Making your staff members feel appreciated has several benefits, including improved productivity and higher retention. But it’s easier said than done to express gratitude when you’re a boss, especially now that there are so many remote teams.

Also during Great Resignation, it is more crucial than ever for your company to decrease employee turnover.

But how can you genuinely and meaningfully convey to your staff how much you appreciate them?

What can you do to express your gratitude for your workers’ commitment and hard work beyond just saying “excellent job”?

People are motivated by various sorts of acknowledgment due to the varied personality types. While some workers thrive on verbal praise, others place more importance on tangible gift suggestions. To properly motivate your staff, it’s critical to combine long-term and short-term recognition.

In this article, we will examine some unique ideas to appreciate your employees better.

Create a recognition program

Infusing a recognition program into everyday work is an excellent way to show your employees just how much you value their work and input. Celebrate achievements as soon as they happen. Celebrate closing deals and reaching benchmarks with gifts, or even better, ask your employees what they would like. It makes them not only feel good about the work that they have done, it also assures them that they are seen. Speaking of physical gifts, awards, plaques and trophies are a great idea. Employees can hand them at their desks at work or take them home.

Introducing peer appreciation is also a fantastic recognition program. Let employees show their appreciation for each other, and make it grand. The “unseen” efforts that go into daily tasks are obvious to coworkers. Give them an opportunity to draw attention to the admirable things others are doing so that you and everyone else will notice them.

It also gives them a sense of meaning and belonging.

Connect over Food

Food has a way of serving as a bridge to connect people. A team lunch is a fantastic opportunity for everyone to get to know one another and you.

Try to do it discreetly. Not the executive dining room, please. That can be too serious for your employees. The cafeteria should be avoided as well, it might be really distracting. Now is the moment to concentrate solely on the individuals in front of you. It should ideally last at least 1 hour. Locate a Chinese restaurant, for example, and take your coat off. Switch off your phone as well.

By interacting together, you can strengthen the relationship with your employees and help them feel more connected to you.

Subsidy for non-remote workers

The distance between the office and the employee’s home has a big impact on the cost of commuting.

The commute for one employee can be affordable, but it might be exorbitant for another. In order to appeal to the largest possible amount of your workforce, it is crucial to distribute your activities over a variety of modes of transportation.

You may set up office taxis or discounted bus fares to make the travel a little bit easier on their wallets. Or if the company can afford it or has a collaboration with a taxi or bus brand, you can offer discount codes to them.

Remote team activity

There are many online activities available for your team to engage in because so many workers these days work from home.

Your staff will be able to develop the interpersonal relationships that are so crucial for teamwork through virtual team-building activities. Engaging in a fun group activity can also keep your remote staff engaged and collaborative.

A virtual escape room, a quiz with a business theme, or even an online chocolate taste are a few concepts. Ask your team for input on what they would like if you are unsure of which concept to pursue.

Use Social Media

The largest influencer in our generation is social media.

Give a shoutout on social media to an employee who goes above and above on a project at work or completes a personal goal to recognize their dedication. Use creative and colorful pictures, charts or even short videos. You can rely on infographic templates like the one below to make beautiful and appealing visuals, as well as highlight their achievements and a little bit of their likes and dislikes. It goes without saying the company pays attention to details, and values them.

Source

Give employees the credit they deserve, whether they stayed late to finish the task, exceeded their sales goal, or volunteered at a nearby shelter. When staff members accomplish something really admirable, you may even take a picture and make your own hashtag.

Starting off, recognizing outstanding personnel in front of consumers, investors, and your team will benefit your business.

To make sure the entire staff sees it, you may even put this social media recognition on the visual screens in your office.

Conclusion

A promotion in one’s position may be the greatest form of gratitude for a worker. The other appreciation suggestions could work for specific tasks and routine labor, but with time, employees will seek out something more long-term. Therefore, it’s crucial to view this less as a concept and more as something you must finally perform.

The foundation for creating a strong and meaningful company culture is employee appreciation. Many times, expressing gratitude to an employee might be challenging. Although showing appreciation to employees may seem a little costly at first, there are really a number of long-term advantages.

Author bio:

Tobi is a writer and editor who enjoys strawberry milkshakes and long walks. With years of experience as a creative writer and editor, she currently is an SEO writer at Venngage.