Workplace happiness is a critical component for success. If your employees are not motivated at work, their performance is going to suffer, and you will notice a dip in productivity.

One of the best ways to keep your employees motivated is to offer them an award for their performance. Recognizing the efforts of your employees is critically important and will help keep morale high in the workplace.

But, creating a viable Employee of the Month template is important. You have to ensure that your employees actually value the award. There are several factors that you need to take into account when creating the template.

But, before we get started, it’s important to highlight the reasons for having an Employee of the Month Award.

Why Do You Need an Award Program?

The employee of the month program offers a myriad of benefits to your company. The purpose of the program is to identify the efforts and achievements of your employees and reward them in one way or another.

Some companies give out small cash prizes to their employees, while others offer gift cards or coupons. It all depends on the culture of your organization and the nature of your business. The benefits for these programs far outweigh their costs. Here are a few:

• Employee retention rises
• Overall employee morale increases
• Employee engagement gets a boost
• Productivity jumps up
• Fosters a healthy and competitive culture in the workplace.

You also need to make sure that you create solid criteria for the Employee of the Month awards program. If employees don’t have clarity about what they have to do, the entire program might backfire.

You need to make sure that you provide specific figures for achieving the targets and qualifying for the award. Don’t give vague statements as that will become a source of dissent or confusion among your employees.

Factors to Consider

When creating an Employee of the Month template that you are going to use every month, there are several things that you need to add.

The first decision you will have to make is to decide whether you are going to offer a certificate, a plaque, or just provide recognition by putting their photo on the wall above the Employee of the Month title.

So, the first and most important factor that you will have to consider is the type of award itself. Are you going to give a certificate or an award?

Frequency of Award

Another important thing that you have to consider is the frequency with which you give out the awards to each candidate. How many times can an employee of the month receive the award in a year? What’s the minimum interval between back-to-back wins for a particular employee?

Some companies have a policy of giving out the Employee of the Month once to a candidate in a year. If their performance remains high, they become eligible for other awards.

If the same employee continues to win the Employee of the Month Award again and again, it’s going to be a bit demoralizing for the rest of your team. It’s important you create a set of policies for giving out the award.

The Name and Designation

One of the most important things that you should add in the template is the name and designation of the employee. Giving out a generic “Employee of the Month” certificate without even personalizing it is a terrible idea.

It’s going to cause your employees to lose interest in the program almost immediately, and they won’t even bother keeping their certificate or award on their table. Remember, the aim is to make an employee feel proud of this accomplishment.

You have to make sure that you add their name and designation on the certificate. If you are going to give out a plaque, it’s always better to add an engraving.

Highlight Their Achievement

As mentioned, you might have created a set of criteria that must be followed and met for an employee to achieve the Employee of the Month award. When creating the certificate, you need to mention that achievement. It will become a memento of sorts for what they have achieved.

For instance, if an employee closed a big sale, you can write their sales figures on the certificate and acknowledge their efforts. Similarly, if an employee closed the most amount of complaints in a specific time period, you can also write those on the award.

It’s important that you highlight and recognize the achievement of an employee so that the award serves as a reminder for what they have achieved. It will eventually serve as a source of motivation to your employees.

Date and Month

Make sure you also add the date on which the award was given to the employee and also the month for which the award recognizes their achievements. It’s important that you be as descriptive as possible so that your employee knows the value of the award and what it means to the company.

Company’s Logo

One of the most critical elements that you need to add to the certificate or trophy is the logo of your company. Make sure you write the name and add the logo so that even when an employee leaves the company, they will still have that award with them.

It’s important to maintain brand consistency across all of the products that you give out to your employees, so adding a logo is a great idea. If you are going to give out certificates, make sure that the font is legible and the colors used are similar to that of your branding.

These are just a few things that you should know about the important factors to add in the template.