Business Finds Rewards in Thanking Workers : Jobs: Praise works--and it doesn’t cost much. ‘The best managers are like coaches, counselors, colleagues and cheerleaders,’ a management specialist says.

In an age of workplace anxiety, thanking an employee for a job well done can mean more than cash, yet most managers are stingy with their praise.

“Thanking employees is not a common practice in most work environments,” said author and management specialist Bob Nelson, vice president at Blanchard Training & Development in San Diego.

“It doesn’t take a lot of money. It takes a little time, a little thoughtfulness and a little creativity to turn any employee into a highly motivated individual,” Nelson said.

“Today, the best managers are like coaches, counselors, colleagues and cheerleaders all rolled into one,” he said.

Nelson pointed to a study of 1,500 employees in a variety of work settings by Gerald Graham, professor of management at Wichita State University.

Graham’s study concluded the most powerful employee motivator is “personal thanks from one’s managers for a job well done,” Nelson said.

Nelson lists some compelling reasons for praise:

* It provides “an effective low-cost way of encouraging higher levels of performance.”

* It reinforces employees’ sense of security about their position.

* It supports employees as they are being asked “to do more and to do it more autonomously.”

* The new, smaller pool of employees coming into the work force “expects work to be both purposeful and reinforcing.”

* Praise makes employees feel good about themselves and their jobs, and this spirit translates into better customer service.

“People closest to customers must take initiative to solve customer problems and bring their best ideas to the workplace,” Nelson said. “If your employees are not doing this in today’s competitive environment, there is another company that is.”

In his new book, “1001 Ways To Reward Employees,” Nelson reels off numerous examples of companies that recognize employees without spending a dime.

“A sincere word of thanks from the right person at the right time can mean more to an employee than a raise, a formal award or a whole wall of certificates or plaques,” he writes.

Some successful examples of what Nelson terms “No-Cost Recognition” are:

* The You Done Good Award is a note card printed up in batches by Tektronix Inc., a Beaverton, Ore., electronics maker, and given to employees. Whenever an employee praises another, he or she puts it in writing.

“Even though people say nice things to you,” said Joe Floren of Tektronix, “it means something more when people take the time to write their name on a piece of paper and say it. Employees usually post them next to their desks.”

* Similarly, at Cobb Electric Membership Corp., Marietta, Ga., employees are told when they see a worker doing something praiseworthy to hand out their business card with “Thanks” or “Good Job” written on the back with their signature.

* The city of Philadelphia put the name of an outstanding worker in lights, using an electronic message board on a downtown skyscraper.

* Whenever Federal Express buys a new airplane, it inscribes the name of an employee’s child in large letters on the nose. The employee’s family is flown to the plant for the launch.

* At Xerox Corp., a bell is rung to recognize good performance. At Pacific Gas & Electric, a ship’s bell is rung to herald good work.

* Employees at Tampa’s Busch Gardens who get a Pat on The Back Award have a notice of it put in their employee file.

* In the Reagan-era White House, speech writer Peggy Noonan got back a speech draft with “very good” written on it by the President. She cut it out, taped it to her blouse and wore it that day at work.

“When people do things right,” Nelson concluded, “acknowledge it!”