One 2014 survey found that 55.6% of physicians had a somewhat or very negative morale level; that figure was actually an improvement from research conducted two years earlier! When doctors, nurses, or other healthcare professionals have low morale, it can have consequences for your patients. Employee recognition is one tool that you can use to boost morale.

Recognize Employees without Busting Your Budget

In an ideal world, we would lavish cash on high-performing employees and teams. Unfortunately, budgets are often tight. Here are five great ways to recognize outstanding contributions without spending a lot of money.

1. Feel Good with Food – There is an old cliché that the way to a person’s heart is through his or her stomach. A pizza party is a great idea to show appreciation to a team. Consider allowing your employees to bring family members to the party. Gift cards to popular restaurants are another way to provide a food-centric reward to valued staff members.
2. Time to Recharge – A major concern for healthcare workers is time off from the job. The medical field simply does not lend itself to flexible arrangements like the corporate world. Talk to Human Resources about offering even one extra day off to employees for excellent performance. You do not want to lose great people because they cannot spend time with their families.
3. Show Them the Gift Cards – Every person can use some extra cash. As we noted earlier, many healthcare organizations are under pressure to constrain their costs. If you cannot give big bonuses, examine whether you can reward an outstanding employee with a $50 gift card for gas or groceries. People genuinely appreciate having a little extra help with necessities.
4. Buy Them Something Special – Another way you can reward your employees is to purchase a special experience for them. It can be a class, professional membership, or even a session of housecleaning. If you are giving a special experience, make sure it is something the recipient wants and appreciates.
5. Put it in Writing – Sometimes just saying ‘thank you’ to a person for his or her service goes a long way. An article by Angie Best-Boss (https://www.hospitalrecruiting.com/blog/2515/national-nurses-week-what-do-we-really-want/) referenced a facility that gave its nurses rolls of lifesavers with a note stating, “You’re a lifesaver.” If that type of recognition is not to your taste (no pun intended), consider a nice hand-written note to an employee that stays late to get the job done or really goes above and beyond to help patients and co-workers. Make sure to include a copy of the thank you note in the person’s employee file.

Always Show You Care

One survey found that 58% of employees never received recognition from their employers. This fact means that many people do not know if their employer values their contributions. In a fast-paced environment, little things like sending a thank you note or having a pizza party can fall by the wayside. However, a straightforward show of appreciation demonstrates that a person’s work is worthwhile.

You want motivated employees with high morale. People stay with an employer and give their all when they get recognized for their hard work. If you are convinced a good work environment leads to strong patient outcomes, then put these 5 great rewards to work for you.

Sources

http://www.inc.com/peter-economy/101-super-effective-ways-to-reward-your-employees.html

http://www.statista.com/statistics/415978/us-physicians-view-on-professional-morale-and-state-of-medical-profession/