Employee Recognition – 6 Ways To Show Appreciation To Your Hard Working Staff.
Employee recognition doesn’t have to be all about paid bonuses and monetary rewards, sometimes it’s the smaller things that can be more meaningful and make employees feel more appreciated. However it can be hard to think of ways to incorporate recognition into the workplace so here are a few ideas:
- Show Appreciation In Team Meetings
A lot of the time, people overlook verbal praise as a way to show appreciation. Set aside just 20 minutes a week to meet with your team. Talk about their strengths of the week and remind them of how much you appreciate the work that they do for the team.
Everybody loves to hear about the “great job” that they’re doing and to be quite honest, good feedback from a manager can sometimes lead to an employee working even harder because they want to make you happy and continue to be recognised. It’s a very important cycle. If you are happy with their work you and you let them know, they will be happy with you for giving that feedback and they will work hard. The cycle will continue.
- Reward Special Achievements
Show that you recognize someone’s overtime hours by giving them extra free time during the work day. Offer a 2-hour lunch, a late arrival or an early finish. Most of our Three Q Team love an early Friday! It costs you nothing but it goes a long way in communicating your gratitude. It will also push other employees to work hard because everyone will want to be rewarded!
- Send a Deserving Employee Snail Mail
Admit it, it makes you feel good when you see a letter in your mailbox (not your e-mail – your actual mailbox) with your name on it (When you know it’s not a bill, that is). So imagine you get that envelope, and you open it to find a letter from your employer, singing your praises. How good would YOU feel? So why not? Use this in work for employee recognition. It takes absolutely no time to write a short note and it’s all for the cost of a stamp, but it will make a big statement.
- Everyone Loves A Meme
Catch your staff off guard by creating a funny, personalized meme about them and e-mailing it out to everyone. Choose your image and type a funny message that includes the recipient’s name and a congrats for all the great work they have done. This one takes a little creativity but it’s free and it’s funny and it will make your employees happy. So just give it a try!
- Motivation Mascot
Provide your team with a mascot! Buy a big, cheap, silly object and make it a symbol for the employee of the week! Every Monday, put it on a different person’s door or desk to show that they are the chosen one. Don’t fear if, at first, your staff acts like it’s cheesy because it is but within a couple of weeks they’ll be anxious to see where it is at the start of every week.
Here at Three Q, we ring a bell when a team member wins big! The individual themselves will ring it and the team usually come running to see and hear what there win is! We love to celebrate our successes as a team!
- Reward With A Duvet Day
The joy of sleeping a little longer and working in pyjamas cannot be overstated. So let this be a reward! Choose an employee that has been going above and beyond and reward them! It would be interesting to see just how many of your employees follow suit! You’ll have your whole team on their best behaviour battling for this reward no doubt!
The truth is, it doesn’t really matter what you do to show your appreciation. Rewards and gratitude can take just about any form. As long as you show that you have noticed the hard work within your team. These ideas are not revolutionary, but if you utilize them frequently, they could have a dramatic impact on relationships and productivity.
