Employee Appreciation Day is right around the corner, Friday the 3rd of March in fact! It’s an excellent chance to thank your employees for their hard work and efforts and supporting the goals of your business. Here at Virgin Incentives, we firmly believe employees are the heart of our business and deserve recognition, what would we do without them right? Businesses should celebrate their employees’ accomplishments all year long, so here is our guide to showing employee appreciation.
Encourage Loyalty
It has been reported that nearly 50% of employees leave their role because they do not feel appreciated, particularly in the first quarter of the year as people are looking at change. Employees are wanting to see signs that their work is important, makes a difference, and that they are valued more than ever. Loyalty is earned and a simple thank you can make all the difference with showing appreciation coming in the form of anything from a verbal thanks to gifts such as a gift card, loyalty rewards for reaching a milestone year of service and even an extra day off.
Consider their wellbeing
Employee health and wellbeing should always be a priority to show appreciation to your team members. It takes into account the general wellness of your co-workers in four key areas: the emotional, mental, physical and financial aspects of wellbeing that affect how they express themselves at work. Being respected and valued at work is essential to promoting wellbeing and employees will always remember how their company treated them and looked after them during a difficult time. You can help by offering the following:
- Flexible working hours
- Gym discounts
- Access to financial advice
- Wellbeing benefits
- Therapy sessions
Random acts of appreciation
This guide to showing employee appreciation also includes simple ideas to have fun at work that have a huge impact on employee appreciation and therefore creates a more positive work environment and successful employees. Great ideas can include new merch for everyone, free food such as a buffet spread or hire a food truck, fun quizzes for both in-office & remote employees and also thoughtful gifts to show some love to your team members.
Using the right rewards
Using rewards will go a long way and is the key to employee appreciation, who doesn’t love receiving an award as a ‘well done’ or ‘thank you’. Rewards lead to increased productivity and job satisfaction which in turn leads to happiness and that results in employees feeling appreciated and valued. In terms of what to reward, there are some fantastic options out there but we believe the best rewards to show appreciation are experiences!
Experiential rewards don’t promote unhealthy competitiveness and avoid the development of a toxic workplace culture because they aren’t given a monetary value (unlike cash prizes). Also when it comes to experiences and activities, these help create memories and are shareable with loved ones which again shows that your company values everybody’s lives outside of work.
Our guide to showing employee appreciation has covered a few ideas and benefits that can and should be used all year round rather than just for National Employee Appreciation Day. By doing this, you can increase employee engagement, which will make your co-workers less stressed, more productive, and more eager to support your company’s objectives. Get involved and find out more about the incredible rewards that we can offer for your employees to make them feel appreciated:
