Celebrating success: How ABC Home & Commercial Services recognizes its best

In the June issue, Pest Management Professional asked its Editorial Advisory Board (EAB) about recognizing top employees. As I considered what we do at ABC Home & Commercial Services, I realized we have at least four ways to highlight team members for the work they’ve done.

1. Meeting performance metrics. When it comes to overall performance, we track several key factors and behaviors. During our monthly company meeting, we recognize employees who work in various positions, such as office staff, pest control technicians, lawn care technicians and salespeople, to name a few. From that list, the management team votes for the employee of the month.

2. Collecting customer complements. My wife, Jennifer, oversees our philanthropic and volunteer opportunities and will recognize anyone who receives a customer compliment. She calls this her “Tell me something good” email update, which is sent to all staff members weekly and includes all the positive comments from customers she received in the past week. Gathering the information actually takes time, effort and coordination with those who communicate with customers because they send her an email that shares the customers’ comments. Occasionally, Jennifer will call a customer to gather more information and incorporate it into the email she sends, which shares the details of the compliment and the story behind it.

3. Encouraging generosity toward others. Each person who is recognized also gets a ticket added to our annual Christmas party giveaway. Another way to earn chances for the giveaway is for employees to bring toy donations to our Christmas party, which are then given to a local charity. We offer cash prizes to incentivize employees to bring toy donations, giving them a chance to win cash for the toys they bring.

4. Making internal moves. We track all our internal metrics, which include performance, good driving and an overall willingness to work as part of a team. We add the employees recognized for these achievements to our pool of potential supervisors or managers. When we need to help our management team fill these top spots, we look for leadership within our existing staff and promote from within, although we have also hired candidates from outside the company.

Overall, we want people to see they have a future with ABC, whether they envision themselves working with us in a long-term career or if we are just a stepping stone for now as they take the next step that leads them to another position at a different company. When you genuinely are engaged in the development of your employees, you must accept that it is more about them than it is about you or what they do for you.

It’s sometimes difficult to accept, but in the end, it’s not about us; it’s about them.