The Employee Appreciation Day is celebrated on March 3rd and is a great occasion for employers to recognize their employees for their dedication to and contributing to their goals. We at Reward Gateway, we’re big believer that organizations should be able to appreciate their employees’ hard work and achievements throughout the year in order to foster the culture of continual acknowledgement.
This worldwide holiday is a great opportunity to be grateful for all that you have done and shine a shining spotlight on the people who make the world better for you to work in.
Before we discuss how to boost your recognition efforts in 2023, we need to discuss the importance of being able to show appreciation to your employees. In our latest Employee Engagement Trends Report, we discovered that more than 4 out of 5 employees believe that their work environment affects their mental health overall and well-being – with nearly half of them say that it has a significant effect. Furthermore among the most important things for employees is a manager who truly is concerned.’ When you add these numbers together, they give the story in a clear way that this is the ideal moment to begin the process of recognizing your workplace.
The importance of strategic recognition for employees
Employee recognition that is strategic goes far beyond simply saying “thank you.’ The use of descriptive praise and the connections to the company’s values or the business’s success increase your employees’ commitment to their work and mission.
Wherever they are you can be sure that your employees are to be more stressed than ever Many are who are in the third season of their hybrid working and all feeling the effects of the living cost crisis.
HR professionals must continuously modify their attraction and retention strategies. Every an year the population at your workplace change, and each employee has unique requirements and issues to be addressed.
In increasing numbers, companies are shifting away from the traditional ways of rewarding employees – the singular events such as Employee of the Month annual performance reviews, tenure awards – in favor of an approach that is more comprehensive and ensures continual recognition.
Recognizing employees isn’t just a luxury and is now essential and something that employees demand of their employer. Let’s discuss some options to recognize those who work for you for their efforts on Employee Appreciation Day, and throughout the year, using real-life examples from different companies.
7 ways to be a part of celebrating EAD this year
1. Themed peer-to-peer electronic cards
E-Cards are a great method to mark Employee Appreciation Day as well as the most effective way to keep running throughout the year! Your design team should develop a series of eCards with themes to thank you for any of a variety of achievements: taking initiative to help solve a problem for instance or having a positive attitude at work. SmartestEnergy Limited, an energy firm with more than 300 employees utilizes its employee appreciation program to unite all employees during Employee Appreciation Day by allowing peer-to-peer nominations.
2. Appreciation in bulk
Student Roost Student Roost, a student-run accommodation company, ran an “bulk-appreciation” program that involved HR offered employees the basic form for recognizing an employee. The company compiled all of the recognition events into a single, professional document that they then sent to employees. These are moments of appreciation that can be used in isolation all year long, but employees Appreciation Day is an ideal occasion to highlight widespread appreciation. In addition when you upgrade your general appreciation from an old-fashioned manual to a digital experience, you can gather and recognize even more quickly to ensure that no time is wasted.
3. Have a whole week!
An Employee Appreciation Day is the ideal occasion to spend a full period of time (or even longer!) to recognize the outstanding job your employees do along with their determination, positive attitude and the ability to adapt. TelstraSuper is a financial service organization with 260+ employees, celebrated their staff throughout the week. The Executive Team asked employees to be involved and send at minimum two eCards to express their appreciation for anything! In the end, they received 182 eCards that were sent out across the organization and approximately 50% of employees either received or sent the card (or the two).
4. Honor the values and culture of the company.
The company culture is an essential factor in your employees’ motivation to stick around and perform their jobs, and to communicate with each other with respect and in meaningful ways. MSC Industrial Supply, an industrial consumables business, utilized Employee Appreciation Day in order to highlight the company’s culture within the company. The team celebrated this by putting together an e-blog post that was specifically designed to inform employees on the meaning of employee appreciation day 2023 is, the reasons it was crucial to their culture , and the importance that employees contribute to the company and encouraging employees to give acknowledgement.
5. Make sure that you have a leader at the helm
The leadership team is the rudder that controls the course of an organization. In order for recognition and appreciation to be part of your company’s culture, it must start at the highest levels. 70 percent of UK employees claim that their workplace wellbeing could improve if they just thanked more frequently this is a statistic worth considering. Vacenti is an elderly care provider that employs more than 800 people. The CEO issued an emotional thank-you note for the commitment of employees in a time of great stress due to the ongoing epidemic. The time taken to stop and appreciate your team members will go a long ways.
6. Managers should be reminded of this.
There is a lot that can happen in a single day and even during the course of a week. It’s difficult or even impossible, to track every single thing that happens. Be sure to remind your the managers that this event is near and make sure to keep Employee Appreciation Day on your the list of priorities. We at Reward Gateway, we ensure that our employees feel the effect in the days leading up to EAD and for a long time afterward with ongoing appreciation.
7. By focusing on wellness
Well-being – mental, physical and financial is among the top worries for employees around the world. Burnout is affecting employees at alarming levels, and external factors like inflation are taking an ever-growing toll. To help support employees’ health, Grantley Hall, a spa and hotel located in the UK provided its employees with groups of yoga and facials. They also provided healthy meals that included homemade blueberry smoothies. The hotel also offered cupcakes to staff members as well as drop-ins for employees to receive help and advice on wellbeing.
8 . Reasons to express your appreciation for your coworkers and employees
Being mindful of your gratitude can be good for your physical and mental health It’s been proven to increase our happiness and resilient, and enhances our relationships too. People who take the time to look at and take notes of things they’re grateful for have more positive moods, sleep better, and show more kindness and compassion towards other people.
An eCard that is well-timed can transform an unhappy day to a positive one, and it takes only less than a second. If you’re in need of some motivation Here are some reasons to get your employees to express their gratitude for one another.
1. To assist you in completing an assignment or project you require assistance in.
2. They do their job in a way that others take advantage of – creating a standard for others.
3. Thank you for listening when you talked about your personal struggles or what you’ve been feeling recently.
4. In order to collaborate cross-departmentally in solving the problem and increase efficiency.
5. To find ways to keep the team engaged and motivated even when working remotely.
6. for bringing a positive mindset at work, despite pressures (big as or minor!) in their personal lives.
7. You are rewarded for going over and beyond in your work and adhering to your company’s values.
8. for bringing a fresh view and encouraging you to explore your options, when you most needed it.
The act of recognizing employees and showing appreciation to them is something you can do every day as part of your corporate culture. Engaging employees in this way increases their engagement, which means that your staff are happier, less stress-inducing, and more enthusiastic to help you reach your business objectives.