Picking employee of the month is not a popularity contest. Instead, look at your company’s objectives and use them as selection criteria. As a result, your employee of the month program skyrockets your results, inspires your employees, and turns your clients into raving fans.
How do you measure success?
Start by setting up your winner selection criteria to use as a guideline, because criteria is one of the biggest factors that will affect the success of your program.
Above all, selecting your monthly winner should never be a popularity contest. In our experience, this makes your program ineffective and ruins the return on your investment. Allowing your staff to vote for their favorite employee is the one of the biggest reasons we see employee recognition programs fail, because it ignores actual job performance.
Criteria is king when picking employee of the month
Your decision for a monthly winner should be based on specific criteria. That way, it is always based on measurable objectives.
As you set up your program, talk with your EC about what is important to you as a manager and to the success of your business. Think about the kinds of actions you want to reinforce in your workplace. Use those things as the basis for your criteria and winner selection.
Remember: It’s not a popularity contest.
Company KPI
The good news is you’re probably already tracking much of what you need as part of your company metrics and KPI. Sales, time & attendance, add-ons & up-sells, and specific company initiatives are all usually tracked by internal systems. It can be as easy as pulling up a report at the end of the month so you can see who had the highest performance.
If that’s not an option, ask your Engagement Coach for ideas. MyEmployees has worked with thousands of leaders in dozens of industries for over 30 years. As a result, we’ve learned best practices from some of the world’s biggest brands. Your EC is happy to share that knowledge with you.
Tips for picking employee of the month from industry insiders
Check out some of the most popular criteria we see our clients use in a variety of industries. We pulled the best of the best from managers in over a half dozen industries to come up with 24 Insider Secrets That Improve Employee Recognition Success (…actually, it turned out to be even more than 24!).
Find your industry first, and the check out the whole video for even more ideas on what other industries use when picking employee of the month.
Share the goals with your team
Finally, let your employees know exactly what is expected of them and what it takes to win. No one hits a target they can’t see. Your employees will be most productive when they know specifically what it takes to win.
Clarity is key. Make sure everything is clearly communicated so there can be no ambiguity. This goes a long way toward preventing any question as to why someone won. When everyone knows exactly what it takes, there can be no argument.
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