People crave recognition on the job almost as much as they do money – and the sooner independent convenience store operators make appreciation part of their culture the sooner their employees’ performance will improve and retention woes begin to ease.

Gallup famously reported that only one in three workers surveyed had received praise or recognition within the previous week. But recognizing staffers for the jobs they do is neither difficult nor expensive, help improve job performance, and helps augment admittedly less-than-stellar hourly wages.

Here are some strategies that have proven effective in motivating and ultimately helping to retain good workers:

• • Catch team members doing things right. Criticism is easy, but recognizing effort, consistency and dependability takes attention. Stopping an employee or even an entire shift in the act to praise them for doing a fine job can’t help but build job satisfaction, self-respect and esprit de corp.

• • Make noise about superior performance. Compliment the team as a whole, as well as individuals, for working hard and helping the store succeed. Use email, signage, the bulletin board, social media and praise at staff meetings to highlight superlative effort.

• • Give hard-working employees something they’ll enjoy — and it doesn’t have to be money. Send them for continuing education or training if they’ve requested it. Give them tickets to ballgames or movies, a Starbucks gift card, a trophy or a plaque. Everyone loves being rewarded for a job well done.

• • Take the staff member out to lunch or dinner. More than the food and drink, he will appreciate the time a manager or owner is willing to set aside for informal relationship-building.

• • Other ways to show team members that they have earned a break is to create a more relaxed and informal atmosphere: think casual dress days, easier tasks, flexible hours and a chance to leave work early from time to time.

• • Recognize staff and foster team building by organizing employee gatherings outside of work to share food prepared at home, play Trivial Pursuit or other popular multi-player games, or enjoy a picnic or other fun outing. Letting the employees bring their kids or pets to work for part of a day can also be a reward, and personalizes the job, making the store seem a bit like home.

• • Have employees themselves select colleagues who are worthy of recognition. Recognition by peers can mean even more than that received from an employer.

Reward and recognition programs have their place in small business. Convenience store owners should first determine desired employee behaviors and accomplishments that will support their business goals. By recognizing outstanding performance, c-store owners will have an edge in a competitive corporate climate.