A recent survey on employees found more than half would leave their job if they didn’t feel appreciated by their boss. Today is Employee Appreciation Day and it’s a great time for employers to express their gratitude to their workers, encouraging them will produce great results!
Working Harder
Employee Appreciation Day first appeared on the calendar in 1995. Along with many other special employee dates, these days are set aside to remind employers of the importance of showing their employees how much they matter.
Employees work hard to do their job and often take pride in their work. According to the survey published as an infographic on Work.com, more than three fourths of workers (78%) said they were motivated when they felt recognized.
Keeping Recognition on the Brain
True recognition doesn’t have to be overwhelming or grand, but it does have to be frequent. The survey found that optimum employee recognition occurs once every 7 days, while in reality half of employers only recognize their workers once a quarter or less. Only 12% of employees in the survey said they received frequent appreciation for great work, and of those:
- 92% said they were proud of their workplace
- 70% said they would recommend their company’s products
- 59% said their job brought out their most creative ideas
Recognition Starts Here
There are many things you can recognize employees for:
- Number of consecutive days without taking vacation or sick days
- Positive employees who add to a great environment
- High performance or reaching specific goals
- Adding great ideas
- Working well with disgruntled customers
- Learning a new skill that benefits the workplace
Recognizing employees doesn’t have to be anything elaborate; most companies offer certificates or plaques (77%), cash bonuses (62%), gift certificates (47%), company logo merchandise (36%) and food (36%). Among employees, however, common forms of recognition that they valued most as incentives were:
- Growth Opportunity (30%)
- Praise (28%)
- Rewards (24%)
Lighten the Load by Gifting Content Writers
Giving your employees the opportunity to grow in their position, reducing workloads to allow time for education or training and verbal praise are all great ways to show your employees how much you appreciate them this Employee Appreciation Day. Hire content writers to do menial writing tasks for reports, articles and staff letters and allow your employees to work on larger tasks.
Common Blunders
Make sure your appreciation reasons are creative. No one likes to get a generic “thanks for all your work” and no one appreciates feeling forgotten when others are being recognized. Consider the reasons your employees are valuable to you and then find a way to express that. Check your facts, name spellings and be specific in your reason for employee recognition.
Add employee recognition into your plans this year and you will notice a moral boost. Be quick with encouragement and careful with constructive criticism and your employees will appreciate their environment as a valuable part of the team.
Alethea M is a corporate blogging guru and freelance writer for WriterAccess. She often uses interesting facts from her article research to impress friends at dinner parties. Her husband is her biggest fan — though this may be because her writing income allows her to share in bill-paying each month.
