Amid the daily hustle and bustle, it can be easy to overlook opportunities to show your team how critical they are to your business.
As we settle into the holiday season, however, it’s increasingly critical to remind your team that they’re important and valued by both the customers and the company’s leadership.
Expressing gratitude to your team will both improve your workplace culture and can help you retain your great employees long term. According to Forbes in a recent study, 66% of employees expressed they would leave their job if they didn’t feel appreciated.
How are you fostering a sense of gratitude to your employees and among them?
Here are just a few ideas that you can put to work for you right away:
Say “Thank You”
Sometimes all it takes is a heartfelt “thank you.” Sure, people shouldn’t have to be thanked for doing their job, but gratitude is always appreciated and helps to motivate your team and give them a deeper sense of belonging as a part of your staff.
Take every opportunity you can to say thank you: at a staff meeting, in your Retriever playlist, on a company email, individually… Don’t forget that without a great staff, your business wouldn’t be able to do anything successfully!
Make Victories, VICTORIOUS!
When we lose, it can hit us hard, so it’s especially important to celebrate when we win! Did someone complete a training program? Make a record sale? Did someone compete in a race? Meet a goal weight? Did their child make honor roll?
Put into place a system for celebrating the victories and communicating those celebrations. Perhaps it’s in a meeting, or there’s an online form, or a point person who receives celebration emails. However you execute it, creating a culture of gratitude is about celebrating your people year-round.
Write it Down
Words of encouragement can serve as a reminder of appreciation both when they’re received and later on the hard days if they’ve been written down. By writing down words of praise, the words on the page carry a greater significance and permanence that can boost an employee’s confidence and remind them of their valued place on your team.
Treat Them
Find a way to thank your staff with an unexpected treat – something out of the blue, just because, and entirely “extra.” Some great surprises that are great for boosting a team’s morale that might work for your office include a catered lunch (just be sure to provide for your food restrictions as well), gift cards, a surprise paid time off, chair massages, or live music in the lunch room.
If you’re looking for some more ways to create a culture of gratitude on your team, we believe it all starts with excellent communication. We’d love to help you foster that culture with our guide to communications, which you can download for free here:
Download our Communications Guide