# Assembly Overview ### April 2026 Select a day in April | ###### Sun | ###### Mon | ###### Tue | ###### Wed | ###### Thu | ###### Fri | ###### Sat | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 29 | 30 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 1 | 2 | | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Now displaying available times for Invalid date. #### Be your organization's hero. Encourage collaboration and teamwork with a recognition program that is effective and enjoyable! **Book a demo now to take advantage of some incredible offers!** # Employee of the Month Ideas That Are Special + 3 Mistakes to Avoid Learn creative ideas, mistakes to avoid, and tips for a meaningful employee of the month program to make employees feel valued. min. read December 9, 2024 Recognizing your employees is the key to a happy, engaged, and effective team. An employee of the month award is one of the simplest ways to make sure your staff feel like their efforts are being seen. Read on to discover the difference an employee of the month program can make in your business, some monthly [employee appreciation ideas](/content/blog/25-excellent-ways-to-celebrate-employee-appreciation-day-2023/index.html), and how to launch one without making the most common mistakes. ## What Is an Employee of the Month Award? [Employee of the month recognitions](/content/blog/10-employee-recognition-award-ideas-to-motivate-your-team/index.html) come in different forms and sizes, from a framed photo on the wall to a casual shoutout on Slack. Depending on the size of your company, you might have one employee of the month or several. No matter what form it takes, an employee of the month award is a celebration of an employee's achievements or attitude. It’s one of the simplest [types of recognition and reward](/content/employee-recognition-program-guide-assembly/types-of-employee-recognition-and-rewards-assembly/index.html) there is – and one of the most effective, too. ## Are Employee of the Month Awards a Good Idea? Recognizing your employees can do wonders for [employee engagement](/content/solutions/employee-engagement/index.html), productivity, and staff turnover in your organization. It's a simple but thoughtful way to make sure your staff don’t end up feeling unappreciated by scheduling a time each month to recognize their efforts. In fact: - [40%](https://hbr.org/2016/05/recognizing-employees-is-the-simplest-way-to-improve-morale) of people say they’d put more energy into their work if they were recognized more often. - 37% of workers think the most effective thing their employer can do to cause them to produce great work is to recognize them. - Recognition drastically outweighs performance-based rewards – like “pay me more” and “give me a promotion” – as ways people say their employer could get the best from them. Despite this, [81% of leaders](https://www.gallup.com/analytics/392540/unleashing-recognition-at-work.aspx) say recognition is not a major strategic priority for their organization. ## Three Meaningful Employee of the Month Award Ideas Get it right and employee of the month rewards become a simple [employee appreciation idea](/content/blog/10-ten-outstanding-employee-appreciation-ideas-your-staff-will-remember/index.html) that goes a long way. Here’s how to make it feel meaningful rather than like a box-ticking exercise: ### Set It in Stone When things get busy, the employee of the month award is so often the first thing to fall by the wayside for companies. You miss a month, then two… and suddenly you haven’t shown your team that you appreciate them in half a year. ### Don’t Go Through the Motions [According to research](https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236570/employees-lot-managers.aspx), the most meaningful feedback is tailored to how each individual likes to be recognized. ### Peer Recognition Your staff are bound to get a boost when their manager recognizes them, but it can be even more powerful if that recognition comes from their peers. Peer-to-peer recognition is more likely to have a positive impact on your business’s bottom line than manager-only recognition. Employees _want_ to appreciate each other. When offered a simple tool to do so [44% of all workers](https://www.tinypulse.com/2014-employee-engagement-organizational-culture-report) will provide peer-to-peer recognition on an ongoing basis. Encouraging your employees to shout out their colleagues’ hard work – and giving them tools like [employee award nominations](/content/template/employee-nominations/index.html) to make it easy for them to do so – is a great way to find your employees of the month. ## Top Mistakes Companies Make With Their Employee of the Month Programs and How to Avoid Them Ensure you get your employee of the month program right, or it could do more harm than good. Avoid these mistakes: ### Don’t Forget to Praise the Little Things An employee of the month award is a great way to make sure you’re not neglecting employee recognition. ### Don’t Make it Generic Hand out a generic award as a general “well done” and your employee of the month awards will quickly start to feel like a box-ticking exercise once the novelty has worn off. ### Don’t Play Favorites Staff morale is bound to plummet if the same people end up winning employee of the month all the time. ## The Final Word An employee of the month award can do wonders for your workplace. Stick to the tips we’ve laid out here – and avoid the mistakes we’ve pointed out – to get the most from your employee of the month program.