A 2023 report showed that 1 in 10 employees do not feel valued by their company. Only 1 in 2 employees believed that they were somewhat valued by their place of work.

Making sure your employees feel valued is extremely important. It is especially important since it is clear that the majority of employees don’t think that they matter to the company.

This is where employee of the month awards come into place. Companies can use these awards to show employees that their efforts are recognized.

Keep reading to find out how to give out employee of the month awards for the best benefits.

When to Use Employee of the Month Awards

If you are considering employee of the month ideas, you need to start at the beginning. You first need to identify what these awards will be for.

There are a lot of reasons to give out awards to your employees. This may depend on the type of company and what behaviors you want to reward.

Keep in mind that this is going to create more of that behavior. For instance, if you want your employees to work as a team, you should have teamwork awards.

This will help to push your employees in that direction to further excel.

Over the Top Effort

Common employee awards sent her on over-the-top effort. You can reward your employees if you see that they have gone above and beyond their job.

This is the best way to reward employees who take their job seriously. They may otherwise feel as though their efforts are not seen.

These awards will go out based on employee productivity and what they accomplished. Any time an employee excels, they should be recognized and rewarded.

This will also motivate other employees to do the same in their work. They will see that hard work’s recognized and they will want that recognition too.

Believe it or not, there are plenty of employees who would love to do a better job. But they may not think that it is worth the effort if their employers don’t recognize this.

Punctuality

Other company awards can be given out for punctuality. Maybe a certain employee was on time every single day of the month.

If that is the case, you should reword this behavior with a public reward. This will show them that their effort did not go unseen by the company.

This will also encourage other employees to make an effort to be on time. This is another area where employees may feel like their effort is not seen.

You want to make sure your employees know that good behavior is always worth rewarding.

Team Players

If your company is broken up into teams, rewarding team members is a great option. Working in a team is not an easy task, especially depending on your teammates.

People may have different opinions or different kinds of personalities. This can cause conflicts and make getting work done a bit difficult.

You want to make sure you keep an eye on your teams to see who is doing their best. Give out monthly awards to team members who went above and beyond for their team.

They may have resolved a conflict or provided a solution that everyone agreed upon. These are all instances where their effort should be recognized.

Positive Attitude

Having a positive attitude in the workplace is not always the easiest thing. The problem is that negativity spreads like a wildfire, impacting the rest of the team.

You want to shine a light on the employees who make an effort to be positive. They may do this with customers or with other employees they work with.

These types of employees make going to work easier for everyone. Because of this, they should be recognized so that others will try to aspire to do the same.

Role Advancement

Employees who have advanced in their careers should get a reward. They may have moved to a different role in the company or taken on more skills.

These are all instances where you may want to celebrate their efforts. This is a great way to create a fun work atmosphere where people feel celebrated and appreciated.

Awards are especially useful for newer employees who may be learning the ropes. This will encourage them and help them to feel supported by everyone else.

Benefits of Employee of the Month Awards

Employee of the month awards come with a lot of benefits for everyone. This doesn’t just benefit the employees, it also benefits the entire company.

This is why companies should give plaques or trophy awards for exceptional behavior. It’s a great way to counteract the disconnection between the company and employees.

Here are some examples of the benefits you will see from having employee awards.

Creates Healthy Competition

Something that everybody loves is a little healthy competition. Competition is great in the workplace as long as it is kept positive and encouraging.

A lot of people are competitive and will want to do a better job if there is something at stake. This gives each employee a goal to work towards that benefits them in the end.

Many people look at their job as a means to an end. They go and put in their time so that they receive their paycheck at the end of the month.

Having awards gives them a different kind of goal that is more aligned with the company. Keep in mind that you want to keep the competition healthy and fun.

If you notice employees becoming too competitive, you may want to pull back a bit. The last thing you want is to pit employees against each other for these awards.

Boosts Company Culture

Every company needs to focus on its company culture. This is part of what defines the company and how everyone interacts.

A welcoming and encouraging company is going to have a more relaxed culture. This allows employees to feel comfortable and like they are part of a team.

Having monthly awards and plays helps to encourage this kind of culture. It helps to reduce the distance between those in management and the employees.

It is also a great way to get everyone to interact more with each other. A lot of companies struggle with employees sticking to themselves or gathering in separate groups.

This is a great way to bring everyone together for a common goal.

Rewards Effort

Any employee would appreciate having their efforts recognized. A lot of very good employees could easily slip between the cracks of a large company.

Having awards make sure this does not happen in your company. You will recognize outstanding employees and will be able to reward them in front of everyone.

This will help with employee retention and encourage better work morale. Everyone will be encouraged to do their best and prove themselves a valuable part of the company.

Adds Excitement

Workplaces tend to be a bit dull for most employees. But that doesn’t always have to be the case for every company.

Having goals for your employees creates a feeling of excitement. They will want to achieve these goals, so that they can receive an award.

This goes hand-in-hand with creating a sense of healthy competition. You could even divide employees into two teams to receive team awards.

Types of Awards to Give Out

Now that you know the benefit of awards, what awards should you give out? You have a few options that would be good for all kinds of situations.

Companies like Martin Awards provide awards of all kinds suitable for all companies. This way, you can get all the awards you need from one trustworthy location.

They are also affordable so you won’t be dedicating too much money to these rewards. This is important if you have a lot of employees and you want to be able to reward most of them.

Here are some awards your employees would be able to appreciate.

Awards

If you want to go for traditional awards, there are plenty of options. There are a variety of crystal awards that provide an expensive look.

These come in a variety of shapes for a variety of purposes. You can choose the award that goes best with the achievement and your budget.

Most of these awards are clear crystal, but blue crystal is also available. For a more traditional award, you could buy a crystal cup with gold handles as a prize.

You could also choose acrylic awards in a variety of styles. There are marbleized acrylic awards with a base so they can sit on a desk or table.

There are also acrylic plaques or shooting star plaques. You could also gift your employees with a flame acrylic award statue.

The options are endless and perfect for companies with a lot of monthly awards. Everyone can get a different award that they can show off in their office or take home.

Plaques

One great option for employee of the month awards is plaques. These are display awards that can be engraved for a personal touch.

The metal plate with the engraving is mounted to a piece of polished wood. It has a beautiful and expensive look that any employee would be proud to have.

These plaques come in shades of blue, red, and black. You can also buy a variety of sizes depending on the situation.

There are also other plaque options like the economical plaque. This is slightly cheaper and comes with a gold or silver metal plate.

These plaques can hang both vertically and horizontally. They also come in a variety of size options. Plaques are great options since they can be displayed in the workplace.

They could be hung on the wall or hung in the employee’s office. Or the employee could take their award home with them.

Parking Spot

Depending on your company, providing a parking spot may also be a great reward. Employees would probably love the opportunity to have their own parking spot.

For a free award option, you could dedicate the best parking spot to the winner. This employee would be able to enjoy that parking spot until the next award is given.

An award like this is something that any employee would be able to appreciate. This is a great way to motivate employees by showing them what they can achieve.

Gift Card

Other award options include giving gift cards to the winners. This is a great way to manage awards if you have a lot of employees to reward each month.

You could give them a gift card to the company cafeteria or a local coffee shop. Keep in mind that this may become a little expensive, depending on the number of awards.

It is usually best to keep the amounts for gift cards between $5 to $10. This way a lot of employees can get a little bit of something every month.

Employee of the Month: Why Awards Matter

If you own a company, you probably have a lot of employees under you. It is very common for employees to feel overlooked and like their effort doesn’t matter.

Having employee of the month awards is a great way to counteract this attitude. This shows that you see their efforts and appreciate each of your employees.

Are you interested in buying high-quality awards for your employees? Contact us today at Martin Awards to view our best award categories.