How to Keep and Attract the Best Employees

Recruiting and retaining rock-star employees has become a top priority for many businesses these days, especially for those in the trucking, airlines, and manufacturing industries. While traditional considerations like salary, health benefits, vacation time, and workplace culture play a role in overall employee happiness, many studies now suggest that recognition programs are actually more impactful. Furthermore, recognition programs can go a long way to help retain, reward, and motivate your employees.

What is a recognition program?

An employee recognition program is a coordinated effort by your business to reward and “recognize” great work and milestones. By investing in your employees, you help your business grow, decrease turnover, and increase productivity. Some examples could be:

•  Sales promotion winner
•  Years of service
•  Completion of an employment interview
•  First day on the job
•  Holiday Gifts

In other words, you’re showing formal appreciation and gratitude for employee accomplishments both large AND small. Recognizing the quarterly sales winner is obviously important – but so is showing thanks to the employee who came in and worked a full-shift on their day off. With this kind of approach, it won’t take long for your business to earn the reputation as the place where employees are truly valued.

Why is it important to retain your best employees?

Retaining your best employees is always important for company stability and growth. If a company has a high turnover rate, they end up spending more money on training and getting new employees up to speed.

•  According to a Gallup study, employees who are not adequately recognized are 2x more likely to say they’ll quit in the next year
•  Glassdoor reports 53% of employees would stay at their jobs longer if their employees showed them more appreciation

This is where gifting around experiences can truly pay dividends. Rather than offering boilerplate tokens like mousepads, coffee cups, and pens, opt instead for luxury items like gourmet steaks, high-end sunglasses, or even travel vouchers.

According a recent trends study by The Incentive Research Foundation, 2018 was the fifth straight year the market has noted a 20-30% growth in experience-related rewards.

In other words, employees want to be delighted just like your customers. You guarantee positive results when you reward your employees with experiences like gourmet food. In fact, many companies have seen great success using Omaha Steaks Custom Certificates as part of their experiential gifting programs. For example, a years-of-service reward is a simple way to keep employees engaged, motived, and excited to stay on for extended years. The best strategy is to use a tiered approach – so the longer an employee stays at the company, the larger the Omaha Steaks package or Certificate they receive.

How this can boost employee recruitment

You’ve started a recognition program and feedback has been stellar! Employees are singing your praises on social media and sharing photos of their rewards with fun hash-tags like: #BESTJOBEVER; #MYJOBRULES; #LOVEMYJOB.

A high-level of employee satisfaction is one of the best recruiting tools any business could hope for. Because when a job opens up, your frontline employees will be your evangelists, encouraging their friends to apply.

A smart way to reinforce this perception is to reward applicants with an Omaha Steaks Custom Certificate upon completion of their interview. This will certainly distinguish your company and create instant good will in even the most competitive job markets.

Simple employee motivation ideas

This probably doesn’t come as a complete shock, but motivating employees has always been a challenge for supervisors and managers. As you continue to fine-tune your employee recognition program, make sure you’re thinking ahead by setting up potential goals and promotions to inspire your workforce.

• Reward your staff with an Omaha Steaks BBQ
•  Send Omaha Steaks packages directly to the doors of top-achieving salespeople
• Surprise & Delight your drivers will a Beef Jerky kit
• Recognize a new employee with an Omaha Steaks Custom Certificate for completing their first 30 days with the company

A thoughtful, well-intentioned employee motivation program can go a long way in helping your business recruit and retain the best employees. Let a business gift concierge help you build a gift program centered around your goals and budget.