How to Celebrate Employee Appreciation Day with Impactree
Every company, no matter the size, needs employees to achieve its goals. Managers and leaders give direction and build goals, but employees are the ones who get the wheels moving, turning ambition into action. But more than simply being a part of a company, employees are individual human beings with wants, needs and dreams of their own. To retain hardworking employees and keep them motivated, companies must foster and support their employees, helping them feel appreciated and fulfilled.
63% of employees who are recognized for their work are “very unlikely” to look for a new job, codifying the link between employee retention and appreciation. To build a long lasting, strong and loyal employee base, companies must appeal to their employees’ basic need to be validated. No matter the age, sex, gender, race or experience, every employee wants to know they are doing a good job, and to feel supported by their employer on a deeper level.
Employee Appreciation Day is Friday, March 5th, marking a national day to acknowledge and value all employees. However, you may be asking how to celebrate Employee Appreciation Day in a way that feels honest and heartfelt? The answer is to forge deep, personal connections built upon long term trust, making your employees see work as something much bigger than just a paycheck.
Signs of Appreciation
Employees do not need large pomp and circumstance for doing their job, but they do want to feel heard and valued. There are numerous simple ideas to make employees feel valued: celebrate birthdays, reward staff based on individual interests, or write personalized thank you cards. Each is a way that recognizes the hard work of employees, making them feel welcomed and valued as a part of the company.
However, the single best way to show appreciation to employees is to acknowledge their individuality. Employees should not feel disposable, and companies can prevent that by recognizing what makes each employee a unique person. Employees cannot leave their experiences or identities at the door, and businesses should harness those traits to build a more committed and diverse workplace.
Feeling like a nameless cog in a machine can be a very dehumanizing experience, and may leave employees unmotivated. But inverting this and making employees feel like they personally add value to the company inspires them to work harder and see their job as meaningful and essential.
Employee Appreciation in the Long Term
Employee Appreciation Day is a great time to celebrate, but it is only one singular day. You can use the day as a means of showing appreciation in the short term, but growing trust among employees is a long process, coming from a commitment to their needs and beliefs as human beings.
First and foremost, health and mental wellbeing are paramount to retaining happy, productive employees. The Gartner 2020 ReimagineHR Employee Survey found that “when employers develop deeper relationships with their employees, there is a 23% increase in the number of employees reporting better mental health and a 17% increase in the number of employees reporting better physical health.” The study found companies that support their employees’ mental and physical health had a 21% increase in the number of high performing employees and employee retention. This data reveals the correlation between company trust and employee wellbeing, and businesses should nurture this relationship to make their workplace more productive.
For employees to perform their jobs to the best of their abilities, they must be healthy and not feel dejected or overworked. This is why amenities like wellness centers, robust healthcare plans, and sick days are essential for holding on to high performance employees. These services provide for employees’ basic human needs, while raising their productivity and commitment to their employer.
However, appreciation also comes from listening to and addressing employee concerns promptly and individually. Inclusion and harassment are very real issues in many workplaces, and these claims should never be taken lightly. Employees feeling comfortable speaking up builds a sense of openness among co-workers, and lets each employee feel equal and included in the company as a whole.
Make the World A Better Place As A Company
As individuals, each employee has some cause they are passionate about; and they want their company to have an active part in finding solutions. It has been found that 75% of millennials “would take a pay cut to work for a socially responsible company,” and they are quickly becoming the largest generation in the workplace. To attract and retain employees in the years to come, companies must work to become changemakers in their communities, while being finely attuned to the concerns of their employees. But how can a company measure and implement CSR initiatives in an authentic, adaptable way? We at Impactree have the solution.
Our platform is equipped with numerous, powerful actions, covering a wide variety of issues: from gender equity to racial justice, good governance to climate change, we have direct ways for your employees to make the world a better place. Impactree for Business lets companies pick and create actions, enabling them to direct their communities toward actions which support company values and corporate social responsibility initiatives. Best of all, companies can see in real time which actions are being taken. With this information, companies can finally quantify their CSR program’s impact, while refining their outreach based on the interests of their constituents.
Celebrate Employee Appreciation Day
Employee Appreciation Day is a great day to do something for your employees to make them feel recognized. Small signs of appreciation brighten an employee’s day and make them feel like a part of something bigger than themself. However, to increase productivity and employee commitment, companies must commit to listening to employees’ beliefs and needs, seeing them as people and not just workers.
Address your employees’ passions by giving them a means of improving their world. Companies have strong communities which want to do good, but may not know how to start. With Impactree, businesses can empower their employees to take action, letting them make a difference as a collective. As much as employees are individuals, they are also part of a company community and culture. Impactree allows businesses to nurture both sides, creating personalized impact journeys within community based action hubs.
Click here to discover how Impactree can help your company engage and motivate your employees to do good in the world..