Why I highly recommend NOT doing formal employee recognition programs:

1) It can easily be put on the back burner and then become a source of resentment and loss of trust in management

2) If you do follow-through on a regular basis, it can become stale and lose its intended effectiveness

3) It creates an us vs. them within your employee base instead of a team atmosphere (VIPs vs. non-VIPs)(those who are teacher’s pet vs. those who aren’t) – in the worst cases I’ve actually seen high achievers become lower achievers because they don’t want to be singled out from their friends/co-workers and seen as “better than”

4) There will always be those who wonder why you recognized that person vs. themselves or someone else

5) Taking someone out of the High Achievers Program will not be a motivator

6) If everyone gets to be in the club it’s no longer special

7) By creating "winners," you also create "losers"

You know the old adage that the road to hell is paved with good intentions...this is one of those roads.