Hi! I’m Katie and I am a member of the Social Committee here at HardingPoorman Group. The Social Committee is responsible for planning and executing many of the fun events we have each year to thank our staff. At HPG, our purpose is “to make a meaningful difference in the lives of our staff members.” Now that isn’t just some fancy saying we have up on a plaque when you walk into our building; it is an adage we strive to achieve every day!
Why do we want to thank our staff? I mean, they have a job, right? They get a paycheck, don’t they? Sure, those things are true but it is not what is most important. We believe that staff members perform better when they aren’t miserable. When you have happy staff, they will treat their work with pride, they take better care of customers and they will stay here with us at HPG!
What we do around here to thank employees? In a word: LOTS! Here are a few examples:
- At HPG, when someone catches an error on a job before it goes to the client, we give them a t-shirt that says “Of course I don’t look busy, I did it right the first time”!
- We have big annual events like the Chili Cook-off, Holiday Party, Breakfast with Santa, and a Race Party (after all we are in Indianapolis!).
- We celebrate our staff’s big birthdays; we think it is important to recognize milestones and it gives employees a chance to eat cake and learn a little bit more about their co-workers.
- Speaking of co-workers, we also have a program that allows any staff member to show recognition to coworkers. Here is how the program works: if someone you work with does a great job and you want people to know about it, you can submit the information online and their good deed will show up in our weekly memo.
- We’ve also had pizza parties, ice cream socials, a smoothie bar and a barista come in to celebrate our companies’ accomplishments.
Recognizing and thanking our staff is so important to make sure we are making a significant difference in their lives. How does your company show thanks to staff members? We love to hear new creative ways to show we care!