be handled with great care, as detailed below.

Service Levels

Length of service, anniversary dates, attendance records, safety records, and sales goals are all easily recorded and verified. Whether you keep manual notes on a calendar or capture all the information in a database, they are objective categories that have measurable outcomes.

Length of service can be awarded based on years or hours of service. An example of service levels for volunteer programs is:

• 100 hours

• 250 hours

• 500 hours

• 1,000 hours

• 2,500 hours

• 5,000 hours

• 7,500 hours

• 10,000 hours

Likewise, years of service can be categorized as:

• One year

• Five years

• Ten years

• Fifteen years

• Twenty years

• Twenty-five years

Structured systems can also be put into effect for safety hours (1,000 hours accident free), attendance (one year without a sick day), and sales ($10,000 in sales). However, you have to think what is realistic, appropriate, and attainable for your organization.

Recognizing years of service is great for staff members if you don’t have to deal with the issue of high turnover. One way to handle this, and implement a reward system at the same time, is to recognize service every six months. It isn’t feasible to produce pins or plaques for this type of system, but it can be done on a smaller scale, such as producing certificates or personal letters acknowledging and thanking the employee.

Make Goals Attainable

I have found the hourly service level more appropriate for volunteer programs, because not all organizations are fortunate enough to retain volunteers for many years. Additionally, I have built in more levels to recognize 1,500 hours and 6,000 hours of service. Narrowing the gaps between levels provides a more attainable goal for people to strive toward. It is hardly a motivator if a volunteer received an award for 5,000 hours five or ten years ago and hasn’t received a pin since!

When I instituted a summer youth volunteer program, for example, I calculated what a realistic goal would be by estimating the number of volunteers per week multiplied by the total number of weeks in the program. Then I placed a large thermometer on a wall with the upper level of 1,000 hours, knowing full well they would easily reach and exceed that. I’ll never forget how proud the teenagers were when they saw the thermometer "burst" past the 1,000-hour mark – they talked about it for days!

Pins and Plaques

There are myriad companies that produce pins and plaques for formal recognition programs. Be sure to do your homework and find one that is reputable and stable and can provide references.

Ask suppliers to provide, in writing, all estimated costs including design, revision, production, and minimum order requirements. Some companies will only produce minimum orders of 50 or 100. This can work out to be very inexpensive for each pin, but it does require a larger expense up front, especially if you are starting from scratch and need pins for every level. Good companies will work closely with you to design a pin or plaque that proudly reflects the work of your staff members or volunteers.

You'll find a nice selection of wood and acrylic plaques at Holmes Stamp & Sign.

Achievement Awards

Some organizations institute individual awards for "excellence," "commitment," "dedication," and "professionalism." If you feel these kinds of awards are appropriate to your program, be careful in how you establish your criteria. It is difficult to say that one employee is more dedicated than another if their roles are totally different or if one is part-time and another full time. Likewise, how can you say the volunteer who is retired and can give your program 20 hours every week is more committed than the single working mother who still manages to help one Saturday a month?

If your organization wants to implement this type of reward system, a formal policy should be instituted and be guided by the following:

• Clear criteria defining the category
• A nomination process that requires a written letter signed by at least two people
• Supporting evidence of how the individual achieved the defined criteria
• An independent, nonbiased review committee to make the selection

Individual achievement awards must be handled fairly and impartially, or not at all. Let staff members get involved in the recognition process by asking them to be on the nomination review committee.

You can recognize the person who is selected for the award in a number of ways. A certificate or plaque make a lasting remembrance, but you can enhance the occasion by adding something special, such as a personalized card, a gourmet treat, or flowers.

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