Vertical Bridge

July 8th, 2009.

Author: Sandra Reder, CPC

With all the talk of retaining your top performers during these tough economic times now is a great time to look at ways to do this. With the warm, sunny weather upon us, there are a few things you can do to say thanks to those who work so hard for you all year round.

• Have a tailgate party in the parking lot of your office – bring in a barbeque, hot dogs, hamburgers and all the trimmings and invite all your staff on a sunny Friday afternoon.
• Throw a company picnic for staff and their families.
• Host a pool party for everyone.
• Buy tickets to a Vancouver Canadians game for all your staff. They’re very reasonably priced and it’s a fun event for everyone to participate in.
• Alternate Friday afternoons off in the summer. Have half your staff take one Friday afternoon off and the other half take the next one. You are still able to operate your business but your staff will really appreciate the little bit of extra time off (and Friday afternoons during the summer are often very quiet).
• Run contests for your staff and reward the winners with gift certificates or tickets to some fun summer events i.e. the Jazz Festival, Bard on the Beach, etc. This is also a way to motivate your teams to give the business that extra little push during the slower season.

While we all know that we should be acknowledging our staff year round; summer is typically a slower time of the year for most businesses so some of these rewards are more easily implemented.

If you make your business a fun place to work now, the rewards will be tenfold as we move into the final quarter of this year. Your people will go the extra mile for you when things get busy again. Remember you can either love them or lose them.