At Acapulco Restaurants in Long Beach, CA, the honoree also gets a paid day off. As popular as these programs are, they may not be the best for motivating today's employees.
Programs are often too distant and formal to get excited about.
Motivation is very personal and stems primarily from the interaction between an employee and his or her manager. What is motivating to an individual also varies from person to person. The best motivation comes from daily positive reinforcement by management of desired performance with as many employees as possible - not something that occurs once a month for a single employee. When new, an Employee of the Month program can stimulate much excitement, hovever, over time much of the thrill is often lost. In other instances the program reaches a saturation point where so many employees have received the award that it no longer seems special.