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How To Use The 5 Love Languages To Improve Recognition At Work

{{ excerpt(`<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Are you struggling to connect and appreciate your coworkers? Do your grand gestures go unnoticed while small praises in passing get more traction? Every employee at your job feels recognition and appreciation differently. One of the best ways to improve the recognition process is by understanding each employee’s love language.<h1 style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:18pt;margin-bottom:6pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What Are The Five Love Languages?</h1><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The five love languages (also known as the five languages of appreciation when dealing with work) are based on a book written by Dr. Gary Chapman. Chapman <a href="https://www.5lovelanguages.com/5-love-languages/"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">believes</a><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that “relationships grow better when we understand each other.” <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We all have a different way that we like to show and receive love or appreciation. Once you understand the five love languages, you can know how you like to receive appreciation and how your colleagues like to receive it. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Networking-People-Who-Hate-Underconnected/dp/1605095222"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Networking For People Who Hate Networking</a><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Devora Zack talks about the golden rule, “<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">treat others as you want to be treated<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.” Zack shares that this isn’t a great rule because everyone approaches the world differently. Instead, she introduces the platinum rule, “<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">treat others how <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-style: italic; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">they<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> want to be treated<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.” Once you understand the appreciation languages of those around you, you can recognize their accomplishments in a way that they can value and understand.<h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:18pt;margin-bottom:6pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1) Using Words Of Affirmation To Improve Recognition At Work</h2><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first love language is words of affirmation. When using words of affirmation, you affirm and encourage your coworkers. Many employees need to hear that they are doing a good job. Words of affirmation are often overlooked because they aren’t as grand as something like a physical gift. Words of affirmation are typically free, and it’s often what your employees are missing from you at work.<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:16pt;margin-bottom:4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(67, 67, 67); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Words Of Affirmation Employee Recognition Ideas</h3><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you want to connect with someone who appreciates words of affirmation, you have to use your <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">words<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You don’t have to be an eloquent speaker or writer to use this style of employee recognition<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. If your team member enjoys words of affirmation, they’ll be touched that you shared your thoughts, even if they were tough to put into words.<ul><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Start each one-on-one meeting with a few minutes to encourage and affirm your employees on what they are doing right.</li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Use NectarHR’s <a href="https://nectarhr.com/recognition-rewards"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">recognition feed</a> to share thoughtful and thorough recognition about an employee.</li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Get everyone in the office to write down one sentence about their positive experience working with a particular person. Put all their responses on something meaningful and custom, like a blanket or pillow.</li></ul><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:18pt;margin-bottom:6pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2) Using Quality Time To Improve Recognition At Work</h2><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Quality time is another often overlooked but free to use love language. If someone values quality time, they just want to spend time in your presence, hanging out or chatting. When everyone is busy at work, it can be hard to nurture employees who value quality time. Make sure that you put time on your calendar to invest in this appreciation language, even during those rough weeks.<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:16pt;margin-bottom:4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(67, 67, 67); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Quality Time Employee Recognition Ideas</h3><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Figure out which of your employees value quality time so you can tailor their experience at work to that love language. You’ll likely need to spend a bit more time with those employees if you are managing them. Quality time is easy to skip when you get busy, but these employees won’t find value in a gift card or a high-five.<ul><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Spend a little more time with these employees during one-on-ones. If time allows, spend an extra five minutes catching up, watching a fun video, or connecting on an issue they’re having.</li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Host regular team building activities to build a stronger bond amongst your employees. Let your team members who enjoy quality time pick the activity.</li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Invest in and mentor your employees and spend time guiding them along better career paths.</li></ul><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:18pt;margin-bottom:6pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3) Using Acts Of Service To Improve Recognition At Work</h2><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When is the last time you’ve gone out of your way to help someone at work? Employees with acts of service as their love language value the small acts you do to make them more comfortable at work. Whether you agree to help them win an account at work or buy them a coffee, they’ll feel appreciated.<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:16pt;margin-bottom:4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(67, 67, 67); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Acts Of Service Employee Recognition Ideas</h3><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Acts of service come in all shapes and sizes. Your employees don’t need grand gestures. They need to know that you <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">care<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Acts of service can easily slip into physical gifts if you aren’t careful. Acts of service truly means that you are going out of your way to help your employees. Don’t farm these activities out to other people.<ul><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Ask your team members what their biggest struggle at work is, and make a plan to alleviate that stressor (so they can focus on what they love.)</li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Recognize your employees by gifting them a service that will make their lives easier (free car wash, healthy meals for a week, babysitting, etc.)</li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Be there to help employees when they need things like help moving, something stored at your house, a new recipe to try out, anything you can help with!</li></ul><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:18pt;margin-bottom:6pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4) Using Gifts To Improve Recognition At Work</h2><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gifts are typically one of the easiest ways to recognize employees at work. Even if you don’t personally like gifts, you probably think about gifts first when giving recognition. While gifts as a love language seem easy, you need to make the gifts you give meaningful. Your employees need to understand that what you share is coming from the heart.<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:16pt;margin-bottom:4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(67, 67, 67); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gift Employee Recognition Ideas</h3><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When dealing with gifts, make sure you are appropriate. Gifts are easily associated with monetary value, and the wrong gift can put your employees in a challenging position. For example, you shouldn’t be giving away gifts worth $500 for randomly completing a project. You also want to ensure that you aren’t showing favoritism through the gifts that you give employees.<ul><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">If you are good at painting, knitting, or some other crafty hobbies, consider making your employees a homemade gift.</li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Celebrate milestones and anniversaries with appropriate gifts that speak to each employee.</li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Create <a href="https://nectarhr.com/recognition-rewards"><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">customized swag</a> for employees to reward them for doing a good job.</li></ul><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:18pt;margin-bottom:6pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5) Using Physical (Appropriate) Touch To Improve Recognition At Work</h2><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Last, let’s talk about physical (appropriate) touch at work. Over the last few years, contact at work has been seen as unfavorable. Appropriate touch is still possible, though. An affirming handshake or pat on the back can truly make a difference and help you connect with your employees.<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:16pt;margin-bottom:4pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(67, 67, 67); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Physical Touch Employee Recognition Ideas</h3><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the most important things to remember when using physical touch as employee recognition is to <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">read the room<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. If your employees aren’t comfortable with any of these activities, you should stop.<ul><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Pat your employees on the back after an excellent presentation.</li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Do a group huddle after a long day at work that ends in a team chant.</li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: disc; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Create a high five line to get your team psyched for a big event.</li></ul><h2 dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:18pt;margin-bottom:6pt;"><span style="font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Conclusion</h2><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Employee recognition tied to the preferred love language of your employees can be powerful. There are so many ways to recognize your employees for a job well done. Ensure that you take their feelings and feedback into consideration when figuring out how to support and applaud your employees. Don’t lean too heavily on gifts if your employees just want to be told “good job,” and vice versa. Your employees are telling you how they want to receive feedback and recognition every day. Listen and treat your employees how they want to be treated. `) }} ...

Company Core Values: The 7 Most Common Mistakes to Avoid

{{ excerpt(`With the world shifting more towards remote workforces, the importance of company core values to achieve organizational alignment has never been greater. Directly proportional to that is the challenge of effectively integrating these values in a virtual work environment. Soon, organizations will no longer be able to get away with just “checking the box” when it comes to core values. To build a highly-productive culture that stands the test of uncertainty, an organization must correctly place core values at the foundation.<div data-empty="true"> </div>How can you make company values more meaningful and impactful? Here are the 7 most common mistakes to avoid and how to fix them: <h2>1. Values aren’t actionable</h2>Integrity, quality, excellence.. Do any of these sound familiar? Not to throw shade, but core values like these are not going to get the job done. They are too vague and don’t drive behavior. A recent <a href="https://news.gallup.com/businessjournal/195491/few-employees-believe-company-values.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gallup study</a> showed that only 23% of employees strongly agree that they can apply their organization’s values to their work everyday. Company values should be the backbone of everyday decision-making. Think of company values as a map or GPS. Every time an employee comes to a fork in the road, they should be able to call on a core value to help guide their decision to move in the right direction. For example, one of Facebook’s early core values was “move fast and break things”. This core value is in the form of a statement and helps inform action. It tells employees “we value speed over perfection and if you’re ever in a situation where there is a choice between the two, always choose speed”. Actionable core values always present a trade-off between two good things like speed or perfection. Generic core values aren’t very helpful because they’re usually no-brainers. Employees aren’t usually asking, “When faced with a choice between honesty or dishonesty, which one should I choose?” <h2>2. Too many values</h2>There’s a theory in psychology called “the Magic number 7 (plus or minus 2)”. This theory states that most adults can store between 5-9 items in their short-term memory. In order for people to understand your values and then be able to communicate them, it is vital that they remember what they are. If you have more than 9 company values, you aren’t doing your staff any favors. No matter how many you have, it might be a good idea to create an acronym out of your core values to make them easier to remember. <h2>3. Values are an afterthought</h2>Oftentimes core values are viewed by leadership as a box that needs to be checked. If they aren’t seen as strategic priority, your organization won’t put in the effort to create and communicate actionable values that will drive productive behavior. This can have an overall massive impact on your organization’s culture and bottom line. HR and People Ops leaders aren’t in charge of creating company values but they should definitely be pushing the management team to prioritize the creation, communication and measurement of them. By not being deliberate about embedding core values into an organization’s culture, “accidental” values surface and a huge opportunity is missed. <h2>4. Values are under-communicated </h2>Posting company values on the office wall is not enough (especially if you have a remote workforce). This shouldn’t be a one-time event. To truly embed core values into your culture, it takes consistent action. You must find ways to promote your values in all forms of communication. This includes newsletters, Slack messages or channels, emails, town hall meetings etc. They should be seen so often that everybody knows what they are AND what it looks like to live them. <h2>5. Values aren’t baked into hiring & onboarding</h2>Piggybacking off the previous point, company values need to be communicated frequently and consistently. This is especially important when it comes to hiring and onboarding new employees. If you’re not giving proper weight to core values when someone is joining the company, they will see that as a sign that core values really aren’t that important to you. Your core values should be touted and marketed to prospective hires. Finding people who align well with these values will increase the likelihood of a good hire and save you headaches down the road. Find ways to weave your core values into onboarding and training. A great place to start is to create a “Culture Code” or “Culture Manifesto” - some slides that list your company’s core values and give examples of them in action. Here are some famous examples from <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-1798664" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Netflix</a> and <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/HubSpot/the-hubspot-culture-code-creating-a-company-we-love" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">HubSpot</a> - but don’t be overwhelmed, these are evolving documents so just start with something really basic and go from there. <h2>6. Lack of value-based recognition </h2>The best way to make core values a living, breathing part of your organization’s culture is to create a value-based recognition program. By focusing all your recognition and reward efforts around core values, you are helping employees identify the personification of these values. Recognition is no longer given for just going “above and beyond” but is tied on a deeper level to company values, thus reinforcing them. This creates a virtuous cycle of positive, productive behaviors and a more focused workforce. <h2>7. Lack of measurement</h2>Hopefully by now we can agree that core values are a vital element of an organization’s culture and that they can have an undeniable impact on the numbers that matter. To do it right, lots of effort and resources are dedicated to the integration of these values in the workforce. Imagine putting tons of work into something and not knowing what the results or outcomes are - this is how the majority of companies operate. They have no way to quantify which core values are being embraced most and which ones could use some attention. In a world where data is king, it is more important than ever to figure out how to capture and visualize this type of data to better inform your cultural decisions. Digital recognition and rewards platforms can help track and measure core value data to give you valuable insights. They allow employees to give each other shout-outs when core values are being displayed and each shout-out is tagged with a value. The tags allow this data to be tracked so you can view analytics to understand how your core values breakdown over time and on organizational, team or individual levels.`) }} ...

'Tis the Season for Employee Rewards

{{ excerpt(`The Season of Rewarding is Upon Us The Holidays are a magical time of the year when gifts are exchanged, vacation days are cashed in, and everyone gets fed up with their relatives. In this final month of the year employers have a tendency to be just as giving. Whether these are companywide gifts, gift cards, cash bonuses, extra PTO or other incentives, they generally roll in during this time of the year.  This traditional system of year-end bonuses is a tough way to keep employee engagement high. Spot bonuses are not great ways to incentivize people to work hard the rest of the year. Year-end employee rewards are something that encourage employees to increase productivity leading up to December but might not have the same effect on increasing urgency on January 1. Traditional employee reward methods are becoming obsolete.  How to Have Year-End Urgency in January Employee Recognition. How do you incentivize anyone? You tie them to team values and reward them when they live those values. Goals are good. Especially quantitative goals. Sales teams usually have a goal and reward when they hit that goal, as a collective group they are empowered and excited. Employee Recognition takes that empowerment and makes it personal. Rather than rewarding the entire group it lets the group reward one another as they strive to hit their goals. “Great job on that last call +10 points #slinging deals” is one of the examples of what happens internally at Nectar HR when our sales team gets rolling. Peer to peer recognition is the future of creating that year-round urgency that companies want. How to Recognize Employees Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer was kind of a chump. He got bullied until Santa gave him a shout out in front of all of his coworkers. Then they wrote a song about him and his productivity shot through the roof. Recognizing employees empowers them to take action and perform better work. Peer to Peer Recognition programs foster a community of empowered people. Engaging with one another is a positive way by micro bonuses and a social feed of shout outs intensifies the effect of giving a shout out because it is public, meaningful, and far more frequent. Recognize employees in a way that is meaningful and tied to company values “Rudolph you totally guided the sled tonight! We would have been lost without you! #team player +20 points”. Then let those points be tied to redeemable items that employees care about. How to Make a Cost-Effective Peer Recognition Program At Nectar HR the number one thing that we hear constantly is “how much will it cost?” People are accustomed to platforms that are costly and sit on a high price per employee per month. Using Nectar, the cost is the budget that administrators allocate to their employees each month. Most companies have a recognition budget or buy gift cards on a regular basis to reward their employees. By eliminating physical gift cards and handing the budget to the employees you have created a peer to peer recognition program that is more effective and saves money. Don’t pay for things you don’t need or use. Nectar HR is customizable so it can fit your exact needs. Does Employee Engagement Work? There are statistics that I could use to prove how well Employee Engagement works but here is the logical breakdown of why peer to peer recognition and our employee engagement platform work: <ul><li>You are rewarding employees on a more frequent basis. You have added an entire new system of micro bonuses that can be handed out at any time during the month and then resets each month</li><li>Peer to peer recognition empowers everyone to recognize everyone. Productivity increases because each employee is able to go above and beyond and receive reward from their coworkers and not just their managers</li><li> </li><li>Budget doesn’t have to increase because the core product is free. Now instead of buying fistfuls of gift cards that sit in a drawer collecting dust you only pay for gift cards when they get redeemed.</li></ul>Rewarding employees has never been easier or more important. You can blame us millennials or just assume that everyone is trying to hire top talent, regardless this new work force is very mobile and keeping employees engaged and improve retention are the key challenges that Human Resource teams currently face. Nectar HR Employee Engagement Our platform at Nectar HR is comprised of three pillars: <ol><li>Employee Rewards and Recognition – Digital Gift Card rewards that are redeemable by each individual based on the peer to peer recognition system of points that is in place</li><li>Employee Voice – eNPS and Pulse surveys that empower employees to leave feedback in an anonymous way</li><li>Employee Perks and Discounts – The sprinkle on the top of our cake that lets employees enjoy discounts from some of the nation’s top brands</li></ol>The Nectar HR core product is absolutely free and can instantly be a tool used by all HR teams to enhance company culture and setup an efficient rewards and recognition program.`) }} ...

What Motivates Employees to Stay

{{ excerpt(`Employee turnover is at an all-time high in the modern workforce. Employees are demanding more and more freedom (thanks millennials) and the number of remote workers has nearly doubled in the last few years. What all this means for companies is that it is harder and harder to stand out in every moving workplace. The trends are shifting from candidates attempting to stand out to businesses needed to sell themselves to candidates in order to succeed. So, what are the things that help employee retention? How can employers capture their target audience? Here is a list of things that motivate employees to stay at their companies: #1 It’s Not Money – Employee Engagement In a recent Harvard Business Study, it was found that the number one reason that employees remain at their jobs is that they are engaged. Employee engagement matters! This is the era of options. Gone are the days of slogging through the snow uphill to work, both ways. Now if an employee is not engaged money is not enough to retain them because someone else will pay them. Skilled labor is readily available and so are job positions. Employee engagement is now more pressing than the number on the direct deposit slip, and according to another recent study, only 32% of the modern workforce is engaged.  How to Have High Employee Engagement? Invest, invest, invest. We aren’t talking about just buying ping-pong tables and stocking the breakroom (still not a bad idea). Invest in your employee’s future. Train them to be better at their jobs, provide them with a pathway to success, and make sure that your companies values tie in with their personal values and vision. A company without values is like a chicken with its head cut-off. Employees need to buy in to the vision in order to be engaged and find success in their work. #2 Still Not Money – Feeling Valued Guess what? People want to feel valued and recognized. That should not be a shock to any HR team in any section of the world. Employee’s wanting to feel respected for their work and know that their managers and teammates appreciate them. Employees who receive this kind of daily peer-to-peer recognition are more likely to not only be engaged but also to feel appreciated. Employee recognition is one of the hardest things for companies to implement and maintain at a healthy level. How to Set Up a Good Employee Recognition Program? Let the experts handle it. Lots of companies have tried using things like post-it notes, marbles in a jar, redeemable tickets at work, and other ways to show appreciation. Most programs like this are either under-utilized or ineffective. There are lots of options for employee recognition platforms. Nectar HR is one of these. It is a free employee engagement program that works for recognition, perks, rewards, and employee feedback. Finding a cost-effective way to engage employees is key to creating a great workplace culture and retaining employees. #3 Work-life integration This is one of the latest company culture buzzwords. It used to be a matter of finding the appropriate work-life balance, but more and more employees are wanting to feel that they are known and appreciated on a personal level. Treating employees on a personal level encourages an emotional connection between employees and company. This promotes employee retention and employee engagement. By establishing an emotional connection between employee and company you provide a powerful reason beyond monetary compensation for remaining at a company rather than look for a better situation. The old strategies of spot bonuses and employee of the month are quickly losing their effectiveness as far as recognition goes. High employee turnover can be very costly and time consuming to try and replace people. Taking advantage of employee engagement programs builds loyalty and retention in the workplace.  Quick Recap: Money is a secondary cause of employees staying. In order to have a high retention rate companies need the following three things: #1 Employee Engagement #2 Feel Valued #3 Work-Life Integration With these three things in place employee retention will spike and turnover will drop. Creating a company culture doesn’t have to be difficult. With programs like Nectar HR it is easy to set up a quick recognition program that allows for peer-to-peer recognition and more traditional top-down recognition. Boost your employee retention in this new environment of quick turnover. Moving away from traditional methods is the key to surviving and saving money in this new age of business. Find out more at <a href="http://www.nectarhr.com">www.nectarhr.com</a>`) }} ...

Employee Recognition Programs for Any Sized Business

{{ excerpt(`Recognition for Any Size Employee Recognition is a movement that is growing. Company Culture is quickly becoming one of the top recruiting tools and is without a doubt the number one retention tool. Glassdoor reviews that dog on culture are crippling companies. Creating company culture is vital to having a productive and successful company, especially if you have a small or medium sized business that is growing. So why don’t all companies have a great culture? Culture Challenges Building a great company culture requires more than catered lunches or cool perks, those are great tools, but it is deeper. It requires employees to feel wanted and appreciated. More and more companies are adopting titles like “Culture Specialist” or “People and Culture” in an attempt to create programs or initiatives that will allow their company culture to grow and improve. These employees are not equipped with the right tools to establish a company culture program. Small and medium sized businesses do not have the budget to create their own program, and if they do, they are going to end up losing money on cost ineffective methods. The Old Way In the past in order to have an employee culture or employee recognition program you needed to be a Google, who spends 80 million a year just on food. Companies of 500+ employees needed to pay between $5 and $12 a month for rewards or recognition programs that were limited to digitizing spot bonuses. Spot bonuses were the king of recognition. Employees worked to receive these bonuses but never new if or when they would come. Other traditional methods are setting goals like “you can go home early if…” or “company party if we sell” these methods work as short-term incentives and may motivate employees for a brief period. Employee engagement has never been lower across all companies are part of this is the epidemic of spot bonuses and other bonuses. Rather than shoveling more money on top of employees it is time to allow them to feel recognized, respected, and needed in their current positions. Peer Recognition is the New King Peer-to-Peer Recognition is the new guy in town. Companies are adopting different systems to allow employees to recognize their peers for jobs well done. The benefits of having a peer-to-peer recognition program are that employees feel appreciated by their team and validated for their work. Companies have been doing this over time with any number of ways in past from placing marbles in jars, giving redeemable tickets, and other programs. The reason for these initiatives is that most companies who sell recognition software require large budgets to cover the platform itself and all initiatives to reward employees. This is costly for all companies but especially for companies that are below 500 employees and so they remain using their spot bonuses to try and compete.  How to Set Up a Recognition Program  Setting up a recognition program can be time consuming and difficult, especially if you are a small HR team. You have to determine best practices and what makes the most sense to reward employees. Employee Feedback systems are a must to understand what is working and what is failing. Employee Perks go hand and hand with Employee Rewards as well as employees want to see that being enrolled in the program is worth it. All-in-all setting up your very own recognition program is a hassle that most would prefer to avoid. What’s the Solution? Nectar HR is the solution. The founders of Nectar HR recognized that there was a flaw in recognition platforms. Most companies are driven by an enterprise selling business model that requires multiple conversations with a specialist to even make a sale and then weeks of implementation. As a result the only companies that make their time worth it and turn a profit are large companies. They don’t have a solution for the average sized company and so there is a massive disconnect. Enter Nectar. Nectar HR launched a free Employee Engagement Platform, complete with Peer-to-Peer Recogniton, Employee Rewards, Employee Perks, and Employee Feedback. Nectar HR realized that smaller HR teams didn’t have access to the tools that came from most Employee Recognition Companies. They also made the implementation of their platform completely self-service. Signing up for Nectar takes 3 steps and that includes onboarding your entire company. Why Use Nectar? Company Culture has a direct relationship with employee retention. Every industry is moving towards the need to recognize employees (you can thank us millennials for that). Using Nectar is a cost effective way to launch an employee recognition program without having to pull out your hair. Nectar HR allows companies to take their existing recognition initiatives (gift cards or spot bonuses) and plug that directly in to their platform to create a more organized and involved system. Small and Medium sized businesses need a recognition solution that fits them, and Nectar HR is that Solution. Sign up today at <a href="http://www.nectarhr.com">www.nectarhr.com</a> <img src="https://i.froala.com/download/312eaac0492f9b7804e90f810bc62a028fd7cef0.png?1573660733" style="width: 444px; height: 259.717px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib"> `) }} ...

Orem employee experience software company sweetens the pot with new features, rebrand

{{ excerpt(`Four years ago, three friends started a small business detailing cars to make some money while they attended school. Soon, Vivint hired the three to detail cars for employees at a discounted price as an employee “perk,” and companies like Qualtrics, doTerra, Instructure and more followed suit. “It was really flexible around school and we were making good money from it. But we’re always looking for bigger and better, and we got kind of sick of being out in the sun or in the snow,” Trevor Larson, one of the three friends, said. As Larson and his friends, Jackson Horn and Andrew Hollis, worked with more and more HR professionals, they began to see a trend. “HR people have the best intentions to give the employee an amazing experience,” Larson said. “But they get so impeded by administrative tasks that they can rarely ever get to the things that they want to make an impact ... they don’t have the tools or resources to get to recognition and perks and different things in those areas.” Horn said they continued to ask HR professionals what they could do for them around work-culture related things, leading them to look beyond on-site services like car detailing to see how some companies would leverage their company size to get discounts from local places.“We thought, if these companies are able to do this, what if we were able to do that even better?” Horn said. Together, Horn said, the friends thought they could build a network of companies and be the ones to reach out to restaurants, hotels and the like to get steep discounts, which they could then package for HR professionals. “We’ll be kind of the extension for the HR team,” Horn said. Under the company name “PerkNow,” with Larson, Horn and Hollis all serving as co-founders, the new software company grew slowly, until they landed “anchor” accounts with companies like doTerra. “It just kind of grew organically from there,” Horn said. “And it led us to keep asking the question, well, what other culture and cultural initiatives can we help HR out with?” Another problem PerkNow saw within companies was the desire to reward employees with things like gift cards — but employers were often stuck getting gift cards at the last minute, and employees ended up with rewards they didn’t really want. With the help of developers, PerkNow developed a system to automate employee rewards, reducing the workload for administrators and enhancing the employee experiences. Through PerkNow, companies can also give individual employees such as managers the ability to recognize their team or other employees with a “monthly budget” that the manager can award. Through the software platform created by hired developers — none of the co-founders had prior tech experience — the employee receiving the email receives the reward, and then they can choose whatever gift card they want, which is then downloaded onto their phone. This month, PerkNow decided to rebrand as “Nectar,” letting companies know they’ve sweetened the pot with two more features to their software: employee voice and peer recognition. “As we’ve expanded into other areas within HR, and within company culture, (we’ve been) very pigeonholed with (PerkNow),” Larson said. “Instead of being stuck in this one pillar of what we do ... we felt the rebrand is necessary now rather than later.” The name is symbolic, Larson said, springing from the idea that bees are the “epitome of good organization.” “It’s the idea that bees, they go out and they have to collect nectar individually, and then they bring it back in. Nectar is actually the building block of honey,” Larson said. “So it’s kind of the same concept of, if you ... bring out software into your company, we can help create a sweet culture.” Helping employees feel heard is one of the keys to creating a sweet company culture, according to Larson, Horn and Hollis. Through their software platform Nectar, HR administrators can send out “pulse” surveys more frequently with just a handful of questions, such as three to four questions every couple of weeks or every month. “That way, you’re getting real time feedback from employees, so that you can constantly be innovating and improving,” Larson said. Based on research by Nectar, the software platform has a number of top questions to ask employees that can be sent out in a campaign in less than a minute, and can be scheduled in advance. Through Nectar, employers can view their “employee engagement score” and see trends over time, enabling companies to better address areas in need of improvement. In addition to shorter, more frequent surveys, Nectar has a mechanism for employee feedback that involves a two-way anonymous chat. “Let’s say an employee leaves open-ended feedback like a comment in the survey. HR can go in (there) and they now have an inbox to see what people are saying and they can respond back. It opens a chat that’s two way and fully anonymous,” Larson said. “So internally they can resolve things versus employees going (somewhere else) because they have no internal channel to voice their feedback or their suggestions.” The ability for employees to feel heard, Horn said, is the most valuable part of the employee voice aspect of Nectar. “It’s cool to see employees being able to ... contribute and HR can respond and really build this culture of transparency within the company,” Horn said. “We find the most value in allowing employees to feel like they have a voice.” The other relatively new addition to the platform is a peer recognition component — expanding employee recognition beyond leadership or management to employees. “Instead of doing top down recognition ... the company puts together a budget to allow all employees to get a certain monthly allowance that they give to each other,” Larson said. The idea, Larson explained, is employees can attach whatever the recognition is — complimenting a co-worker on their hard work or leadership and so on — with a point award. The points employees have in their budget don’t accrue over time and can’t be used for themselves, encouraging employees to recognize their co-workers every month. When one employee recognizes another, it shows up in an internal recognition feed for the whole company to see. Once employees accrue points, they can pick a reward like a gift card, or company swag. “All that is built in to create this cadence or frequency around people recognizing each other for positive behaviors,” Larson said. Having all of these things in one place, according to the founders, is one of the things that makes Nectar unique. Instead of companies need to use multiple platforms for perks or employee engagement, they can just use Nectar. And, the core product is free. The company continues to make a profit thanks to commissions from perks used and gift cards redeemed. “Our goal and our mission with this is, these (kinds of) tools are so cost prohibitive currently, that we want to open it up and get to as many companies and as many employees as possible,” Larson said. “It’s almost like democratizing recognition and employee feedback.” Horn clarified there is still a paid version of everything, but companies can use the core product for free as long as they want. “We wanted to make the employee experience better and we feel like this is the best and easiest way,” Horn said. “The fat that we’re getting money from the gift cards on the back end ... makes it so more people can get better rewards, and (helps) us fulfill our mission from the beginning to just help employees.” Check out the platform by visiting <a href="https://nectarhr.com/">http://nectarhr.com</a>. “(We want to) get this into as many hands as possible,” Larson said.`) }} ...

Nectar: Employee Perks and More

{{ excerpt(`<section>Whether you’re at a desk, out making sales calls, or meeting with clients, every job can have its share of monotony and discouragement. So how do you get motivated, feel validated, and stay happy in your work? This is where recognition, engagement, and employee perk platform Nectar comes in. Nectar, formerly known as PerkNow, is a social platform that rewards employees, recognizes achievements, and provides a perk system where employees can select from numerous vendors. Nectar also provides interactive engagement surveys, where employees can answer pertinent questions and even participate in two-way anonymous messenger and customizable question sessions.</section><section> <img src="https://newsroom.siliconslopes.com/content/images/2019/10/platform-ss.png" alt="platform-ss" class="fr-fic fr-dii"> </section><section> </section><section> </section><section>CEO Trevor Larsen entered the employee perk scene because of his own business ventures. His mobile car-detailing business was a good fit for companies that wanted to offer their employees performance rewards. After a while, Larsen noticed that some companies did well keeping up with employee perks, but most didn’t. After a bit of research, he found that the issue was communication. That got his wheels turning, and in 2017 the platform for PerkNow was born. </section><section> </section><section>After offering employee perks with PerkNow, Larsen knew there could be more. What he came up with was a totally interactive platform where employees could be recognized, not only by their boss, but by their coworkers, and also receive perks, take surveys, and interact with management and coworkers. “Two in three employees don’t feel adequately recognized at work. With how much time and energy people invest in their jobs, it’s amazing how few of them feel valued. Most companies have the right intentions but lack the tools or resources to build an effective recognition program,” said Larsen in a recent press release.</section><section> What sets Nectar apart from other platforms on the market is their “freemium model” which offers the core product at a perpetually free price. From there, employers can upgrade based on their needs. Another factor is that Nectar is self-service, meaning companies can get their employees onboarded for free in less than 15 minutes, rather than days or weeks. One look at their user-friendly website and it’s clear that Nectar is a simple way to build positive interaction between employees. In companies where employees are geographically spread out, engagement can be difficult- it’s not practical to get everyone together and recognize employees for a job well done. Now with Nectar, coworkers can interact and recognize each other quickly and effectively.</section><section> With recent seed funding, Nectar is better than ever and ready to help companies bring unity and recognition back to the workplace. To learn more visit <a href="https://nectarhr.com/">https://nectarhr.com/</a>.</section>`) }} ...

7 Misconceptions about Human Resources

{{ excerpt(`Many people have watched Toby Flenderson bumble around on NBC’s the Office over the years. I know that anytime I heard “HR” that was my first reaction. Prior to stepping into the HR world, I had many misconceptions about what Human Resources Representatives did and didn’t do. Here are seven misconceptions about HR:<div data-empty="true"> </div>#1 HR Departments deal with daily problems, they don’t focus on strategy<div data-empty="true"> </div>This could not be more wrong. A balanced HR team focuses on being the bridge between employees and the organization. There is a lot of strategy that goes in to that. The lattest predicted trends of Human Resources for 2020 point to more and more HR teams having regular strategy meetings with CEO’s and CFO’s. HR teams are responsible to creating great company culture and maximizing employee retention.<div data-empty="true"> </div>#2 HR Managers just hire people<div data-empty="true"> </div>We can call this one a half truth. HR Managers maintain the entire lifecycle of an employee. Just like Sales nurture and grow leads, HR teams are responsible for nurturing and helping employees reach their maximum potential. Nurturing employees can be the difference between an amazing team and a mediocre one. HR Managers are also responsible for helping employees reach their professional goals. Employee Engagement might be the most important part of HR.<div data-empty="true"> </div>#3 HR is responsible for training employees<div data-empty="true"> </div>This is a tricky one. The answer is yes and no. Some companies have a dedicated talent development team. Others have managers handle the employee training. What is true is that HR is responsible for onboarding employees and creating the ideal employee experience from the beginning. The focus falls on HR reps to make sure each employee is a good fit for company culture.<div data-empty="true"> </div>#4 All HR Departments are the same<div data-empty="true"> </div>Ridiculous! While we all laugh at the way Michael Scott dominates Toby that is not accurate. Every HR department and team is going to have different initiatives and be structured differently. Each is a unique group of people working closely with employees and management to create the ultimate employee experience. Employee Engagement matters, and that can come in many different ways. Each HR Manager is going to have a different vision and take different actions to implement the goals that they have set.<div data-empty="true"> </div>#5 HR can do what they want WRONG! Human Resources is a very tricky job. EVERYTHING has to be done according to legal guidelines and rules. HR Binders are no joke and to avoid legal issues HR Teams have to dot every “I” and cross every “t”. There is a lot of paperwork that goes with HR and they are heroes for filling it all out.<div data-empty="true"> </div>#6 HR Managers are on an island<div data-empty="true"> </div>HR Managers should not be left alone, instead they should have a part in the decision making. HR managers need to be aware of all of the goals and decisions made so that they can work effectively within those boundaries. HR managers can play a key role in promoting employee engagement, reducing turnover, and increasing organizational growth.<div data-empty="true"> </div>#7 HR Managers don’t need help<div data-empty="true"> </div>HR Managers are very talented people, but they can’t do it all alone. Finding the right resources is key. Most companies have at the very least an HRIS system that helps them track employee information such as W2 forms, other key legal information, and personal information for contacts and daily work information.<div data-empty="true"> </div>Quick Review:<div data-empty="true"> </div>HR Teams are an integral part of a company. They need to work hand in hand with both management and employees to create the appropriate workplace culture. HR teams also need access to the right resources. Some of the best resources and programs to help increase employee engagement are:<div data-empty="true"> </div><ul style='font-size:16px;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;'><li>Perks Programs</li><li>Employee Rewards and Benefits</li><li>Peer Recognition </li><li>Employee Feedback</li></ul>These four pillars are helpful for HR Teams because they are great tools for increasing employee retention and taking pressure off of themselves. Employee Feedback tools help HR Teams understand what is going on with individual employees and easily identify when and where there might be problems within the company culture. By identifying these problems quickly, it is possible to take action early and smooth over any issues. Employee Perks are a great way to help employees feel cared for. This can come in the form of discounts on food, activities, or other products. Peer Recognition is the number one way to make employees feel appreciated at their jobs. Peer to peer recognition is one of the up and coming trends of 2020. Allowing employees to recognize and reward their fellow employees while promoting company goals and values. Employee Rewards come in the form of swag or often time gift cards and help management demonstrate their appreciation to all their employees. Nectar HR Nectar HR is the first 100% free employee engagement platform providing perks, gift card rewards, feedback, and peer to peer recognition programs in one place. Sign-up at <a href="http://www.nectarhr.com">www.nectarhr.com</a> for free and onboard your whole team in 10 minutes.`) }} ...

Disruptive Recognition

{{ excerpt(`Google is a powerhouse, it has just over 100,000 employees. Google also has an annual revenue that is estimated at $8 billion. So, when you hear that Google is spends $80 million dollars a year providing free food to all of its employees as just one of their many incredible perks you should not be shocked. In case you were wondering that is about $20 per employee per day.  Let’s get real. Not every company is a Google. Most companies are small to medium sized businesses full of hardworking, down to earth, good people who want to be recognized for their hard work and enjoy perks just like the googlers. Who doesn’t want to be recognized for all that they do?  It is estimated that 80% of companies are trying to do just that by having or starting to implement an employee recognition program. What do most employee recognition programs look like? When I was in kindergarten if I was a good little boy and didn’t misbehave during the day, I would be allowed to place a marble into my personal jar at the end of the day. When I filled the jar (20 marbles or so) I was able to choose a kid sized candy bar from the class bucket. Those were the good days. I loved putting that marble in the jar. That is how most companies operate. Marbles, feathers, tickets, I have even heard of companies that use balloons to implement employee recognition.  What do most employee recognition rewards look like? Every company has a Kathy. Kathy is the woman (or man) that once a day, week, month or year runs to the supermarket and drops a few hundred dollars on gift cards. She does her best and buys a variety of gift cards. When reward time comes around, Nike, Amazon, Cinemark, they go quick leaving the less desirable gift card behind. There goes another $25 per unused gift card, down the drain. According to one study $1 billion in gift cards go unused per year.  How to be a Google without spending $80 million a year on free food? Start an effective employee recognition program. Stop dropping marbles into jars. Stop handing out paper meal tickets and start enabling your employees to recognize one another. Traditional employee recognition programs are from the top down with managers determining who is deserving and who needs to improve. There is a workplace culture shift and now employees want to be recognized for the day to day and place great importance on the recognition of their peers. Employee recognition programs do not need to be about free food.  What is an effective employee experience platform? At Nectar HR we believe there are three pillars to employee experience and employee engagement.  Pillar 1: Recognition and Rewards – Gamified point-based system that allows employees to recognize and reward their peers and redeem those points for gift cards that they pick Pillar 2: Employee Voice – eNPS surveys that give feedback anonymously to HR allowing them to make the necessary changes to improve the workplace culture Pillar 3: Employee Perks – Free to all, discounts on events and activities, demonstrating the importance of a work-life-balance. Employee Experience in one place: Nectar HR has changed the game. Employee rewards and recognition should not cost $80 million dollars, in fact we think that it should be 100% FREE. So that’s what we did. Nectar HR rolled out the first complete self-service employee recognition platform that allows the everyday company from 2 employees – 2 million employees to access a powerful recognition platform. The Nectar platform includes eNPS surveys, Employee Perks, and Employee Recognition tools for every type of business. How does this work? Nectar is all about saving the consumers money. We do that by streamlining your recognition and reward software, take the following steps: <ol><li>Determine your current budget for monthly recognition to employees</li><li>Make that your Nectar HR budget to use the software</li><li>Launch Nectar HR to all your employees and watch as they recognize one another for achievements and small daily acts</li><li>Here comes the money saver – employees redeem points for gift cards from a selection of hundreds of top brands.</li></ol>So, what are the results?  Kathy isn’t going to the store for gift cards every week and she doesn’t have 20 unused gift cards to cracker barrel stashed in her desk wasting away. Kathy instead manages the points per employee budget and gets employee feedback from the employee net promoter score from the survey she sends out. Kathy can now give you insight into which employees are the most productive, and fit the company values in the best way. You save money because you aren’t buying gift cards that no one wants or uses. Your employees are more productive because they are being recognized on a daily basis from both their peers and managers. Turnover drops and everyone is happy. So, what is the result? General happiness. Is it worth it? People pay millions a year to keep their employees happy. We are offering to save you time and money by using a streamlined, easy-to-use, all-in-one platform. Yes, it is worth it, and its FREE.  Visit: <a href="https://www.nectarhr.com">Nectar HR</a> to find out more `) }} ...

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Tips & Insights on Company Culture and Employee Experience

How To Recognize Employees During Their First Anniversary At Work

How To Use The 5 Love Languages To Improve Recognition At Work

Company Core Values: The 7 Most Common Mistakes to Avoid

'Tis the Season for Employee Rewards

What Motivates Employees to Stay

Employee Recognition Programs for Any Sized Business

Orem employee experience software company sweetens the pot with new features, rebrand

Nectar: Employee Perks and More

7 Misconceptions about Human Resources

Disruptive Recognition

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