Employee Appreciation Day is approaching, so it’s time to think of ways to celebrate your amazing workforce. A little appreciation goes a long way and ultimately happy employees lead to more business success. Showing your appreciation is more than just gifts, it’s also words of appreciation and actions that give them recognition for all their hard work.
Understanding Their Situation
Right now many people are still working from home; this makes balancing their work life and their personal life much more difficult. Practice more compassion and understand that their work environment could be less than ideal.
The best places to work have a familial feeling to them and people often refer to other employees as their work family. If you have employees working on-site you’ll want to make sure you’re accommodating their safety and showing your care about their well-being.
Increase In-Store Efforts
If your employees are currently working in-store, there are many things that you can do to help their day-to-day duties. Ensure that you have all the necessary safety equipment in your establishment to protect their safety. Adding sneeze guards, barriers and partitions, and even “Practice Social Distancing” banners can increase in-store safety measures.
Some Hospitals have added custom banners to show how much their staff means to them with “Honk To Show Your Support” written on them. Little things like these can make all the difference in the world.
Open Communication
A plethora of communication tools exist in today’s digital world. Although these tools have been great, we forget that they are also impersonal. A simple phone call to check on your employees can reinforce your human connection and assure them that you care for their well-being.
Keep Them Informed
Positive reinforcement and communication on daily tasks will keep employees engaged and lead to increased productivity. Keep your employees updated through video-conferencing or online communication tools to boost employee morale.
Luckily, plenty of communication tools like Slack, Zoom, and Google Chats are available for internal communications. These tools make weekly team meetings and team correspondence much simpler. Make sure everyone has their camera on. Even though you could be literally a country apart, all of those faces on screen remind everyone that you are all in it together.
Virtual Value
Ironically, most fun at the workplace happens after hours, when everyone decompresses and enjoys time with their colleagues. The pandemic has for the most part eliminated these “happy hours”, because employees have no water cooler conversations or other places to converse and set up those shindigs. Even if they could, however, they still wouldn’t be able to meet. Virtual Happy Hours and team-building exercises will help bring back that sense of camaraderie that isn’t present in a physical office space.
Some businesses even offer digital yoga classes and other virtual events for any groups looking to de-stress before or after work together. These events could turn out to be an effective and interesting way to keep the employees involved, while giving them something to look forward to during the week. After all, for many people their work family is an important part of their lives. Incorporating events that accommodate them in a virtual setting is a wonderful way to show your gratitude.
A Little Team Spirit
The dress code has dramatically changed since remote work started. Many people opt for more comfortable clothing since they are at home. Giving your employee comfortable custom polo shirts or custom t-shirts can be a way to encourage brand love and company support. These also served as brand assets when on a video conference with prospective and current clients, because they show that your employees love your company.
Many opportunities to show your employee appreciation are available: custom coffee mugs, pens, business cards, and other fun tchotchkes build positive connections your employees will be greatly appreciative of. At the end of the day, your employees want to feel appreciated for all their hard work and loyalty to your company.
Be More Appreciative
Caring for your workforce can greatly enhance your company culture because everyone is happy to be there. The best workforce is a happy workforce and with all that is going on, it’s easy for employees to feel removed from their work. It’s important to take those regular moments out of your day to remember that without your employees, nothing would be possible.
