Recognizing and Engaging Employees For Dummies

Recognizing and Engaging Employees For Dummies

by Bob Nelson
Released September 2015
Publisher(s): For Dummies
ISBN: 9781119067535

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Book description

Improve engagement, productivity, and motivation with effective employee recognition

Recognizing and Engaging Employees for Dummies gives you the tools and information you need to improve morale, productivity, and personal achievement with a successful employee recognition program. Written by a world-leading authority in employee recognition, this book walks you step-by-step through the design and implementation process and describes the incentives that work, the behaviors to reward, and the mechanisms that must be in place for the program to be effective in the long term. You'll learn how to pinpoint the places where engagement and recognition could improve the bottom line, and how to structure the reward for optimal balance between motivational, financial, and organizational effectiveness. With clear explanations and a fun, friendly style, this book is your quick and easy guide to boosting productivity, profit, and customer satisfaction.

Most Americans who leave their jobs cite lack of recognition as the driving factor. When your employees feel appreciated, they stick around, work harder, achieve more, and drive your business onward and upward. This book shows you how to bring that dynamic to your workplace, with step-by-step guidance and helpful advice.

  • Design successful recognition programs
  • Create powerful incentives for employees
  • Reduce turnover, improve engagement, and drive excellence
  • Foster a happier and more productive workplace

Happy employees are productive employees. They get results. They innovate. They are the force behind the advancement of industries. Effective employee recognition programs are self-sustaining motivational tools that keep the fire lit. If you're ready to spark the flame, Recognizing and Engaging Employees for Dummies is the ideal guide for designing, implementing, and maintaining the program your employees have been waiting for.

Table of contents

    1. Cover
    2. Introduction
      1. About This Book
      2. Foolish Assumptions
      3. Icons Used in This Book
      4. Beyond the Book
      5. Where to Go from Here
    3. Part I: Enhancing Employee Engagement through Recognition
      1. Chapter 1: The Quest for Engagement
        1. Why Engagement Is Important
        2. Looking at Factors Impacting Employee Engagement
        3. Why Employee Engagement Is So Elusive
        4. Engagement: A Process for Improvement
        5. Keeping a Clear Focus as You Improve Your Engagement Efforts
      2. Chapter 2: Strategies for an Engaged Workforce
        1. Creating a Clear and Compelling Direction
        2. Opening Lines of Communication
        3. Involving Employees and Encouraging Initiative
        4. Increasing Employee Autonomy, Flexibility, and Support
        5. Continuing to Focus on Career Growth and Development
      3. Chapter 3: How Recognition Drives Employee Engagement
        1. Embracing This Fact: You Get What You Reward
        2. Helping Your Employees Excel
        3. Seeing How Recognition Drives Engagement
        4. Creating a Culture of Recognition
        5. A Quick Look at How You Can Leverage Recognition Technology
        6. Looking Forward, Staying Ahead
    4. Part II: The Fundamentals of Employee Recognition
      1. Chapter 4: The Importance of Employee Recognition Today
        1. The Benefits of Recognition
        2. The Recognition and Performance Link
        3. The Significance of Recognition Today
        4. Key Workforce Trends Impacting Employee Motivation Today
        5. Incentive Trends in Today’s Workplace
        6. The Bottom-Line Impact of Recognition
      2. Chapter 5: The Principles of Employee Recognition
        1. Fundamentals of Employee Recognition
        2. Making Recognition Meaningful
        3. Using Motivators to Help Employees Do Their Best
        4. The Power of Praise
      3. Chapter 6: The Manager’s Role in Recognizing Employees
        1. Closing the Perception Gap between Managers and Employees
        2. Top Motivating Techniques Reported by Employees
        3. Implementing and Leveraging Recognition for Greatest Impact
        4. Seeing How Recognition Impacts Your Workforce
      4. Chapter 7: Getting Managers to Recognize Employees
        1. The $64,000 Question—Why Do So Few Managers Recognize Employees?
        2. Converting Low-Use Managers into High-Use Managers
        3. Calling All Employees: Getting Managers to Give More Recognition
        4. Combating Six Common Excuses of Low-Use Managers
        5. Using and Advocating for Recognition, No Matter What Your Position
    5. Part III: Implementing Recognition throughout the Organization
      1. Chapter 8: Creating a Culture of Recognition
        1. Management Accountability
        2. Leadership Sponsorship: Getting Buy-In from Upper Management
        3. Measurement and Tracking: Assessing Your Recognition Program’s Progress
        4. Management Training and Support
        5. Communications: Implementing a System That Works for You
        6. Recognition and Rewards: Making It Easy
        7. Process Improvement: Reviewing Your Program
      2. Chapter 9: Engaging and Recognizing Individuals
        1. Starting with the Basics
        2. Planning Individual Recognition
        3. Making the Commitment to Employee Recognition
        4. Promoting Peer-to-Peer and Employee-to Manager Recognition
      3. Chapter 10: Engaging and Recognizing Teams
        1. Creating and Engaging High-Performing Teams
        2. A Quick Look at Team Recognition
        3. Planning Team Recognition
        4. Ways to Recognize Your Team
        5. Putting It All Together with Perkins Coie
      4. Chapter 11: Implementing Organizational Recognition
        1. Three Purposes of Organizational Recognition
        2. Organizational versus Individual and Team Recognition
        3. Strategies for Implementing Organizational Recognition
        4. The Importance of Strategic Recognition
        5. The Four Phases of Organizational Recognition
    6. Part IV: Creating and Sustaining a Culture of Recognition
      1. Chapter 12: Recognition and Technology
        1. The Pros of Rewards and Recognition Technology
        2. Overcoming Challenges of Recognition Technology
        3. Using Technology for Recognition
        4. Seven Keys to a Successful Online Recognition Program
        5. Overcoming Pitfalls in Setting up Your Online Recognition Program
        6. The Future of Technology and Recognition
      2. Chapter 13: Sustaining and Reenergizing Recognition Effor  ts
        1. Sustaining Your Recognition Program
        2. Linking to strategic objectives
        3. Acquiring and renewing sponsorship commitment
        4. Creating a recognition committee
        5. Providing specific management follow-up
        6. Inserting recognition into communication
        7. Other suggestions to sustain enthusiasm for your recognition program
        8. Tying Recognition to Human Resource Systems
        9. Reenergizing Your Recognition Program
        10. Re-shining Gold Stars: The Reenergizing Process in Action
        11. Bringing a Program to a Close
      3. Chapter 14: Troubleshooting Recognition Problems
        1. Identifying Individual Recognition Mistakes
        2. Looking at Team Recognition Mistakes
        3. Making Mistakes at Organizational Recognition
        4. Recognizing the Wrong Things
        5. Avoiding Common Organizational Demotivators
    7. Part V: Issues and Challenges in Recognizing and Engaging Employees
      1. Chapter 15: Selling Recognition to Senior Management
        1. The CEO/CFO Perspective on Human Resources
        2. Seven Strategies for Obtaining Executive Buy-In
        3. Recognizing Why Convincing Top Management Isn’t Easy
        4. Getting Top Managers to Model Recognition
        5. Recognizing Top Management for Recognizing Others
      2. Chapter 16: Recognizing and Engaging Millennials
        1. Profiling Millennials
        2. Reframing Expectations
        3. How Millennials Are Changing the Way People Work
        4. Millennials’ Five Key Job Expectations
        5. Motivating the Millennials
      3. Chapter 17: Engaging and Retaining High-Potential Employees
        1. Identifying High-Potential Employees
        2. Current Challenges with HIPOs
        3. Retaining High Potentials
        4. A Case Study in Developing High Potentials
    8. Part VI: The Part of Tens
      1. Chapter 18: Top Ten Ironies of Motivation
        1. Most Managers Think Money Is the Top Motivator
        2. What Motivates Others Is Often Different from What Motivates You
        3. Things That Most Motivate Employees Are Easy and Inexpensive
        4. Formal Awards Are Only as Good as What They Symbolize
        5. Fun, Simple, and Creative Rewards Work Best
        6. Recognizing Performance Means the Most to Employees
        7. It Takes Less Effort to Sustain Desired Behavior Than to Initially Create It
        8. Managers Don’t Focus on Employee Motivation until It’s Lost
        9. Helping Employees Develop Marketable Skills Makes them More Likely to Stay
        10. You Get What You Reward Is Common Sense but Rarely Practiced
      2. Chapter 19: Top Ten Trends in Employee Recognition
        1. It’s Decentralized and Informal
        2. It Includes More Reward Options
        3. It’s More Frequent and Comes from More Sources
        4. It’s More Customized and Personal
        5. All Deserving Employees Are Recognized
        6. It Recognizes Nonwork Behaviors and Achievements
        7. It Recognizes New Types of Workers
        8. It Emphasizes a Performance-Based Culture
        9. Socially Responsible Rewards Are Valued
        10. It Has Shifted from Getting to Giving
      3. Chapter 20: Ten No-Cost Strategies for Recognizing and Engaging Employees
        1. #1: Provide Employees Information They Need
        2. #2: Support Employees When They Make Mistakes
        3. #3: Solicit Opinions and Ideas, and Involve Employees in Decisions
        4. #4: Be Available and Get to Know Your Employees
        5. #5: Support Employees Learning New Skills and Discuss Their Career Options
        6. #6: Allow Autonomy, Increase Authority, and Give Assignment Choices
        7. #7: Thank Employees for Doing Good Work and Praise Them in Front of Others
        8. #8: Grant Flexible Working Hours and Time Off
        9. #9: Provide Written and Electronic Praise
        10. #10: Publicly Share Customer Letters and Recognize Employees in Meetings
    9. About the Author
    10. Cheat Sheet
    11. Advertisement Page
    12. Connect with Dummies
    13. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: Recognizing and Engaging Employees For Dummies
  • Author(s): Bob Nelson
  • Release date: September 2015
  • Publisher(s): For Dummies
  • ISBN: 9781119067535