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The National Employee Appreciation Day was founded in 1995 by Bob Nelson, one of the founding board members of Recognition Professionals International, and his publishing company “Workman Publishing”. And it reminded every company to recognise their team for their hard work every first Friday of March annually. But frankly, employee appreciation is not a one-day yearly event. Employee appreciation should be part of your company culture all year long.
The question is - when was the last time you recognised your employees for their work and contributions? There's no royalty here. Employee appreciation can help you build high performing teams and a thriving culture. Showing people appreciation isn’t particularly monetary. It can come in all different shapes and forms.
In a Boston Consulting Group study, more than 200k employees choose "Appreciation for your work" as the top reason they have Happiness on the Job. And surprisingly, financial compensation is way down to the number 8 spot.
Source: https://tinyurl.com/v3j5hhfp
Here are the three reasons why employee appreciation is a vital part of your company's success:
1. Employee appreciation is a positive reinforcement that helps build their self-confidence.
An employee who’s shown appreciation will feel acknowledged and valued, which builds confidence in his/her abilities, skills and responsibilities.
"Great job Jane! The presentation that you created enabled us to increase our customer base today."
"Kudos, John! Since you've been focusing on customer relations more closely, our overall satisfaction score for the month improved"
“Ben, that was an amazing effort. I know it wasn’t the result you wanted. However, it has given us some vital insights we never had before.”
These are simple phrases but deliver a powerful message. Practical employee appreciation begins with external recognition. When they accept it, they'll feel good about themselves and have a sense of fulfilment and contribution: this alone is an addictive feeling, so they will do their best work to get more of the ‘feel good’ factor.
This form of appreciation has longevity, whereas financial compensations are a short-lived external motivator.
2. Effective employee recognition culture motivates the employees to do more for the business
Employee appreciation and recognitions celebrate employee's accomplishments and acknowledge their exceptional actions and effort. By doing this enables you to direct their focus on more of the same activities. And as a result, employees will be more driven to repeat these actions.
In the 2020 Engagement & Retention Report by Achievers, data shows that “what gets recognised, gets repeated.” 92% of employees say that when they're recognised for a specific action, they're more likely to take that action again in the future.
Source: https://tinyurl.com/1ih1ywa5
3. Minimised absenteeism and staff turn over
In our previous blog, we've highlighted that absenteeism can yearly cost a medium-size business over $1M ($522k direct cost and $503k indirect cost), while staff turn over is $644k. That is substantial damage to your business!
If you still don't have an effective employee recognition program, you miss out on a great opportunity that's no cost for you. Companies with highly effective recognition programs have a 31% lower voluntary turnover. As shown in the research report, The State of Employee Recognition by Bersin & Associates.
Source: https://tinyurl.com/1bau2vhb
Do you think your employees feel appreciated? (how do you know?)
Do you know and understand the cost to your business by not having a mentally healthy workplace?
What about your Mental Health Risks?
Having real-time data enables you to focus your efforts in the right place, creating faster and better results in achieving a great culture within your business while reducing risks and improving profits!
How can we help? If you want to know more about this or discuss a particular issue you are facing, call us today to have a private and confidential conversation on 1300 114 818 or email us at info@proactiveaction.co.
We look forward to talking to you soon.