Being a business owner or manager is no walk in the park. There’s a ton of weight riding on your shoulders, which can lead to a lot of stress. This burden would be impossible to bear without employees.
Good employees can take a lot off your plate, but great employees can make your life much easier and more enjoyable. As such, it’s important to recognize excellent and hard-working personnel.
The question is, how do you show employee appreciation that both rewards hard work and encourages more of it in the future? We’re here to answer your questions. Keep reading for our top suggestions for employee appreciation ideas.
1. Treat Them to Lunches and Dinners
One of the best ways you can show employee appreciation is through business-paid lunches and dinners. You can either order in food to the office for everyone to enjoy in the breakroom for lunch or take them out after work for a nice meal.
For that matter, you can also interrupt a day to throw a pizza party to reward a profitable week, month, or quarter. We recommend asking your employees what they would most appreciate.
2. Institute Casual Fridays
Another way of valuing your employees is by loosening up the reins a bit. Each Friday, allow them to shed the normal “uniform” and dress more casual. You’ll still need to enforce some kind of dress code, but these standards will depend on the work environment and other circumstances.
Assuming your business doesn’t meet with customers or other professionals, you could even give them a pajama or sweats day on occasion.
3. Implement an Employee Appreciation Program
Next, consider building or adopting a recognition program that encourages hard work and creativity. Employee appreciation can be accomplished by simply letting your staff know you trust them and want to hear their opinions.
Get them involved in some of the decision making processes. Split your staff into teams to come up with new marketing strategies, services, products, etc.
You can also ask them what they like and don’t like about the current working environment. Leave it anonymous to encourage honest, uninhibited answers.
4. Host a Business Event
There are other creative ways to show employee appreciation such as hosting an event, party, or excursion. You can also use this as an opportunity for a team-building exercise. For example, you can take your employees to a local escape room where you all can work together to solve puzzles and ultimately escape the given scenario.
Other ideas include painting classes, trampoline parks, cooking classes, charity events, and more.
5. Create an Awards System
Finally, one of the best employee appreciation tips is to use constant positive reinforcement to reward good work and ensure it continues. There are several options here.
First, you can create an employee of the month system. That employee could be privy to a designated parking space, longer lunch breaks, and a small bonus.
You could also create small bonuses for people that hit certain quotas (if you work in sales). Devise a point system where employees can buy certain luxuries with earned points. For example, longer lunches, an extra paid day off, a free lunch with the boss, and so on.
Looking for More Business Tips and Advice?
There’s no shortage of employee appreciation ideas. Our best suggestion is to cater to your audience (your employees). Find out what would make them feel most appreciated and then deliver.
And if you’re looking for more business tips or advice, be sure to check out some of our other articles before you go. Our business blog was created for people like you trying to make the most out of their companies.