Although March 1 marked the beginning of Employee Appreciation month, every day provides an opportunity to recognize and—especially—to appreciate employees. The payoff: employees who are engaged, loyal and productive.
Here are five simple ways to demonstrate that you appreciate and value your employees:
- Provide opportunities for them to grow—professionally and personally, within the organization and outside of it. Do all of your employees have a clear career path within your organization? Is there clarity around goals and expectations? Is achieving those goals promptly rewarded?
- Recognize every employee’s individuality. Consider an enterprise-wide social media platform that does more than recognize and reward. Use it to create a space where employees can share personal interests, hobbies, and achievements outside the company.
- Show that you are interested in knowing your employees. Yes, it’s important to maintain a business atmosphere, but balance it with a genuine interest in your employees.
- Simple courtesies go a long way. “Please” and “thank you” show respect, a key aspect of appreciation.
- Whatever you do, tailor it to your multigenerational workforce. For example, boomers want to know that what they do makes a difference, while Millennials want to work to connect to their personal goals. Whatever you do to demonstrate appreciation, it should take a cue from generational differences.
Appreciation is linked to recognition and sometimes the terms are used interchangeably. At Marketing Innovators we tend to view appreciation as ongoing, daily gestures that can be spontaneous, while employee recognition is a formal program linked to goals and rewards.
What have you found to be the most effective way to show your employees that you appreciate them? Let us know.
