Member Article

Staff Awards

Many firms are still experiencing challenging financial circumstances resulting in small or non-existent pay-rises for employees. To combat this there are lots of things a business can do to keep staff motivated and “on-side”. Studies have regularly shown that staff morale is never just about the money.

At R&B Group we are seeing a real increase in internal staff awards events. Indeed, we hold our own “Grafta’s Awards” each January where we recognise the individual achievements made throughout the previous 12 months, and chuck in a bunch of “daft” awards to keep things even more upbeat! Like many organisations we have the usual smattering of practical jokers in our ranks who are always eager to contribute suggestions for fun awards titles such as “The Worst Excuse for Being Late Award”. In fact they are keen to write the script and present the awards too so we set up a projection screen, lighting and PA and hold our own awards lunch! It’s always a lot of fun.

Recently we have worked for several organisations to help them put on similar events for their teams, the most recent being for the sales teams of a well known publishing business. Hit badly by the downturn in advertising spend this firm continues to reward its staff with events like this. By working closely and keeping things sensible, it doesn’t need to cost a fortune to bring in our technical expertise to help with lighting, sound and projection and it really does lift the feel of the event. I believe this trend will continue as companies strive to find cost effective ways of recognising and thanking their people.

Whilst financial reward may initially appear the best vehicle to achieve a happy team, I suggest that you can beat this by recognising people in front of their peers. Events like this cost less, go further and should be a must for all SMEs overall staff communications strategies.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by R&B Group .