In their latest book, authors Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton tell the tale of one woman who started working at a low-level job for a bank. During the bank’s promotion to sell mutual funds, she worked especially hard and was able to bring in $1.2 million. So what did she get as a reward for all that effort? A mug.

Just call this a hunch, but something tells me that if she had lost the bank $1.2 million, she would have gotten mugged. But that one big cup was all that management decided her effort was worth.

So, did she ever sell any more mutual funds? Uh, no.

Anecdotes like that and suggestions about how managers can reward employees effectively can be found in Gostick and Elton’s new book, “A Carrot a Day: A Daily Dose of Recognition for Your Employees” (Gibbs Smith). Its format is like one of those small calendars that offer a snippet of advice each day, although some pages go into more detail than a calendar would.

A lot of the ideas start to get redundant as the book goes on, and it’s hard to demonstrate much research or present an in-depth idea in one small page, but the book has more than enough tips to inspire a conscientious manager.

More important than any single reward is the message that the manager’s recognition gives to the employee, Gostick said in an interview: “Somebody who cares about me actually notices what I do.”

Many of the book’s tips emphasize how important it is to personalize rewards, and that happens only when managers get to know their employees. Because of one worker’s long hours away from the family, a boss sent flowers to his wife because the boss knew that she was making sacrifices, too.

Sports tickets or dinner at a fancy restaurant could be a wonderful reward for some employees, but virtually useless to others.

“When you hire a new employee, ask, ‘If you had a day off to spend as you wanted, what would you do, and where would you go?’ ” the authors write. “You’ll learn a lot about the employee in those few minutes.

“Make a note of your employee’s interests and then use those interests to determine what day-to-day rewards you can offer. Not only will this give you great ideas for recognition, it will show that you have interest in them as a person.”

Both authors understand that some managers don’t have the budget or staff to give people rewards or time off, but even sincere praise goes a long way.

Saying “good job” or offering other generic praise can often backfire, the authors warn. Sometimes it makes it appear that managers don’t really know what exactly the workers are doing, or the praise comes across as insincere.

Look for specific tasks the person is doing well — even small ones — and encourage that behavior.

Elton said it is all right to recognize people for overall performance, but awards such as Employee of the Month will often do more harm than good. Either one terrific employee gets the award all the time, which doesn’t motivate other people and loses its luster for the employee, or the award gets systematically passed along to a new and not necessarily deserving person each month, so it loses any significance.

He also said that when managers recognize people for their overall work, it is important to describe what exactly they have done well, so it doesn’t appear that the manager is simply playing favorites. Public recognition can backfire if it appears to be motivated by office politics rather than performance.

Gostick said that any recognition needs to be given promptly for it to be most effective. If it comes for something that occurred weeks or months earlier, it loses most of its significance.

Elton explained that managers who recognize employees often and effectively usually will end up with people who are more productive and loyal.

“These are really good, solid business practices,” he said. “This isn’t just something that will make your mother proud of you.”