staff appreciation

We have done ice cream bars before in the past...vanilla ice cream, and have nuts, caramel, ect. available. It's not too pricey, and everybody loves ice cream.

Not sure how tight of a budget you are on, but how about picking up some meat, cheese, crackers and make your own tray. You could also make a veggie tray with dip and then maybe some fruit to go with it. I am sure you could do all this for about $40.00. I guess it depends on how many you are feeding. Rice krispie treats are good also.

We got T-shirts for EN week that had "emergency" on the back, the name of the hospital on the front, and RN on the sleeve... depending on your budget, you could see if there is a discount offered on bulk orders.

People actually wear them!

Why is morale low?

Why is morale low?

That is actually, IMO, a very good questions. I didn't even see that last little sentence about low morale until I read your post. Seems like that needs to be fixed first, before rice krispies or ice cream and tshirts will do any good.

Our staff loves sundaes. You can get toppings of different kinds so they can make their own, and food always wins the heart of many. I think the meat/cheese tray was a good idea too. What about little inexpensive mugs filled with goodies?

I would address the reasons for low morale before I give anybody a cookie.

I agree. While cookies or ice cream may be eaten, they won't be perceived as sincere if there are issues that need to be addressed which aren't being addressed.

Food, tee shirts, mugs, and so forth don't mean a lot when you believe that your needs are not being met, when you don't have time to regularly eat a meal or take a potty break, when you are frustrated with not being able to get done what you need to do, when you don't feel that you're seen as more than a warm body, when you aren't being heard.

Please remember staff that may be on restrictive diets. Treat bags at the Dollar Tree are 20/1.00.

Walmart has lotions 2/1.00 or less, candles 3/1.00, design a bookmark that can be printed on the computer or a certificate that says "One Great Nurse" and say something personal about that nurse.

Arrange for the cafeteria to honor a coupon for a free drink or dessert. Take snaps of staff that are not posed, write a note about why this person is a good nurse, post them on bulletin board. Ask a couple or more of the docs that frequent your unit to write a note of praise and encouragement to the staff. Take a good look at your unit, is there something you could do to make the staff's work area nicer? The break room? Bathroom? The best head nurse I ever worked for bought a cork board for the break room, we had cartoons, cards from families, things for sale, pictures of vacations, all sorts of things on it. It was cleared every month but it was used everyday. She posted thank you's to staff on the back of the bathroom door for working extra, about changes coming to the unit, and many other tidbits. Sounds funny now but no one could honestly say they did not see it. LOL!

I cannot say morale is great on our unit right now, but one thing that has helped is an idea someone had of employees writing notes for each other, of things they appreciate that someone did for them, or that someone is great to work with, etc; like thanks for helping with all those admissions yesterday; or, you always are so caring and sensitive toward families in difficult situations; or things more casual than that; and they are put in a locked box (looks like a suggestion box or something) and one of the charge nurses types them up and posts them every month, all the ones put in the previous month. It is pretty cool when you realize the many things people around you deserve to be thanked for or whatever, every day. I know it sounds silly but I think it has helped.

Of course this time of year I don't think any inpatient unit's morale is all that high??? (Come on April...)

I agree with finding the root cause. If people are very overworked, treats in the breakroom that they don't have time to eat are just gonna **** 'em off more.

Thank you notes from management and other nurses to each other helps a bit. Nurses are generally always doing something right (hello, they show up) so maybe make it a habit of not presenting a problem without a thank you... for something real.

Another thing that might be really nice is to buy - and then make, in their coffee maker (you know we all find time for that), some really good coffee once in a while. For each shift. Go ahead and buy a quart or so of half and half and put it in the fridge too. That's a relatively cheap way to perk people up for a bit.

Oh you know what? If you're in management, hold staff meetings at times that's convenient for night shift too. Like show up at night or whatnot. My facility does this and it's wonderful. I love it.

Once a year (it works out to two separate days actually) the directors and administration get together and do two potlucks, one for days and one for nights. They do the cooking, they walk around and relieve people so they can go get food. It's good stuff.

Once a year (it works out to two separate days actually) the directors and administration get together and do two potlucks, one for days and one for nights. They do the cooking, they walk around and relieve people so they can go get food. It's good stuff.

We do that too. Our hosp. admin. works a waffle maker, and serves the staff. He also takes that time to ask us if we are happy with our position, and what can be done to make us happier. He also gives us a form we can take with us and fill out later is something comes up, and that we can submit without names if we aren't comfortable.