Employee Appreciation Day 2023 is celebrated on March 3rd and is a great occasion for employers to acknowledge their employees for their dedication to and supporting their mission. We at Reward Gateway, we’re big supporters of organizations that should recognize their employees’ hard work and successes throughout the year in order to foster the culture of continual acknowledgement.
This international holiday is a wonderful opportunity to thank you for all that you have done and shine a celebration on the people who make the world better for you to work in.
Before we dive into the ways to boost your recognition efforts in 2023, it’s important to consider how important it is to acknowledge your staff’s appreciation. In our latest Employee Engagement Trends Report, we found that over 4 out of 5 employees believe that their work environment affects their mental health overall and well-being – with nearly half of them say that it has a significant effect. In addition among the most important things for employees is a’manager that is concerned.’ If you take these statistics together, they paint an enlightening story of why this is the ideal time to implement the process of recognizing your workplace.
How important is it to recognize employees’ strengths?
The importance of employee recognition goes well beyond simply saying “thank you..’ Positive praise and a an association with the values of your company or business performance increase the employees’ involvement with their work and mission.
Whatever their location you can be sure that your employees are experiencing more stress than ever before Many are within their 3rd year of hybrid working and all suffering from the living cost crisis.
HR managers must constantly adapt their retention and attraction strategies. Each an year the population at your workplace change and each employee has unique demands and needs to address.
As they grow, businesses are moving away from the traditional ways of recognizing employees – such as special occasions such as Employee of the Month annual performance reviews, tenure awards to an overall approach that encourages ongoing recognition.
Recognizing employees isn’t just just a nice thing to have it’s now a necessity and something employees want to receive from employers. Let’s discuss some options for recognizing those who work for you for their efforts on Employee Appreciation Day, and throughout the year, using real-life examples from different companies.
7 ways to make the most of EAD this year
1. Themed peer-to-peer E-Cards
E-Cards are a great method to mark Employee Appreciation Day as well as the most effective way to keep running all year long! Have your design team make a collection of eCards with themes to thank you for any of a variety of achievements: taking initiative to help solve a problem such as, for instance or simply showing a positive attitude to work. SmartestEnergy Limited, an energy company employing over 300 people utilizes its employee appreciation program to unite all employees to celebrate Employee Appreciation Day through peer-to peer nominations.
2. Appreciation in bulk
Student Roost is a student accommodation company, ran an “bulk appreciation” program that included HR offered employees the basic form for recognizing an employee. The company compiled all of the recognition events into one, well-designed document that they then sent to employees. These are moments of appreciation that can be used in isolation during the year, however employees Appreciation Day is a fantastic opportunity to emphasize widespread recognition. In addition when you upgrade your general appreciation from an old-fashioned manual to a digital experience, you will be able to collect and recognize even more quickly and ensure that no time is wasted.
3. You can take a whole week off!
An Employee Appreciation Day is a great occasion to dedicate a whole period of time (or even longer!) to celebrate the incredible work that your employees put in and also their determination, positive attitude and the ability to adapt. TelstraSuper is a financial services company with more than 260 employees, celebrated their staff all week. The Executive Team asked employees to be involved and send at minimum two eCards to colleagues to express their appreciation for anything! In the end, they received 182 eCards distributed across the company and around half of the employees either received or sent the card (or the two).
4. Honor the values and culture of the company.
Culture of the company is an important factor in your employees’ motivation to stick around and perform their job, and also to connect with one another through meaningful interactions. MSC Industrial Supply, an industrial consumables business, utilized Employee Appreciation Day for a chance to recognize the company’s corporate culture. The team took advantage of this opportunity by creating an e-blog post that was specifically designed to inform employees on the meaning of EAD is, the reasons it was crucial to their company’s culture, and the value employees bring to the company and urging employees to send appreciation.
5. Make sure that you have a leader at the helm
Leadership is the rudder which guides the ship of any organization. To ensure that recognition and appreciation be a part of your culture, it must start at the highest levels. 70 percent of UK employees claim that their workplace wellbeing could be improved if they were frequently thanked this is an interesting statistic worth considering. Vacenti is an elderly care service provider that employs more than 800 people. The CEO issued an emotional thank-you note to acknowledge the dedication of employees in a time of great stress because of the ongoing pandemic. The time taken to stop and appreciate your team members will go a long ways.
6. Managers should be reminded of this.
It is possible to witness a lot at any time or even in the course of a week. It’s not easy or even impossible to keep track of all the events. It is important to remind the managers that this event is approaching and ensure that you keep Employee Appreciation Day at the forefront of the list of priorities. At Reward Gateway, we ensure that our employees feel the effect prior to EAD and for a long time afterward by providing continuous appreciation.
7. By focusing on wellness
Well-being – mental, physical and financial is among the top worries for employees around the world. People are experiencing burnout at alarming rates, while external factors such as inflation take the brunt of this. In order to help employees’ health, Grantley Hall, a spa and hotel located in the UK offers its employees face-to-face sessions, group yoga classes and other facials, in addition to healthy meals made from blueberry smoothies. They also provided cupcakes to staff members and offered drop-in sessions to employees for help and advice on wellbeing.
Eight reasons you should show your appreciation to your colleagues and employees
Being mindful of your gratitude can be beneficial for physical and mental health It’s been proven to boost our mood and resilient. It also enhances our relationships too. People who take the time to look at and take notes of things they’re grateful for have more positive moods, sleep better, and show more kindness and compassion towards other people.
A thoughtfully-designed eCard can transform the worst day of someone’s into a great day and it takes only just a few seconds. If you’re looking for some inspiration Here are some reasons to get your employees to thank you to each other:
1. Helping you with the project or task you require assistance in.
2. To do their work in a way that others take advantage of – creating a standard for others.
3. Thank you for listening when you talked about an issue that you have had or how you’ve been feeling recently.
4. To collaborate across departments to resolve problems and improve efficiency.
5. To find ways to keep our team connected and focused even as working remotely.
6. for bringing a positive mindset at work, despite tensions (big and small!) in their private lives.
7. You are rewarded for going over and above at work, while adhering to your company’s values.
8. for bringing a fresh view and encouraging you to look outside of the box, when you most needed it.
Giving employees recognition and showing appreciation to them is something you can do every day as part of the company culture. Engaging employees in this way increases their engagement, which in turn means that your staff are happier, less stress-inducing, and more driven to assist you in achieving your business objectives.
