20 Inspiring Quotes for Your Employee Recognition Program

Every successful CEO or executive has a knack for business, but they don’t all have a knack for words. You know that the right words are essential to employee praise, but maybe you’re not a poet. Here are 20 inspiring quotes that you can use as part of a regular employee recognition program or to add the finishing touch to your next custom award from Cristaux.

Quotes to Inspire All Employees

You can use quotes, incentives, and employee appreciation to inspire and engage your team. When paired with meaningful employee recognition awards, these quotes can drive productivity and happiness for your organization.

1. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”

– Aristotle

2. “Throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that you had thought could never be yours.”

– Dale Carnegie

3. “This is the only country in the world where today’s employee is tomorrow’s employer.”

– Marco Rubio

4. “Before success comes in any man’s life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some failure. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit. That is exactly what the majority of men do. More than five hundred of the most successful men this country has ever known told the author their greatest success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them.”

– Napoleon Hill

5. “Circumstances do not make a man, they reveal him.”

– Wayne W. Dyer

6. “A tulip doesn’t strive to impress anyone. It doesn’t struggle to be different than a rose. It doesn’t have to. It is different. And there’s room in the garden for every flower. You didn’t have to struggle to make your face different than anyone else’s on earth. It just is. You are unique because you were created that way. Look at little children in kindergarten. They’re all different without trying to be. As long as they’re unselfconsciously being themselves, they can’t help but shine.”

– Marianne Williamson

7. “Dream more than others think practical…Expect more than others think possible.”

– Howard Schultz

8. “Everyone wants to be appreciated, so if you appreciate someone, don’t keep it a secret.”

– Mary Kay Ash

9. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

– Steve Jobs

10. “Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.”

– Buddha

Quotes to Inspire True Leaders

We often rely on our leaders to inspire us, but they also need inspiration to continue their hard work. To elevate your support for your leaders and executive team, you can create one-of-a-kind leadership awards.

11. “Your number one customers are your people. Look after your employees first and then customers.”

– Ian Hutchinson

12. “When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.”

– Simon Sinek

13. “Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person – not just an employee – are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability.”

– Anne M. Mulcahy

14. “There are only three measurements that tell you nearly everything you need to know about your organization’s overall performance: employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow. It goes without saying that no company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it.”

– Jack Welch

15. “Appreciate everything your associates do for the business. Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They’re absolutely free and worth a fortune.”

– Sam Walton

16. “Are you paralyzed with fear? That’s a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember one rule of thumb: the more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it.”

– Steven Pressfield

17. “An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.”

– Mahatma Gandhi

18. “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.”

– Max DePree

19. “Employee engagement is the art and science of engaging people in authentic and recognized connection to strategy, roles, performance, organization, community, relationship, customers, development, energy, and happiness to leverage, sustain, and transform work into results.”

– David Zinger

20. “People want to know they matter and they want to be treated as people. That’s the new talent contract.”

– Pamela Stroko

Inspired Recognition Goes Above and Beyond

The strongest recognition programs are rooted in a theme or value vital to a company’s character. We hope the above quotes inspire you and your team to continue working hard.

Contact Cristaux to start developing your recognition program today.