A Week of Recognition?

My first job out of college was as the Secretary in Human Resources. No, I’m not being politically incorrect – that was my title for six months. From there I was promoted to Employment Coordinator at the same desk and same phone number.  I have to be honest, I don’t remember when the position changed to Administrative Assistant, I can say the title seems more appropriate considering the actual responsibilities of the job.

I also remember when we celebrated Administrative Assistant Day and now it is one week.  The question I ask myself is “Why do we have to have a week?” after all there is no “customer service professional day” or “accountants week”, etc. Now before people get upset at me thinking I don’t appreciate the work of administrative professionals, let me explain my concern.

Have we been so neglectful in recognizing our employees and especially those who are closest to us that a week had to be created so we don’t forget? I get it, we get so involved in our day-to-day responsibilities we don’t take the five minutes each to say “thank you”. If you stop and think about it, it’s really sad.

Let’s change the question to: What should we be doing on a more regular basis to recognize the efforts of our employees? Now that’s a question I can get into and have a great conversation around.

Here are a few suggestions:

• Say “Please” when you need something done
• Say “Thank You” when you get it or just at the end of the day
• Write a note (yes, write not email) to show your appreciation when a person goes above and beyond
• Recognize anniversaries – one year, five years and more. (p.s. no gold watches, make it personal
• If they put in a lot of overtime on a project – give them a day off (a comp day – not a vacation day)
• Know their birthdays – give them a card

What would you add to this list? Post below in comments and thank you for sharing.