Employee Appreciation Day is Coming: Are You Prepared?

This Friday, March 4, is Employee Appreciation Day. This day is meant to highlight and honor the hard work that employees invest in their jobs–even small efforts can make a big difference in employee retention. 

According to Dennis Consorte, Small Business Consultant and Expert at Digital.com, making employees feel appreciated gives them a reason to stay. 

“If your workers are in the office, host events where you give credit to individual members of your team for specific achievements. If you have a remote workforce, then host a virtual happy hour on the conference line. If you want people to stay with you instead of resigning, then help them figure out their purpose in life, and remind them that their work matters. Most importantly, keep open lines of communication and handle problems with kindness,” Consorte said.

Career experts Stacie Haller and Carolyn Kleiman of Resumebuilder.com stressed the importance of adapting to employees’ needs. 

“Employee Appreciation Day takes on more implications during this time of the changing way we work and empowered employees to leave for better pastures. One of the most important things that has come to light is the desire and preference for employees to have a say as to what benefits are important to them and have management listen and implement what they can in response to what their employees want,” Haller explained. 

“The past 2 years have been taxing and those who have stayed with their employers likely had to pivot how and where they work, maybe how often and how much they were responsible for, especially if other employees left the company, leaving the ones who stayed with added responsibilities,” Kleiman said. 

“Verbal praise or written, whether it is private or at a department or unit meeting is a good start,” she continued. “Employee recognition can be a small simple gesture that can go a long way in terms of productivity, engagement, and retention.”

When employees feel appreciated, they exhibit higher levels of performance and are significantly less likely to leave. A 2020 study by Brandon Hall Group found that organizations that rate their culture of recognition highly are three times more likely to see increased employee retention and 2.5 times more likely to see increased employee engagement.

Ideas for recognition can be as simple as treating employees to lunch, holding gift card drawings, or even leaving handwritten notes for employees to thank them for their work. More importantly, employee recognition should be part of a bigger, longer-lasting habit in the workplace–starting on the path to a culture of recognition is something that will benefit both employees and employers in the long run.