Employees play an integral part in the success of any business. It’s the efforts and the sacrifices made by employees that promote productivity, stimulate growth, and ultimately, secure profit. Rewarding your employees is a worthwhile investment if you want to build a team of dedicated and driven innovators.
As an employer, there are many ways you can show appreciation for your employees’ hard work. Employees who feel appreciated at work demonstrate greater resilience and more positive attitudes in their work environments. By showing your employees the appreciation they deserve, you can even boost your team’s productivity, before your very eyes. Recognizing your team’s talents and strengths in a public sphere reminds your employees that their extra-mile work ethics don’t go unnoticed.
So, what are the benefits of rewarding employees?
Rewarding your employees will not only boost employee morale but will also prove beneficial to the success of your business. Here are some of the perks of giving back to your employees.
Builds loyalty by showing appreciation
Appreciated employees not only focus on accomplishing everyday business goals but are more willing to extend the boundaries of their job descriptions, in the interest of overall company progression. Rewarded workers will prioritize the business’s best interests and will meet expectations, without fail.
Hoping to turn your lethargic and unmotivated employees into a team of self-disciplined creators and visionaries? Recognize their accomplishments and reward them publicly. Employees who feel appreciated are more likely to volunteer for extracurricular duties and projects that wander outside of their normal work routines.
Increases retention by making employees happier
Dissatisfied and unfulfilled employees not only expend minimal effort but are more likely to seek out other job opportunities with higher compensation or more supportive networks of leadership. Rewarding your employees will increase the chances of them sticking around for a bit longer. Ultimately, if your employees feel underappreciated, they won’t feel guilty leaving you high and dry with another job opening to fill.
Helps with recruiting
Appreciating your employees for their efforts gives your business a great name in the community. Happy and loyal employees will recommend your company to their friends and family. Once you’ve established a positive reputation among potential candidates, recruiting new staff will be effortless, as job seekers tend to flock to work environments where they know they’ll be appreciated.
Ways to give back to employees
Provide corporate gift certificates around the holidays
A good way to show gratitude to your employees is to reward them with specialty gift certificates around the holidays. For example, companies like Perfect Feast offer vouchers for ham, turkeys, and more, which can enhance your employee’s holiday dinner. At the very least, they’ll be thinking of you when they carve into their delicious turkey on Thanksgiving.
As an alternative, you can provide corporate gift certificates for a wide range of restaurants and services that your employees will enjoy. Consider spa certificates for a weekend of unwinding, travel vouchers to make family travel more affordable, or even gas gift cards to alleviate the cost of driving to and from work every day.
Upgrade your break room
Another way to appreciate your employees’ hard work is to genuinely care for their well-being. You can do this by stocking on-site refrigerators with a variety of foods, drinks, and snacks for your employees to enjoy throughout the day. This is a simple tactic to show your appreciation every day and ensure that your employees have readily-accessible brain-fuel to keep them energized and focused on the task-at-hand.
If you have a break room, you can purchase a coffee machine, so your employees have easy access to a midday caffeine pick-me-up. You can even rearrange your breakroom space to include a comfy sofa with a TV for ultimate relaxation during break time.
Cater for lunch once a week
Apart from the snack and beverages in the break room, catered lunch, at least once a week, is a great way to reward productivity within a work environment. These catered lunches can accompany team-building exercises, discussions on improving working conditions, or any meetings used to promote understanding and team morale among employees.
Employees who have a healthy working relationship with their colleagues experience increased levels of productivity and can accomplish team projects with greater ease. The occasional business lunch will sustain a healthy work culture.
Plan regular off-site events
You can plan field trips, team bonding events, or out-of-office lunches for your employees, so they can escape the mundanity of their regular work routines. Apart from the annual company dinner, you can arrange for monthly link-ups where you can meet up with your employees for a casual drink or cup of coffee. In preparation for these link-ups, you can order appetizers or specialty drinks in-advance at any pub or suitable location for hosting your employees.
Building a relationship in and outside the walls of your office space develops a greater sense of trust between your employees and allows you to connect on a level beyond your professional lives. A full-fledged party allows social interactions and eases tensions caused by stressful deadlines.
Schedule company-sponsored charity events
Although these charity events may not directly impact the employees, it’s a good way of giving back to the community. These charity events show your employees that you aren’t blinded by your own personal desires, but that you care about their community-at-large and how its well-being impacts their friends and families.
In your efforts to show appreciation for your team, you can organize for company-wide charity events and give your employees a day to participate in giving back to the community. It can be something simple like a charity walk or donation drive.
Final Thoughts
Valuing the happiness of your employees is vital in achieving your company goals. As an employer, every action and kind gesture, alike, will be put under the microscope. Appreciating your employees motivates them to work harder and put forth their best efforts. Look for ways to say thank you to your employees and leave them feeling fulfilled and dedicated to success.