Happy Employee Appreciation Day 2024! Of course appreciating employees should be a year-round thing, but sometimes having a reminder to take a step back and look at how you’re showing staff that you acknowledge and are grateful for their contributions is useful. In celebration of Employee Appreciation Day, here are the top ways to make employees feel appreciated.
Verbal feedback
Gestures
In the same vein as verbal feedback, gestures to say thank you can brighten an employee’s day instantly. Whether that’s getting a box of doughnuts for the office, a thank you card to an individual that’s gone above and beyond, or a bonus if you have the means.
Communicate to remote employees
In an age of hybrid and remote working, it has become necessary to get creative and find solutions to any miscommunication or isolation that could come of working from home. Whether it’s scheduling in a regular 15 minute coffee and catch up to discuss both what people are working on and also a more general chat, or organising social events to provide a chance of face to face interaction, there are ways to get everyone involved.
Show trust
Micromanaging and unnecessarily questioning employees is a fast track to making them feel surveilled. While it’s important to keep in the loop with your team, finding the balance to show that you are happy with their output and trust them to manage their time and tasks effectively is key.
Enable growth
An effective way to show appreciation to staff is by proving that you find them a valuable asset and wish to invest in their future. In knowing that there’s an opportunity for growth at the company, employees will feel appreciated.
Personalised benefits
Reward staff with benefits that they want. By offering up a flexible benefits package, such as discounts and savings at a huge variety of shops, they can pick and choose when and where they want to receive their benefit. As a result, everyone feels equally rewarded!
Celebrate milestones
Working at the same place for a long time can represent both security and mundanity, depending on attitudes towards the workplace. By celebrating loyalty and long-standing working relationships, employees will know that their commitment to the company hasn’t gone unnoticed, and this can boost morale in a big way.
Encourage peer to peer recognition
Employee appreciation doesn’t exclusively apply to management; promoting a culture of appreciation can really boost morale and workplace relationships. Perhaps having employees nominate one another monthly for reward tokens (e.g. gift cards/a half-day off), could help them to really think about how hard their peers are working.