Years ago I was fortunate to work at a great company called Pop. Pop had a recognition program that allowed individuals to show appreciation for coworkers with a message and a corporate value. The best part of the program was the monthly parties.
Over a hundred people would crowd around the meeting area on a Friday at 4:30pm. Beers and snacks were laid out to set a casual mood. One of the most charismatic staff members would read off a gamut of recognition stats, "The word 'jerk' was used.... zero times, while the word 'awesome' was mentioned 800 times!"
Gift cards were handed out for sending the most recognition and for receiving the most recognition. This small token went a long way for Pop, and helped drive an engaged, innovative workplace. With the tool Recognize, you can read off what rewards were redeemed that month and print out recognition certificates for special mention.
Simple steps to throwing employee recognition parties
1. Involve everyone.
If you're a company of over 200 people, break the parties by department or team.
2. Buy snacks or something to enjoy. It doesn't have to include beer/wine, but that goes a long way.
3. Schedule the meeting for a Friday at 4:30pm.
4. Use Recognize to read off most popular recognitions. Search through the last month and find funny or interesting recognitions to share.
5. If you need any help gathering information that is beyond the boundaries of the company admin, contact us for help.
6. Randomly give away a $25-$100 gift card to someone who was recognized. Whatever monetary gifts you choose - make sure they are random and not expected or they will loose value, especially amongst information workers.
7. Give gift cards to the staff members who gave the most and received the most recognition. Celebrate greatness at work on a monthly basis and enjoy the rewards of an engaged workforce.
Taken from the Recognize blog - http://blog.recognizeapp.com/employee-recognition-parties/