Your needs – ask yourself:
- Why are rewards, recognition, development and salary important to me, and what is most important?
- What do I want to achieve? Recognition in everyday work, more education, an extra day off, a higher salary or…?
- What kind of reward can I achieve?
- Do I feel appreciated for my work?
- Do you know the criteria for rewards (pay, bonuses, pay supplements and other benefits such as continuing training)? If not, be curious and look for answers.
How do we talk to each other?
- Do we praise each other and give positive feedback (between colleagues and to/from managers)?
- How do we tell each other when we want something to change? Is it harsh criticism or constructive feedback?
- Do we say good morning and goodbye, do we welcome colleagues back when returning from illness and absence – do we remember each other’s special days?
Here is what you can do
Once you have thought about the questions, you could consider what you and your colleagues can do yourselves. Here are some examples others have found useful:
Praise each other
You can help build a culture at your workplace in which you praise each other and give each other positive feedback for being helpful, cheerful, making an effort, displaying products attractively, etc.
Praise and positive feedback should of course always be honest and sincere – otherwise it’ll have the opposite effect.
Talk about the small successes
You can make your work visible by talking about your successes or contributions to successes. This could be:
- A satisfied customer who has praised you
- That you dealt well with an unsatisfied customer
- That the display set up generated additional sales.
If you don’t talk about your positive experiences, they will not be visible to colleagues and managers. Your colleagues will therefore not be able to recognise and reward you for your efforts. Drawing attention to yourself can be difficult. For many, it’s easier to praise a colleague.
Remember: Help each other
If you help highlight a colleague’s good work, it’s very likely that he or she will do the same for you.