A Carrot a Day: A Daily Dose of Recognition for Your Employees

Recognition that pulls your work force together, not apart.

GET THE UNION BEHIND YOU

If you manage a unionized work force, you know that favoritism is frowned upon in most labor settings. Thus, here are a few guidelines for improving the manager-union employee relationship and delivering recognition to unionized teams:

• Communicate early. Discuss with your team what rewards you plan to offer and how this is an addition to, not an infringement of, their compensation package.

• Give employees a voice. Let employee teams have a role in choosing rewards (not cash) and reward recipients.

• Reward groups of employees. Instead of rewarding just the best individual, and instead of trying to reward your entire work force, provide an appropriate reward to a three- or four-person team that completes a special project, achieves an accident-free record, develops a new process or in some other way advances the organization’s goals.