Your organization’s employees work hard. You know this, but they might not know you know it. For managers and HR professionals, displays of gratitude provide an opportunity to add much-needed touches of positivity, creativity and reciprocity to the workplace.
Here are three ways to do just that!
Celebrate anniversaries and birthdays
When a worker’s service to his or her organization lasts years, it represents a commitment as serious in its own way as a long-term relationship or marriage. So don’t just acknowledge a work anniversary. Provide the employee with signed cards, goodies and awards. Take the appreciation up a notch with each passing milestone (one year, three years, five years, etc.). Team meetings – or, if your organization does them, companywide meetings – are a great place to call attention to an anniversary.
Employee birthdays are another great time to show appreciation. Consider fun ideas like coming in early to adorn a worker’s cubicle with decorations based on a theme you know he or she will love! This can easily become a collaborative process. Or opt for a birthday lunch out of the office! Aim for birthday traditions that contribute to team bonding.
Holiday gifts
Every year comes with its own built-in opportunity to bring tidings – and tokens – of good cheer to the people in your life. In fact, it’s an occasion that no birthday or anniversary can ever quite match: Christmastime, Hanukkah and the holidays!
Bring the holiday spirit to the office in the form of gifts for employees. For next-level generosity, try to tailor each gift to the unique personality of the team member. For example, if you know one of them enjoys journaling, gift a Moleskine notebook.
But keep in mind this type of employee appreciation knows no season. In fact, holidays – and opportunities to celebrate your employees – crop up year-round if you know where to look.
Entertaining events
Let’s imagine every anniversary, birthday and holiday has been crossed off the calendar. How many “normal” days and weeks does that leave? If your immediate thought was “too many,” consider carving out time for events specific to your organization.
Setting aside a special day or week for employee appreciation is an especially effective way to bundle multiple “events” under one umbrella, checking off several boxes on the “employee appreciation” checklist in one fell swoop.
- Food: From pizza parties to food trucks, sometimes the surest way to employees’ hearts is through their stomachs.
- Fun: Games and good-natured competitive activities bring people together in a way nothing else can. If you can’t bring the games to your team, take your teams to the games. Bowling alleys, mini-golf courses and laser-tag rooms are just a few options.
- Perks: If your company normally requires business attire every day except Friday, why not make it a jeans week? Or, if you’re a more casual company with a staff full of pet owners, allow employees to bring their dogs to work.
- Social media: For large enough events, this might be a good chance to encourage employee interaction with company social media channels while also promoting the company and its culture to the outside world via pictures and hashtags. (Find Paycom on Instagram to see our employees in action!)
More than just warm fuzzies
The more appreciation you show employees, the more likely they are to “give back” in the form of organizational loyalty and excellent performance. Acknowledging important days, creating special events or taking the time to give thoughtful gifts all go a long way toward achieving this goal.
And if you do it correctly, you may find yourself having fun, too!