Showing gratitude to your employees is important if you want to motivate them to continue working for you. More than five million people quit their jobs last month. There are over 10 million open jobs currently. These statistics should be enough to tell you how important it is to let employees know you appreciate their work. How can you show the team that you appreciate them day in and day out? Here are some suggestions.
Why Show Your Appreciation?
The benefits of showing employees your appreciation include:
- Improved employee morale. Employees who feel good about their work and know you appreciate them, will take pride in their efforts. This will help with retention.
- Improved employee engagement. You’ll increase worker productivity if your teams know you appreciate them. It will also increase their connection to your company.
- Improved job performance. If the employee knows they’re doing a great job because you’ve told them so, they’ll strive to continue their efforts. This only helps company productivity and will aid your success.
- Improved company culture. Teams that are appreciated for their collaborative efforts build stronger cultures. There is a sense that they’re in this together, striving toward a goal.
These benefits are obviously worth going after, but how can an employer show appreciation to their employees?
Best Practices for Showing Employee Appreciation
One important best practice for showing employees you appreciate them is to acknowledge their accomplishments as they happen. Providing immediate positive feedback increases the benefits. This appreciation can happen as a simple thank you for running a great meeting or good job on that presentation. The point is that positive feedback is continuously happening to keep your employees motivated.
Employee appreciation doesn’t always have to be monetary. Offering bonuses, raises, and financial incentives are highly motivating. But sometimes even just a thank you note means a lot to an employee. The idea is that you recognize the hard work of your employee both publicly and privately in a variety of ways. Public recognition is a great tool for creating healthy competition between peers but also simply to acknowledge to the wider group what a great job your team members are doing.
Another best practice is to create and celebrate traditions in your organization. For example, production goals can be recognized with catered lunches or an extra hour off. You can have special events for a team like a happy hour or a party. Celebrating birthdays is great, too, not just because they’re birthdays but because you can use that as an opportunity to say, “Thank you, I’m glad you’re here.”
You can reinforce praise by ignoring the small stuff. The idea is that you lead with the carrot and not the stick. If you acknowledge employees and their efforts to improve, you create a more positive culture that benefits you and your organization.
PrideStaff Thousand Oaks works with top employers to match them to a stronger workforce. Talk with us if you’re struggling to meet your hiring goals. We can help you find more candidates more quickly.
