You may or may not be aware that National Employee Appreciation Day is celebrated nationally on the first Friday of March.
You will no doubt open up your LinkedIn and be inundated with posts describing all the freebies that people have received – from coffee and lunch to vouchers and cards.
This stuff is all great and we love treats as much as the next person. However, as cliché as it sounds, more needs to be done to ensure employees feel valued throughout the whole year.
Not only will this lead to them wanting to stick with your company, it’s a proven fact that employees who feel valued will also be more productive.
There are a number of things you can check yourself on, as both a business leader and an employee, to ensure that employees and colleagues feel heard and appreciated throughout their time at work.
Are you approachable?
Being approachable in the workplace is crucial. You want to ensure that your team or your colleagues feel as though you hear them when they communicate. They want to feel heard, and if you come across as someone unwilling to listen to their ideas, their worries, their opinions, they will in turn feel undervalued.
Do you allow room to switch off?
If you’re reading this as a business leader, you may be all too familiar with taking your work mobile home or checking your emails on a Saturday morning. You may not find this a big deal, or you might but do it anyway.
Our question to you is, do you allow your employees the room to switch off? Work-life balance is a real thing and if your team are being hounded outside of ordinary working hours, they will eventually get the impression that you don’t appreciate their time.
We’re no stranger to projects that require staff to work overtime or outside of normal hours, but giving your team the respect to create boundaries for themselves is a huge step in showing your appreciation.
In setting these boundaries, you are much more likely to get greater productivity from your staff when they are working – it’s a win, win.
Do you check in?
So often, we assume that unless an employee is showing obvious signs of stress or worry that they’re fine. If you’re an employee reading this, make sure you’re checking in with your colleagues. Do they need help with their workload? Are they working on any exciting projects they want to talk about? Is there anything they’re struggling with? This goes for team leaders and team managers too. Check-ins are there for a reason, make sure your team and you are getting the most out of them.
We work in recruitment, we know that senior business leaders may not have the time to check in with every single employee in the business. What they can do is keep on top of team leaders and managers to ensure they have regular check-ins with their staff.
Is thank you in your everyday vocabulary?
You would be surprised at how far a thank you goes. It seems like such a simple concept, but taking the time to thank your team and your colleagues for their work is a huge part of appreciation.
Thank you shouldn’t be reserved for major projects or said when an employee stays late, thanking your staff for the every day little things will lead them to feeling valued.
Do you invest in your employees?
This is one for the decision makers of businesses. A major part of what makes staff feel valued is when they feel like they’ve got opportunities to progress and grow.
There are a number of businesses that provider training programs and qualifications, that are fully or almost fully funded. Offering your staff opportunities to complete said courses or obtain certain qualifications, will show them that you value their skills and them as individuals.
We would recommend taking a look at our friends over at Whyy? Change – who are fantastic!
We’re not against treats and rewards on National Employee Appreciation Day, we just want to make sure that this appreciation is given every day.