A Guide to Employee Appreciation

What is Employee Appreciation?

Why Should You Appreciate Your Employees?

Showing employees that you appreciate them will assist them to feel good about themselves and the work they do. Happy employees tend to be more efficient and productive. Recognition also curates an atmosphere of trust between management and employees. According to a Forbes survey, it was revealed that employee appreciation is one of the most cost-friendly ways to boost employee morale. Developing a culture of appreciation leads to a more positive work environment that offers innovation and collaboration. When employees are well-appreciated in their companies, they'll find fewer reasons to quit their jobs, decreasing turnover.

Here are some impeccable ways to help your employees feel appreciated and valued at work:

Encourage development and growth

Employees are continually seeking opportunities to strengthen their skills. They will feel genuinely respected and appreciated if their organization provides growth and development opportunities, especially after an excellent work performance. This makes them loyal to their company, builds a robust employee-employer relationship, and helps them to perform better.

Build an atmosphere of trust

Trusting your employees is one of the best ways to show recognition and appreciation. When you trust your workers and allow them to take care of their work, it assists them to believe that their autonomous efforts are both satisfactory and relied upon in the company.

Listen to your employees

Taking time for employee feedback and listening to what they say about your company is another paramount way to make your employees feel valued at work. It displays that you are concerned about their opinions and assists you in understanding what your employees need. This way, you can rapidly resolve issues with solutions that suit your workforce.

Hopefully, that gives you a clear view of the goodness to come when you appreciate your employees regularly.

The 3 Best Ways to Appreciate Your Employees

When you give a thought about appreciation best practices, always keep one thing in your mind: any appreciation is good appreciation. You can't go wrong if you do anything to show your gratitude to your workers. But, we have a few recommendations to help you effectively show proper appreciation.

#Celebrate Significant Milestones

Taking the time to acknowledge an individual's personal and professional milestones makes them feel like a valued member of the team and organization. Life milestones such as a birth, work anniversary or personal birthday, or even completing a marathon are significant and momentous to each individual and shouldn't go unnoticed. Additionally, showing appreciation to your employees, you can strengthen team bonds and regularly reinforce a positive work environment.

#Recognize High Performers

When you have got a great base of celebration in your organization, it's time to start recognizing those who excel at their work. Appreciation can help drive the behavior your values promote, and to be effective; it must be given out often and early as possible. Here are a few that you can explore:

Spot recognition.

Appreciate and recognize your employees for anything and everything, even if it's not work-related.

#Employ gamification

Gamification is one of the innovative trends that can make employee appreciation more effective and efficient. Foster friendly competition in the office space and assist everyone to stay motivated and engaged. Providing meaningful rewards for performing well can show recognition and make work more fun and interesting for your employees.

So, whatever you decide to do to express your appreciation to your employees, the most important thing is to get out there and start from somewhere. Appreciating your coworkers has demonstrable returns and a robust impact, and it will assist you along the path to a more incredible company culture and success.

Employee Appreciation Ideas

A study found that feeling appreciated is the top motivator for employees to do great work. In the era of the Great Resignation, downsizing employee turnover is more important to your business than ever. Giving your staff proper appreciation can create a more motivated workforce, helping you retain talent and increase employee engagement.

How Can You Celebrate Employee Appreciation with Remote Workers?

According to a study, remote workers are 182% less engaged than employees who work in the office, so appreciating their efforts with recognition is even more important! With numerous employees working remotely, it's best to organize virtual events that show your employees that you care about them and recognize their hard work. Here are six easy ways to Appreciate employees remotely.

With these impeccable ways, you can appreciate the people who are going above and beyond to support your organization through turbulent times —your employees.

Strategizing the budget

Employee appreciation may appear expensive. But, when planned and executed properly, can reap tremendous benefits. There's always the question- "how much is sufficient?" SHRM suggests spending 1% of payroll on Employee appreciation initiatives. Remember, spending less or going overboard on your rewards program can influence you. Ensure that your recognition programs are sufficiently funded and expenses are tracked in a single place. In the current scenario, wea have technology on our side to provide seamless recognition in ways that don't burn a hole in your pocket.

For instance, if you have the budget to give all a week off at a tropical retreat, go ahead! Your workforce will come back refreshed and ready to jump back into the work. But if you don't, then put focus on the ideas that don't take a lot of amount to pull off:

These ample ideas can fit nearly into any budget. And remember, when you appreciate employees, ensure that they feel valued, you lessen your turnover rate, improve your productivity, and have more engaged employees. The advantages of an appreciated workforce far outweigh the money.

Saying Thank You to Your Employees with Gifts

Many organizations have employee appreciation programs in place. However, even in companies, employees often complain about their work not being appreciated. Because it is not always about what you do, but how you do it. This also goes with employee appreciation in the workplace. You should not just appreciate your employees, but you should do it more personally, the way you would want to be reflected in your job role.

According to a study, 70% of employees who get a memorable gift feel more loyal and connected to their employer. On the other side, 25% of employees state that they receive gifts they dislike or are irrelevant to them. Many employees don't build loyalty or a sense of connection with their company!

Thinking of the correct gift to give every employee can be stressful, but you should not let that pause you from giving them something to show appreciation. Navigate through some gift ideas to help you find something special for everyone.

Redeemable Coupons

Want to appreciate someone for putting in extra time on a busy schedule? You don't require to open the can of worms; that is a monetary incentive to say thank you. Instead of giving a coupon card to a coffee shop, scratch tickets, movie tickets, or other accepted gifts that will let employees know you appreciate them while telling them a reason to have fun. These tokens of appreciation also prove something true—you recognize their hard work and contribution to the organization. It's a fun and thoughtful reward.

Present a personalized gift

Understand your coworker's interests thoroughly to present a small gift on occasions. An appreciated gesture and a gift will light up your employees day. A greeting card serves the purpose in a proper manner. You can give a card for no reason to celebrate a special day, such as a birthday, or offer sympathy when a coworker is ill. So, whether you personalize the gift with the employees' names or choose something that each person will personally connect with, your employees will feel appreciated because they'll know you took the time to think of them individually.

Home office refresh

Let's face it—many of us have makeshift workstations due to the swift pivot to remote work. A great idea to support employees and make them feel appreciated is to assist them upgrade to a more productive home-office. Assist in improving their workspace with a branded company mug, a cute plant, or even a sweet electronic gadget. As an incentive: take some polaroids at your next in-person organization event to make their home office comfortable, cozy, and full of team spirit.

Social media shout-out

Utilize your online platforms to recognize and thank employees who give their paramount efforts. This pocket-friendly method of showing your appreciation will mean a lot, mainly because it's public, so it may also lead to peer-led appreciation.

Set Time Aside For Fun

Many times, you must set aside time for fun activities with your team in the office. Whether you break this down into disparate departments with leaders and managers who lead activities or you want to have organization-wide fun is up to you. Depending on what you do, this can be an hour or half a day of fun.

Some great ideas include:

Bottom Line

Once you have designed and finalized your appreciation program, the next step is to execute the program in a successful way. When we talk about execution, it's most significant to communicate. Make communications to your leaders, managers, and employees. Let your managers acknowledge how the program works, and tell them how to quantify rewards. Explain to employees what kinds of achievements will be appreciated to work toward those set aims. You can experiment with your program with teams in the beginning itself. Analyze the budget and the impact on engagement and productivity, and open it up for your whole organization if it appears prosperous.

The initiative does not end with proper execution. A successful appreciation program also needs frequent tweaks and assessments based on the ultimate impact. A well-thought-out and adequately implemented strategy can do wonders for your organization in the coming times.