Showing appreciation for one’s workforce is very important. Everybody likes to feel appreciated, even employees. There are many different ways of ensuring one’s employees feel appreciated, but some are more effective than others. Your main priority as the owner of a business should be doing everything you can to make sure your staff feel wanted and needed. Making them feel this way can help to motivate them and ensure that their performance either stays the same or increases. This post will explore this topic in more detail and tell you how you and other employers like you can show appreciation to their workers.
Corporate Gifting Programs
Corporate gifting programs can be extremely effective strategies for improving employee engagement. When an employee feels appreciated, they are naturally going to engage more with their work, because they know there are real benefits to being more engaged. Whether it’s corporate Christmas gifts or a celebration of somebody’s birthday, make sure that you buy your gifts from companies that specialize in corporate giving. The reason for this is that it can be hard to know what to buy for one’s employees. Buying from companies that specialize in corporate giving means you won’t have to worry about accidentally buying an inappropriate gift, because all stock present on their site or in their store will be ideal for professional gifts. Always read a vendor’s reviews before you buy anything from them, just so you can be sure they are worth shopping with.
Employee of the Month
An employee of the month scheme is exactly what your company needs if you want to improve employee engagement and have staff feeling like they matter. These schemes involve naming one employee or a handful of them as the employee(s) of the month. What ‘employee of the month’ essentially means is that that person has been identified as the hardest working person in the company the month they have earned the title. Their picture should be shown on a wall and they should receive some kind of benefit, like a bonus or a couple of days off of work. Once you introduce this scheme, employees are going to start fighting over it, which improves engagement. Everybody will do their best to get the title, which means they will be working harder.
Regular Email Checkups
Every so often, send emails out to your employees reminding them that you know their names and you care about them. If you do not have the time to personally type out hundreds of emails, ask an assistant to do it for you, or send emails to large groups all at once, rather than to people individually. Sending out emails shows employees that you are aware of their existence, which can be great for their engagement. When an employee feels like the company they are working for actually knows they exist, they tend to feel a lot more appreciated. Feeling more appreciated can do wonders for engagement, as mentioned before. Make sure that when you are sending email checkups out, you at least try to personalize them. While sending group messages out can be effective, personalizing emails can be a whole lot more effective, massively improving employee confidence in you.
Offering Company Promotions
One of the main complaints many people have about the companies that they work for is that there are no opportunities for them to climb the corporate ladder. Nobody wants to feel like they are stagnating. A good way to improve company engagement and show employees you appreciate them is to offer opportunities for career growth and development, even offering promotions. Promotions can be an extremely effective way to improve the sense of appreciation your employees have for their jobs because it allows them to develop in their careers and gives them something to work toward. Make sure that when you are offering promotions, you only give them to employees with good attitudes who work hard. Don’t make the mistake of promoting employees whose attitudes to work leave a lot to be desired. If there is nobody suitable for a promotion, hire from outside the company. It doesn’t make sense to hire somebody who’s not going to work hard in their new position.
Punishing Bad Behavior
While it is very important to reward good behavior, it is just as important to punish bad behavior. If employees adopt casual attitudes toward their work, you need to make sure that you take immediate action and punish them. Do not allow employees to behave lazily at work. The reason you need to take action against lazy employees is that they will influence others and have a negative impact on the amount of work that’s being produced by your workforce. You need people to be working as hard as they possibly can. If there are bad apples negatively influencing those around them, then your company’s profits will most certainly diminish. Make sure you give employees the opportunity to go back on their bad behavior and change. Don’t fire them straight away. You need to give employees the benefit of the doubt as much as you can. If somebody’s a habitual rule breaker though, get rid of them.
Offering Company Benefits
Finally, if you are able to, offer company benefits, what company benefits mean depends entirely on you. Some businesses give employees who’ve been identified as hard workers time off, while others give them cash bonuses. Sometimes employees are also given paid holidays, too. Make sure that the benefits you introduce are only offered to employees who are motivated and engaged. Offering benefits is a good way to show employees you appreciate them and it is a guaranteed way to get them to work harder, especially if you introduce cash bonuses. Everybody wants to receive a cash bonus, especially around the holiday season. Make sure that if you introduce holiday bonuses, you are able to afford them. Don’t introduce them if they are going to be a detriment to your company’s finances.
You could argue that running a business is one of the hardest things a person can do. Motivating large groups of people to work hard can be extremely challenging. However, the guidance given here should help you with business management. Making employees feel appreciated is a surefire way to get them to work hard. Do everything you can to make your employees feel wanted.
Published by: Martin De Juan
