3 Easy Ways to Incentivize Faculty with a Weekly School Newsletter
☕️ Busy? Here's the TL;DR:
- Recognition is an important part of faculty retention
- Use your school newsletter to recognize & reward faculty
- Option 1: feature three different faculty members each week.
- Option 2: a "shout-outs" feature where teachers recognize each other.
- Option 3: a monthly "Special Edition" on one teacher, shared with the entire school community.
Numbers don’t lie.
Stats show that recognizing employees for great work builds workplace loyalty. 88% of employees think rewards are important, and folks who don’t feel adequately recognized are twice as likely to look for a new job. But if your budget is super tight, what to do?
Good news: for most people, non-cash incentives are just as effective.
Enter the school newsletter 🥁
Do you write a weekly faculty/staff newsletter? If not, let’s go! A weekly memo is an excellent way to appreciate individual team members for their great work. If you can throw in a cup of coffee or some cookies, great. If not, the public recognition is really what matters in building loyalty and a celebratory school culture.
So, what would that look like?
3 ways you can cheer for folks in your weekly newsletter:
Principal’s Hall of Fame...
- Feature two or three faculty or staff members each week who you're recognizing for a common accomplishment (most helpful, most creative, fastest to complete paperwork, etc.)
- Write a sentence describing what each one has accomplished.
- Get a quote from each with a tip for how they've accomplished what you're recognizing them for.
The Staff Recognizes...
- Link to a Google form each week, and invite faculty & staff to send a “shout out” to a colleague who’s helped them in some way
- The following week, publish all the “shout-outs” for a weekly feel-good.
Special Editions
- Every month, create a “Special Edition” newsletter
- Feature the work of one or two faculty members
- Share lots of pictures of their classroom, an interview with them, and quotes from colleagues, students, and parents.
- Send the “Special Editions” to the entire school community, as a way of giving public support and praise to faculty members.
Continuity in a school has a direct impact on student success, so let’s give your faculty a reason to stick around.
No need to face an empty page. Get started with this template!