Employees are the most precious of all assets a company can have and very few organizations show care and concern and make their employees feel valued and appreciated.

While monetary compensation tends to be a top motivating factor, it’s not what all employees crave for. According to Forbes, one in three employees will quit if they feel unappreciated in their workplace.

Employee appreciation should be an integral part of any organization’s culture. It’s an all-around attitude every manager in the company should possess. It raises morale, improves teamwork, and results in better service to your customers. When they feel more appreciated, it increases the chances of them sticking in your organization longer and they’ll always go the extra mile to do more than what’s expected of them.

So, how can you support your employees and make them feel appreciated? We have listed five ideas (plus a bonus idea) to make sure that your employees feel appreciated.

Add your employees to your company website

This may seem simple, but adding your employee’s name and photo on your website is a game-changer. It gives your employees a sense of belonging in your organization and makes them feel appreciated.

Add their pictures on your website and let them write their own bios. They will feel part of the team naturally.

Celebrate their birthdays and anniversaries

Take some time to celebrate your employees’ birthdays–your HR system will store the date of birth. You can also make this process easier by sending them automated emails.

Find some time in everyone’s calendar and celebrate with cake. Getting them a personalized gift can also be a warm gesture to support employee appreciation. Your gift doesn’t need to be expensive, it just needs to be personalized to them.

Along with birthdays, it is also a great idea to celebrate yearly anniversaries of employees. This small move will make them feel appreciated for the time and efforts spent in the organization.

Create a trophy system

Trophies are something that can work like a charm in your workplace. You can get trophies for different teams and reward them to high performing team members. Set realistic KPIs and award the trophy to the person who achieves the most in that month.

This system works best when the method of awarding trophies follows a calculated and measurable approach. You need to make sure that your system is fair so that it doesn’t discriminate on any basis. Make sure everyone understands the rules of the game and the systems are transparent.

Give them the power of choice

You cannot build an honest appreciation system if your culture is not right. You need to give your employees the power of choice and a platform to voice out their opinions. You can ask the following questions to learn if you are building the right culture, where your employees enjoy working.

• Do you listen to the ideas and opinions given by your staff members?
• If yes, do you act on it or just plainly dismiss it?
• Can employees choose the tasks that they want to do?
• If yes, what is the percentage between tasks that are assigned to them and tasks that they choose to work on ?
• Can your employees approach your management team to voice out their problems?
• Do they take time to listen to their concerns or is it not heard upon?

Gift, trophies and awards are great ways to improve employee support and show them your appreciation. But if you don’t have the right foundational culture  to set it all up, you might as well not do it.

Allow your employees to point out the flaws and mistakes in your organization. Let them know that you are a team and you are all here to improve as one.

Encourage continuous education

The world is changing fast. The technology we use this year is becoming redundant and out of trend within the next year. Hundreds of startups spring up every year, while thousands of businesses are becoming redundant at the same time.

You need to make sure that your employees are also well-suited to these changes in the business landscape. You can do it by allowing them to pursue different forms of education. Give them time off to attend networking sessions, online events, and educational events.

Whenever an employee upskills themselves, consider offering them a promotion or a raise in their salary. Your goals should always be to appreciate them for their willingness to learn. Show them that you always support learning and growth.

Show them that you care and they will help you build a better business and a healthy workplace.

Bonus Tip: Your appreciation doesn’t always need to be vocal

You will always have tons of people who will put their heart and soul into the organization. These are employees who make sure that all the work is done with perfection. These are the ones that go above and beyond what’s required of them to make sure the business succeeds.

Appreciate and acknowledge their efforts with small gestures. A simple “Thank You” and “Great Job” can mean a lot and make your employees feel supported and appreciated.

Walk to their desk and let them know you appreciate them for their good work. Leave thank you notes on their desks to let them know that they’ve done a great job. Make a post in your official communication channels so that everyone in the company celebrates their coworkers.

When you have better support for your employees, they feel happy and tend to stick with your organization comparatively longer. And, when you have a solid strategy for your employees to be appreciated – you can build a better business.

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