As we roll through October, everyone’s tired and losing motivation to push forward or even focus. It’s during these times when we should consider the value of stopping to rest and to recognize our staff. Below are some of the ways that districts have shown recognition to their employees. Understand that these are all examples and it would be a good idea to run anything you may want to do by your direct manager.
 
Food
People like to eat, and our employees are no exception. Taking your crew to lunch is the simplest way to show appreciation with food, but other districts have gone a step further.
• Cook lunch for your guys prior to a long weekend or break. Some district have cooked burgers, fried fish, made jambalaya or BBQ.
• Serving breakfast in conjunction with a Monday morning meeting coming back from a break or long weekend. This could be donuts and kolaches, breakfast tacos or anything else. Either way, you can use times when you typically get poor production to recognize your employees.
 
Gifts
All districts are equipped with Visa gift cards, but you don’t have to stop there.
• Edko mugs or hats are a good gift.
• Restaurant gift cards.
• Movie tickets.
 
Excursions
Some districts that carry a lighter staff have gone on some affordable excursions, sometimes including the crew family members. This was of course done on unpaid time.
• Mike Russell in Ohio met his guys with their families at the lake and had a cookout on a Saturday.
• Go bowling on a Friday night.
• Chase Atwood took his guys with their families on a float trip one Saturday.
 
You can do any of these things, but your actions will still need to be validated by words like “thank you” or “good job.” Make sure your guys know that a cookout, gift or anything else is done out of appreciation for their efforts. Otherwise, they’ll just think you’re having a cookout for the heck of it. On top of that, words of gratitude are free and are easy to hand out.