Making employees feel appreciated can go a long way for your recruitment efforts. As K-12 operators continue to deal with rising costs, many have found ways to offer gratitude to employees that are simple and affordable.

Here are five ways to recognize employees without breaking the bank that were shared during a session at the School Nutrition Association’s (SNA) Annual National Conference (ANC) this week in Charlotte, North Carolina.

1. Name a menu item after an employee

John McTear, director of nutrition services at Oakley Union Elementary School in Oakley, California, is always encouraging his employees to share their opinions on the menu and to come up with ideas for recipes. If an employee does come up with a dish that makes it onto the menu, he names the dish after them as a simple way to give them recognition.

2. Offer a Wow Wheel

At Montgomery Public Schools in Montgomery, Alabama, Executive Director of Nutrition Services Johnna Rembert-Beard set up a wheel in her office that employees get to spin if she catches them doing a great job.

The wheel has different perks that employees can win.

“They might get a half day off,” she said. “They might get the opportunity, which they love, to give a task to another employee that they don’t want to do. Different initiatives like that.”

Rembert-Beard could tell that employees were excited when they first heard about the wheel and that watching their coworkers get recognition and a perk made them want to do a good job as well.

It wasn’t costly and it helped the team perform better,” she added.

3. Provide hand-written thank you notes

A simple but effective way to show employees how much you care is by writing them a thank you note, said Rembert-Beard.

“Whenever you see someone doing something, or if they help you and go out their way, you want to tell them thank you. That goes a long way, and that makes them feel appreciated,” she said.

4. Host candy bar awards

At Oakley Union, McTear decided to host the candy bar awards where he compared each of his employees to a different kind of candy bar. “I made certificates, and I actually gave them a piece of candy and I had them come up with me, and we took pictures, we put all of our social media, and they really enjoyed it,” he said.

The candy, which he picked up from the dollar store, only cost him about $30, he said, and was a simple way to show his employees he cared.

5. Give a newsletter shoutout

Another way to show recognition to employees is through shoutouts in newsletters.

“Whenever an employee does something, we try to implement them in our monthly newsletter just to show appreciation, just to bring light to this wonderful profession that we’re all in,” said Rembert-Beard.

Rembert-Beard also keeps district leadership up to date with special events like National School Lunch Hero Day so they can also recognize the nutrition team on those days.