Thinking Entrepreneur: Is It a Mistake to Pick an Employee of the Month?

Thinking Entrepreneur

An owner’s dispatches from the front lines.

I recently met a management consultant and business author who asked me if I had an “employee of the month” program. I said I did, at which point he reprimanded me for the error of my ways. His argument was that it was a waste of time and was actually counterproductive; only one person wins, and the rest are resentful. My managers and I actually considered that before we started the program, but the conversation with the consultant, Aubrey C. Daniels, got me thinking about it again. As I have gotten older, I have become more open-minded about recognizing that my way might not be the best way.

We name an employee of the month in only one of my companies, the custom framing factory, where I have the most employees working together in the same place at the same time. I have about 30 employees at the factory who do everything from making frames and cutting mats to working in shipping and receiving. We have a meeting every Friday morning for 10 to 15 minutes to announce birthdays and anniversaries, review the progress of the week and discuss what is happening in the company. On the first Friday of the month we also give out the employee-of-the-month award.

Here is how it goes. The manager announces the three people who have been nominated and explains why. Typically, the nominees are an employee who was heads-up enough to catch a significant mistake, someone who filled in for a co-worker or supervisor, someone who went beyond the call of duty to get a job done or someone who did an extraordinarily good job on a difficult project.

Then the ceremony begins, and Alex, one of the supervisors, hits the button on the boom box and the “Rocky” theme song comes blasting out: “BUM-bum-bum-BUM-bum,  BUM-bum-bum-BUM-bum.” And the winner is … !

A small Rocky statue is handed to the winner, who also receives a free framing certificate and use of the employee-of-the-month parking space. In addition, a photograph of the winner is taken with the big boss (that would be me) and displayed with the statue in the cafeteria for the month. Everyone applauds. People seem happy, but the question I now ask myself is, Is it all a front? Do the employees really seethe and grumble and leave sad and rejected? I do not want to be naïve or delusional — at least not that delusional. (A little delusion, I’ve found, works for me.)

So I did three things. I asked my managers, I asked a few hourly employees, and I read Mr. Daniels’s book (“Oops: 13 Management Practices That Waste Time and Money”). After what I believe to have been a thorough analysis, I concluded that the program is in fact worth doing. People seem to look forward to it. They say they like it, and I think it helps reinforce the mission of paying attention and trying to operate in a quality-driven, efficient manner. Are my employees just telling me what they think I want to hear? I don’t think so. Two reasons: First, this is not some pet project of mine, and I have made it clear that if people don’t appreciate it, we should stop doing it. Second, my “corporate culture” is very noncorporate. People tell me all of the time if they think there is a problem — even if they think I am the problem.

Even so, can I be sure that no one is resentful that he or she hasn’t won the award? Can I be sure that there are not some employees who really don’t care if they ever win or not? Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are people who feel that way — but I still think that, on balance, the program has a positive impact.

Has everyone won the award? No, but probably 80 percent have. And here is the harsh and nice reality: I do believe that the best employees have won, and I would rather not punish them by trying to avoid bothering others who have never done anything special to be acknowledged.

The final part of my analysis was an attempt to reconcile the consultant’s view with my experience. That was easy. After I read his book, it was obvious why Mr. Daniels had such disdain for employee-of-the-month programs. The examples he cites all have obvious flaws: they aren’t clear about why someone wins or they just give everyone a turn. He offers one example where he asked someone why he or she won, and the employee had no idea.

In those cases I would agree. A bad or meaningless program is worse than no program. But that doesn’t mean that a well-run program can’t have a little magic: “BUM-bum-bum-BUM-bum,  BUM-bum-bum-BUM-bum.”

Besides, who doesn’t love the “Rocky” theme song? O.K., maybe that’s me being delusional again.

Jay Goltz owns five small businesses in Chicago.

Article source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/12/is-it-a-mistake-to-pick-an-employee-of-the-month/?partner=rss&emc=rss