Building thanks into the business plan

Sunday lunch chez Evans is generally a modest affair, but a couple of weekends ago we had family and friends around and I produced the full roast with all the trimmings.

If I say so myself, it was a pretty impressive performance - but I don't have to say it, because our guests said it for me. In fact, with their praise ringing in my ears, I was already pencilling in a date for our next get-together.

Our friends' recognition of my triumph over the gravy was a reward in itself. I am not sure how motivated I would have felt, however, if my efforts had been greeted with the "could have done better" that managers in our industry seem to delight in.

In the USA, people are so much more aware of the benefits of employee reward and recognition. Over here, we tend to see it as a nice-to-do rather than as a necessary part of the management process.

Last November, Bella Pasta's half-year accounts showed sales growth at a time when most restaurants were in a negative situation. While I was managing director of the chain, we introduced a reward and recognition programme that has maintained team motivation and so helped the business to buck the downward trend.

One of our most successful features was a Heroes Hotline. Restaurant managers and anyone in the administration team were encouraged to call and register any action on the part of a team member that was out of the ordinary and deserved a letter from the senior team, and perhaps a voucher to say thank you.

We had more than 1,000 telephone calls in one year, each giving an example of someone putting 110% into the job.

Without the hotline, we would only have heard about a fraction of these incidences and probably never have acknowledged them.

Planned spontaneity is a contradiction in terms but it is the essence of a successful reward and recognition programme. Our Heroes Hotline is an example of establishing a formal process that is designed to prompt spontaneous calls. Saying "thank you" in an unstructured way can be more damaging than not saying anything at all.

Reward and recognition has to be seen to be handed out on a fair and equitable basis, otherwise it can alienate other members of the team. Why should one person receive vouchers as their reward for a bright idea, when someone else had a similar flash of brilliance a week ago and no mention was made of it?

The real purpose of the reward and recognition programme was finding team members doing something well, or something that exceeded expectations, and then rewarding them instantly - surely a better way to inspire people than "could have done better".

The ability to recognise and reward exceptional performances should also be shared throughout the organisation. Over the years, Prêt à Manger has encouraged recognition from its peers. At Bella Pasta, we empowered restaurant managers to reward team members on the spot.

While recognising the part played by people at the sharp end, it is also important not to forget middle and senior management. It is easy to think "they're just doing their job" and, certainly, salaries should reflect their contribution, but a "thank you" doesn't go amiss. We all need an occasional boost.

Hence, at our annual conferences, I always ensured that as many awards were given to members of the administration team as were given to the restaurant teams. In that way, everyone on the organisation shared the same vision of success.

There are some enlightened companies within our industry that have reward and recognition programmes in place. There are others that have still to accept that reward and recognition is not simply a human resources issue, but one that belongs to the whole of the management group. Also, that there is a real cost-benefit that comes from having a highly motivated and service-orientated workforce.

Reward and recognition was one of the building blocks for the management that turned around Asda from an ailing superstore group to the chosen acquisition target of Wal-Mart, one of the most successful and people-focused retail businesses in the world.

Stephen Evans is a former director of Whitbread Restaurants and an active member of both the British Hospitality Association restaurant panel and the Restaurant Association committee.