5 simple ways to show employees appreciation

Have you ever been in a workplace where the job satisfaction and morale of employees is low, often resulting in rumours, tense attitudes, difficulty in concentration and eventually high turnover? Research has shown that by simply showing your appreciation to employees that the overall engagement and productivity of workplace will increase dramatically!

Employees that feel appreciated and valued by their employers feel more motivated to go the extra mile for the company, and deliver on results and targets. In addition, they feel happy with their roles and will be more inclined to stay long-term with the business.  This brings you reduced costs in resolving conflict and delays that may potentially be the result of employee dissatisfaction, and increased performance all round!

So, here are 5 simple ways that any employer can show their employees real and effective appreciation:

1. Be transparent and clear

When giving feedback and comments on the work of employees, give them the honest and direct truth. By being vague and protecting them from reality, you will let them continue to make the same inaccurate assumptions and mistakes, reducing the quality of work output in your company. Apart from mistakes, be sure to always bring up even small successes and positive achievements with your staff, and articulate that even if their achievement was small, it can have much larger connotations for the business. This will re-establish an important ongoing positive feeling that their role has a larger influence than they may think.

2. Provide opportunities for new experiences

When your employees show interest in an area that is different to the one they usually work in, pay attention so you can provide them an opportunity to broaden their skill set. If you don’t have a task for them that suits their growing interest straight away, be sure to ask them more questions to see if there’s something similar, and take note of what they’d like to work on. This will not only give employees the chance to continuously improve their skill set, but will allow for flexibility in the workplace when changes occur in projects or overall staff size.

3. Reward performance appropriately

For example, if a team has successfully secured a deal with a difficult client, or fixed a large problem, you can take employees to a group lunch as a reward or sign of appreciation. Becoming more formal with rewards such as group emails or ‘employee of the month’ systems is another idea, but be sure to keep competition friendly and engaging rather than ‘us vs. them’.

Other easy ideas include:

• Leaving notes written work with what you liked and why you think it will have positive outcomes
• Encouraging staff  to leave on time or early if they’ve really been pushing themselves
• Let staff know what new projects or benefits await them upon achieving certain targets, and DELIVER!

4. Don’t act like you don’t care, relate to your staff

Refrain from being cold and unapproachable, instead, show that you care for the wellbeing of your employees. Acknowledge staff member’s birthdays with a simple happy birthday wish, or a morning tea to show that you care for them; not only professionally but also at a personal level.  Keep an open door policy and give your staff time, even if it has to be quick. If your employee has a problem, empathise and take time to talk to them about it. You can share your similar situation that you’ve experienced and how you overcame that situation. By putting yourself on their level and showing your imperfections or vulnerabilities, you can help them face their challenges and enjoy the benefits of leading by example.

5. Be creative and set yourself apart

A high salary is not the only thing that attracts a potential employee; job perks and benefits are also taken into consideration when deciding to work with a company. The benefits and perks don’t have to be costly; they just have to show that you appreciate the effort they’ve put in.  A good example is a personal trainer that comes to the workplace twice a week and does a boot camp. This promotes the health of employees and gives them the chance to get to know other co-workers during boot camp. Other uncostly ideas include being flexible with work times right after a busy period, encouraging everyone to bring food to share, or simply encourage friendly activities outside of work hours.