Employee Appreciation: Definition, Types, Importance & Ideas

It takes a team to get a business off the ground and keep it running, and business owners with the most talented employees tend to have the most success. However, attracting and retaining top talent involves more than mere chance.

A key strategy for employee retention is demonstrating that they are valued. When employees feel appreciated, they perform at their best and are less likely to leave.

In this article, we will walk you through the importance of employee appreciation, and how can you create a program to build a culture of appreciation in your company.  

What is employee appreciation? 

Employee appreciation is the act of recognizing employees and rewarding them for their contributions to the workplace. Instead of focusing only on their performance, it celebrates their worth as a member of the team and as human beings. It is celebrated on the first Friday of March.

Why is employee appreciation important: stats to justify 

Employee recognition has always been a fundamental aspect of effective management. However, as the competition for talent intensifies, the methods organizations use to demonstrate their appreciation for employees have become increasingly crucial. 

1. Recruiting 

• According to SHRM, 56% of HR leaders reported that employee recognition or appreciation programs help them recruit top talent. With enhanced employee satisfaction and experience, employees are prone to serve as employer brand ambassadors. 
• People want to associate with employers that recognize and appreciate their employees—it’s one of 10 top employer traits they look for. They look for organizations that are honest and have integrity. 

2. Retention 

• Employee appreciation sees improved retention rates and lower turnover. In fact, 70% of HR professionals said that employee recognition helps with retention. 
• Recognizing and appreciating staff members can significantly enhance their loyalty and reduce turnover rates. 
• For 55% of employees, lack of recognition was the top culprit in driving their decision of switching jobs. Even more telling: 69% would have stayed if their employers offered more rewards and recognition. 
• 53% of employees said feeling more appreciation from their immediate boss would help them stay longer at their company. 

3. Productivity 

• According to a survey from HR services firm Alight, appreciated employees were 7x more likely to say they were engaged at work than employees who were not appreciated. 
• 56% of employees who felt belongingness at their company had a higher level of overall job performance. 
• According to a report from Oxford University, happier workers are 13% more productive at work. 
• 84% of HR professionals said employee appreciation had a positive impact on employee engagement. 

4. Work relationships 

• 87% said that employee appreciation programs improved workplace relationships and improve company culture. 
• 41% of employees want more appreciation from their immediate co-workers. 

5. Management 

• Gallup says that managers’ ability to inspire team members is one of the top leadership skills that drive high-performing teams. This ability includes not only sharing the vision and mission but also recognizing and appreciating employees for exceptional efforts. 
• Managers themselves consider appreciation as a key factor in their own happiness. 83% of senior managers considered appreciation critical to their work satisfaction. 
• Recognition and appreciation also correlate with a team’s sense of meaning. The same study from Gallup found that 74% of U.S. employees who said their teams receive praise agreed that appreciation made them feel that their tasks were valuable and useful. 

6. Employee trust and morale 

• According to Netsuite, nearly one-third of a worker’s desire to stay with an organization is the result of trusting their boss. 
• The same study says, 78% of employees believe that how a company treats its employees is one of the best indicators of its trustworthiness. 
• Two-thirds of those on “adequately praised teams,” Gallup mentions, strongly agreed they trusted their colleagues. 
• According to 82% of HR leaders, employee appreciation boosts employee happiness. These programs also elevate organizational culture (86%) and employee experience (89%). 

It’s then highly unsurprising that the list of industries regardless of their core potency, who have been enamored by the importance of employee appreciation is endless. 

Types of employee recognition and appreciation 

Though employee appreciation can take many forms—from instantaneous to planned out programs—it can be broadly divided into three main categories. 

1. Micro appreciation 

Micro appreciation, known as day-to-day appreciation, is a frequent and ongoing appreciation. It generally takes a simple form of sending handwritten notes, giving cards, putting wishes on bulletin boards, or anything that can help you appreciate employees quickly and easily. A simple thank you note can make a staff member feel valued and appreciated on a daily basis. 

Though less pompous, micro appreciation is best suited to support organizational values frequently and make employees feel valued without shelling out a grand level of time and resources. 

2. Informal appreciation 

Informal appreciation, on the other hand, refers to spontaneous and personal expressions of gratitude and recognition from colleagues and supervisors. This can include verbal thank-yous, handwritten notes, and small gifts. Informal appreciation is more immediate and can be given at any time to acknowledge everyday efforts and accomplishments. Both formal and informal appreciation are essential in creating a balanced recognition strategy that makes employees feel appreciated and valued. 

3. Formal appreciation 

Formal appreciation refers to structured recognition programs and rewards that are typically implemented by management or HR departments. These programs may include employee of the month/quarter/year awards, bonuses, and promotions. Formal appreciation is often part of a larger employee appreciation program and is designed to recognize employees for their significant achievements and contributions in a systematic way. 

4. Monetary and non-monetary appreciation 

Monetary appreciation refers to rewards that have a financial value, such as bonuses, raises, and gift cards. These types of rewards are tangible and can provide immediate gratification to employees. Monetary appreciation is often used to recognize exceptional performance, significant achievements, or milestones. 

Non-monetary appreciation, on the other hand, refers to rewards that do not have a direct financial value, such as public recognition, additional time off, and opportunities for career growth and development. Non-monetary appreciation can be equally powerful in making employees feel valued and appreciated. It caters to the intrinsic motivations of employees, such as the desire for recognition, personal growth, and a sense of belonging.  

Employees appreciation strategies 

For appreciation is a culture and thereby a year-long activity, the care must be taken that it doesn’t cost you a leg and an arm. At the same time, your appreciation endeavors shouldn’t miss their innate ability to overwhelm and delight the employees.  

1. Small, simple yet powerful gestures 

Low-cost, high-impact ways to show employee appreciation are perfectly capable of appreciating employees. 

➼ Say thanks more often: A plethora of research screams aloud how appreciation makes people feel happy and worthy. The overall settlement of your appreciation strategy, thus, should hinge upon finding ways to say thank you to your employees more often. 

Give sincere compliments to show gratitude when the opportunity arrives. More than a policy, it should be a habit. It’s, then, unsurprising that three-quarters of professionals said a simple “thank you” is all it takes to make them feel recognized. 

➼ Establish a company thanks feed: Whatever may be your way of announcing things internally, whether it’s a software tool, or a detailed email chain, ensure that you are establishing a company thanks feed as a vital part of your cadence. Soon it will become the bedrock of your appreciation and recognition culture. 

➼ Hand out simple certificates: If special achievement has been there in the kitty of an employee if he has “really” displayed the vigor to go beyond the call of duty and ignored the ticking clock, don’t shy away from handing out certificates. 

Of course, you don’t want to bequeath certificates at the drop of a hat. But if done in moderation, certificates can do wonders in boosting employees’ feelings of pride and satisfaction. 

Note that certificates aren’t just good gestures. By staying on employees’ desks or walls, they can become a visible and enduring part of your appreciation drive. Think about WALL Of FAME. 

2. Tactical time-outs 

One of the biggest challenges today is the lack of a good work-life balance, mainly due to not having enough time. Giving your employees time to relax and enjoy their lives can make a big difference in their happiness and well-being. 

➼ Extended breaks: Research vehemently suggests that extra screen breaks or movement breaks during the day can even improve productivity. The reason for it is amply clear. By engaging in tasks different from official ones, strategic breaks break the monotonality of the employees’ minds. 

➼ Power naps: When employees are working round-the-clock, grinding day in day out, they will hit the nadir where the brain shuts down, and even keeping eyes open becomes a battle. 

To keep up the momentum of productivity, it’s ideal that they should rest for a few minutes in a recreation room. Experts believe that 10 to 20 minutes of a power nap is enough for a quick and effective jolt of alertness. 

3. Team appreciation 

Like all the business leaders, you are as good as your team. The need to tap on the back of the entire team is as important as making an individual employee a cynosure. 

➼ Team lunches and drinks: This is a great way to achieve two things: first, they allow employees to step away from the usual routine of the office. Second, these outings help build teamwork by breaking the ice and encouraging friendships among colleagues. 

➼ Create an annual yearbook: While it may seem old-fashioned, creating an annual yearbook is a powerful way to show employee appreciation. It highlights their hard work, achievements, and creative ideas, making sure their contributions are remembered and valued. This thoughtful gesture always resonates emotionally with employees. 

Pick the best picture of your employees, craft a unique line to write about them, and enclose it within their sterling achievements. It’s an aesthetically beautiful and pleasantly durable branded keepsake. 

➼ Mention teams on your ‘About Us’ page: As traditional top-down leadership fades, a more nurturing approach is becoming the norm. Giving your teams a space on your website can greatly enhance feelings of appreciation. Using creative design tools can make this a low-cost initiative worth trying, especially for special occasions like Employee Appreciation Day. 

➼ Have a team trophy: Can there be a better appreciation for a team than a shiny trophy with the team’s name engraved on it? Allow employees to take it home or display it on their office desks. Empuls make it easier for you to appreciate your employees through value badges for instant recognition.  

4. Get personal 

Two-thirds of employees are more likely to value two tickets to a concert of their choice versus getting three times the value of those tickets added to their paychecks over a year. The thoughtful gesture of personalized gifts reflect how much you know about them and the positive impact they have on the organization. 

➼ Personalized gifts and rewards: Personalization is not about wrapping the name of the employee around a gift. It’s a passé. What personalization means in a spirit and letter is, the gift should resonate with the employees thoroughly. 
 
Find out which current musician they like and hand them over tickets of his show. Find out their hobbies and give them vouchers for those hobby classes. Remember: if employee appreciation gifts aren’t aspirational, they are mere accessories. 

➼ Ask for the feedback: You won't find an easier way to make your employees feel valued than by simply asking for their opinions. Just knowing that the company cares about what they think can create a positive feeling among them. 

The best way to do it, as Empuls allows, is to run a survey. Along with the heightened sense of importance among employees, it hands over the pulse of what employees think and want. 

5. Get professional 

Research by EdAssist and the University of Phoenix found that 74% of the employees believe that assisting in their own career development is a responsibility of their company or managers. 

Indeed, providing employees with cutting-edge professional development opportunities sends a clear call that you genuinely care about their careers and that you believe in their capacity. 

➼ Provide training and learning opportunities: Training employees in the skills they are passionate about is a classic example of a win-win scenario. Apart from loving and respecting you for taking them seriously, training will upskill them and improve their ability to perform their tasks with added mastery and perfection—resulting in overall operational efficiency. 

➼ Meeting and pitching ideas to leadership: Getting a chance to rub shoulders with the brains and hearts of the company is an uncommon and happy occurrence in an employee's life. However, you can further amp it up by taking a leaf out of the TV series Dragon’s Den and allowing employees to pitch their ideas and vision in front of top leadership. 

➼ Role shadowing opportunities: It’s not uncommon to see the glaring gap between how employees are and what their respective job roles demand from them. A simple way to illuminate what the job actually tastes like is to provide role shadowing opportunities. It will deepen their understanding and knowledge of the roles they might be interested in. 

Remember that it’s demanding on the person who is being shadowed. It’s advisable to limit the time spent to one day per quarter. 

➼ Write a LinkedIn recommendation: It may sound counterproductive, but writing a great LinkedIn recommendation helps you retain employees. At its core, it shows that you trust and believe the skills of your employees, not emotionally but rationally, and are genuinely interested in their career growth. 

6. Go public 

To keep talented employees, it's important to create an environment where they feel valued and have a sense of purpose where they can find meaning in their work. 

Maslow's Theory Of Hierarchy hints at making the appreciation public and letting others know why a particular employee is appreciated. 

➼ Social media shoutouts: The simplest, cost-effective, interactive, and memorable method of showering a public appreciation on employees is to give them a shout-out on various social media feeds. The congratulatory comments are bound to trigger a feel-good sensation for the employee in question. 

➼ Mentions in your periodic newsletters or magazines: Another way to make appreciation delightfully public is a round-up in your customer newsletter or magazines. 

➼ Publish it on the company website: Making appreciation go live on a website doesn’t just make it public. It makes it enormously satisfactory for employees since the company website is the first official touch base for most people.  

7. Go big 

Since showing appreciation can help build your brand and attract top talent, it's a good idea to think big about your appreciation efforts. While these initiatives may cost a bit more than usual, they are definitely worth the investment.  

➼ Once-in-life experiences: Mere goods are not good enough. Being ubiquitous, tried, and tested, they are forgettable. A great experience generates the yet-unfelt feeling and therefore becomes unforgettable. 

You can think of gift vouchers for skydiving, bungee jumping, hot air balloon rides, a weekend getaway to a quaint place, or even a car race. A time spent in a spa or yoga retreat is a great way to heal the souls of your employees. 

➼ Annual holiday: Why not treat your entire workforce to a holiday away in the lap of nature? It can be a great idea for employees who have been loyal to you and who have spent a significant amount of time with you. Remember: annual leave (43%) is the most beloved reward of employees. 

Creating a recognition program 

An employee appreciation program not only helps in acknowledging and appreciating the employees but also strengthens the overall company culture and contributes towards a motivated workforce.  

To make a successful recognition program, the goals of should be clearly defined and aligned with the company’s overall mission and values. Some possible goals of a recognition program include: 

• To boost employee engagement and motivation 
• To recognize and reward employees for their achievements and contributions 
• To promote a positive and supportive company culture 
• To encourage continuing education and career growth 
• To improve job satisfaction and reduce turnover 

By defining the purpose and goals of the recognition program, organizations can create a clear and effective strategy for recognizing and rewarding their employees.  

How to measure appreciation efforts? 

To effectively manage any organizational initiative, including employee appreciation, it’s essential to measure it. Unlike specific team performances, appreciation is a collective effort involving everyone in the organization, making detailed analytics crucial.  

Empuls’ employee appreciation platform provides real-time access to dashboards that deliver clear and actionable data. This analytics helps employees see how their peers embody company values and encourages them to participate in appreciation efforts. Team leads can gauge employee sentiment and identify gaps in recognition within their teams, allowing for creative strategies to boost appreciation.  

Don’t Forget: Appreciation is not an Event, It’s a culture

Though it’s a must to celebrate Employee Appreciation Day, it’s imperative to understand that employee appreciation shouldn’t remain bound to one single day. It should emerge as a movement, not as a stand-alone event, and culminate finally into a vital company culture. 

The first step is to start thinking about creating your own employee appreciation program keeping in mind your overall business goals and employee philosophy. With countless creative ideas and methods to appreciate your employees memorably, a comprehensive employee recognition platform like Empuls can strengthen your will and action to appreciate your employees all year round. 

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