South of Metro | The foundations of any successful company are its smart, hardworking and honest employees. Yet, 81% of new job seekers said that dissatisfaction with their work environment is the number one reason for starting to look for work elsewhere. Showing your workers how much they mean to you and thanking them for all their hard work lets you have a company brimming with engaged, happy and loyal employees. In this post, we present to you some of the best ideas for doing just this.
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Invest in the health of your workers
When showing appreciation to your employees, you can go even further than recognizing their professional accomplishments. How? One way is to offer them incentives that don’t just benefit your company culture, but also their individual lives.
For example, investing in FitBits or standing desks can be a way to make sure your business has an environment that is focused on wellness and health. Physical exercise has its place in the business world, and studies have proven that working out actually boost the productivity levels of your workers. Cheaper options include offering healthy snacks or fresh fruits or organizing fitness classes and clubs which are free to maintain and attend.
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Gift cards
Although a bit unusual choice, gift cards are an excellent way to say “thank you for all the hard work” to your workers. Employees will surely appreciate a chance to buy something they really need or want. These cards act just like debit cards – you can choose the amount you would like to give, while the recipient (your employee) can redeem it for merchandise of their own liking worth an equal or lesser value.
For instance, you can find online a Mastercard gift card and with it, award your top performing employees. This way, you not only appreciate your top workers but also show that diligence is rewarded in your company.
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Keep track of your team wins
Did you know that nonprofit organizations use a thermometer or some other visual gadget to show the gradual increment of donations as they get closer toward completing their objective? Whether you say it to everyone on regular meetings or use a similar visual technique, you can do the same.
For starters, you can define goals for each team or for their members. A benign friendly competition is great, and as your team members complete their various predefined objectives, you get to not only congratulate them for their hard work but spur them on for a reward for whichever team makes the mark first – for instance, with the gift cards we previously mentioned, a free lunch, or with a paid one-day work leave.
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Go easy on them
Even your most talented workers sometimes don’t do everything on time, and such creative personnel can benefit from the stress relief that comes with a free pass the next time they’re running late. You could give them a free 20-minute late pass without asking any questions or writing any warning as to express your appreciation, and they will be thankful for it too.
At the same time, to those who are always on time, you can give a 15-minute leave early pass so they can have a small boost in their post-job life on certain days to work on their own issues and projects.
Showing gratitude towards your employees and their hard work lets you retain top talents. These best of the best outperform their co-workers by as much as 400%. In increasingly complex professions – the interaction- and information-intensive work of software developers, managers, and the like – they’re twice as much productive.
