Good Job!

Well, the first week of school is over and when I asked my son what he thought of first grade so far, he said, “Mom, it’s been a breeze!”

Sweet child of mine…all five days of it…LOL!

He is off to a good start though, evidenced by his week’s worth of smiley faces. It’s amazing how a simple stamp can affect one’s feelings about oneself. My son is just as proud as a peacock about his smile-o-rif-ic week.

Oh, if only the workplace operated on such simplistics.

In fact, I’m thinking about making such a suggestion here at my office to be implemented. No need for annual performance appraisals, just a daily smiley face or frowny face will get the point across loud and clear if I am doing a good job or not.

I mean, after all, performance appraisals are usually linked to some sort of merit or pay increase and when you are dealing with an economic crisis such as we are here in our state, whether you get a good appraisal or not still yields the same thing: nothing. At least with the smiley system you can feel good about yourself even if your bank account doesn’t get any bigger.

Or better yet, why don’t bosses/managers specifically make the time (every now and then) to just simply tell their employees, “Thank you for the work you do.”

It doesn’t need to be calculated to a number between 1 and 40. It doesn’t need to be checked off on a form with a pre-worded statement.

It just needs to be said and meant.