One of the most important factors in the world of work is employee appreciation, satisfaction and morale.
Business success is driven by motivated and empowered employees that feel valued and appreciated.
Whilst there has recently been a massive uplift in employee standards, it is unfair to expect your staff to be happy at work 24/7 without leadership support.
As an employer or leader, you are responsible for staff engagement and keeping motivation levels high.
Here are AvA-V’s top tips for keeping staff morale high.
Celebrate Their Achievements and Milestones
One of the most vital factors of staff satisfaction is celebrating their success. Many employees work towards targets and goals, usually determined by their experience and expertise.
Hitting and exceeding targets is a massive achievement for any employee, regardless of their experience and skill set.
Your staff want to feel employee appreciation when they achieve their targets but unfortunately, all they often receive is a pat on the back.
It is vital to the morale of your business that hard work is noticed. If an employee completes a difficult task, let them know they have done well.
This approach applies to more than role-based tasks.
As a leader, it is vital that you remember key dates in your employees’ lives to help show employee appreciation. This may include their birthday and work anniversaries.
A simple “Happy birthday” or “Happy work anniversary” can increase spirit and staff retention rate.
Provide Development Opportunities To Show Employee Appreciation
A negative staff atmosphere can often stem from a lack of career development, training opportunities and an uncertain future.
Progression and development are essential aspects of employment, particularly for people fresh out of college or university. Employees in these groups are still programmed to learn and take on as much knowledge as possible to help them begin their careers.
By development opportunities, we don’t mean dropping them in a room full of strangers from other businesses. We’re talking about an in-depth, fully integrated training session that provides new skills and embeds learning. (AvA-V offers these types of courses in bulk!)
Once employees have received the required quality training, you can help guide them through their journey and encourage them to achieve more.
Career progression is also a big deal for your employees. Many people have big ambitions and aspire to thrive in executive, leadership or management roles. The problem is that they’re often not receiving the support to match these ambitions.
According to IRIS Software Group and YouGov, nearly half of employees don’t see a clear path to progression. This makes them more likely to leave and increases your staff turnover rate, making you a less appealing choice as an employer.
You can avoid these troubles and show employee appreciation with the training and career development opportunities they deserve.
Don’t Manage Them, Lead by Example
There is a clear distinction between being a leader and a manager and how you show employee appreciation will vary drastically depending on your chosen approach.
We recently wrote a blog discussing the importance of Sales Management Training for your business (linked here) where we discussed the difference between being a leader and a manager.
We concluded that managers set targets for others and leave them to their own devices, whereas a leader will work closely with their team to help them achieve a common goal.
If, as a leader, you can embed yourself in the team, spend quality time with your employees and show them that you care, you’re more likely to show your staff that you care about their needs and wellbeing.
This approach should also go beyond their day-to-day tasks.
You could ask your employees how they feel at work, what difficulties they’re encountering and if there is anything that they would change about their role. Asking similar questions will help staff feel more engaged and valued and increase employee appreciation.
Offer Incentives
One of the most direct ways of showing employee appreciation is by offering incentives and bonuses.
These rewards can manifest in the form of financial benefits. Offering your employees bonuses or pay increases is a surefire way to show employee appreciation. It tells them that they’re doing well and you value their time and effort.
Whilst monetary incentives are the easiest to distribute and understand, there are other fantastic ways to motivate your team and keep them engaged over long periods.
One of these ways is time-sensitive rewards. If your team work with targets every month, quarter or year, you can use this to your advantage by offering target-related rewards, should your employees exceed those targets for that period.
These rewards can be as simple or as in-depth as you’d like. Common benefits take the form of
- A round of drinks
- A day trip
- A shopping trip
- A celebratory meal
These are just some of the ways you can show employee appreciation to your high-performing employees. If your wider team sees your top performers earning these rewards, they may be more motivated to work harder to receive these benefits.
Treat Them
Everybody loves a treat.
Giving your employees something to look forward to, or rewarding them with a surprise on a random day is a great way to show employee appreciation.
These treats can happen in many forms. Whether you order a surprise lunch, bring in an afternoon snack or take everyone to the pub after work, several little tokens of gratitude help show employee appreciation,
After all, who doesn’t like free food?
These rewards can be motivating as they promote employee engagement and create an environment where everybody works together.
Encouraging employees from across the business to socialise will create business unity, bringing everyone together to achieve a common goal – business growth.
AvA-V’s Approach to Employee Appreciation
At AvA-V, we stress the importance of employee appreciation, as we see it as the catalyst for business growth.
Happy and motivated employees create a positive work atmosphere, which, in turn, will drive success.
We encourage the practice of all the appreciation techniques listed throughout this blog, as we believe that each of these factors will help create a stronger, more sociable and driven workforce.