No matter the person, every employee wants to feel appreciated by their employer. They want to feel like they’re a valuable part of the company and be treated as such. 

In return, companies get the best from their employees. They’re more engaged and productive at work, fueling a successful operation. More importantly, businesses get to hang on to talented employees longer. Workers want to stay where they are appreciated and taken care of. 

As an HR professional, you can play an influential role in ensuring employees feel valued by being an advocate for employee appreciation and incorporating initiatives that support it. 

Inspire long-term employee retention by incorporating these employee appreciation techniques into your overall talent management strategy. 

Create a Positive Company Culture

One of the best ways to ensure employee recognition is a foundational aspect of your company is to embed it in your workplace culture. 

You should focus on creating a positive company culture because it’s built on a high respect and appreciation of employees. So, not only are you building a solid foundation for the company, but you’re also ensuring employees feel your gratitude. 

A culture of appreciation can also attract and retain great employees. The more satisfied employees will be with the culture, the more likely they’ll recommend others within their network to apply and grow the company. 

To start, you can send out surveys to employees, asking how the company can improve. From there, you can direct your attention to common actions like offering more benefits and perks like gym memberships and a 4-day workweek. 

In addition, providing more technology or even certain communication tools, especially tools used through Microsoft Teams, can help employees connect with the company while in a remote or hybrid environment. 

You can also provide daily appreciation by normalizing it within the company culture. Make it a part of the core values and behaviours that the business rides on, and employees will be more likely to feel the appreciation is genuine. When that happens, they stay longer. 

Design a Peer-to-Peer Recognition Program

Everyone in the company might be more inclined to show appreciation to one another regularly if there was a system built to do exactly that. A peer-to-peer recognition program can make it easier for leadership and employees to recognize each other’s efforts. 

Employees and managers can acknowledge each other’s achievements in various ways with these programs, such as sending thank you e-cards, gift cards, or positive messages. Employees who participate can rack up points and spend them on prizes, fueling engagement in the program. 

There are various peer-to-peer recognition programs available that are easy to install and use. Research your options and note the best matches based on your budget and peer-to-peer recognition program needs. 

Then, you can take these matches to leadership and get the okay to implement the most suitable option.  

Find Creative Ways to Express Gratitude 

It’s going to take more than a peer-to-peer recognition program to make employees feel appreciated. Finding creative ways to express gratitude towards employees will help ramp up your retention efforts. 

For example, more employees desire professional development, training, or further education as a way to propel their careers forward.  By supporting your employees and offering continued learning, your employees will be more likely to stick around and eventually give back to the organization. Moreover, investing in upskilling your employees can make your workplace safer and more efficient.  More importantly, though, this action shows that you care about them as a person and their professional growth. It’s the ultimate demonstration of how you value them as employees.  

Other creative ways to express gratitude towards employees include: 

• Create a gratitude wall in the office.
• Highlight those who don’t get as much recognition.
• Host an employee appreciation day every quarter.
• Give top-performing employees seats at the next industry conference.
• Choose employees to go home early on the last workday of every week.

Brainstorm as many creative ways to express employee appreciation to make sure you’re honouring all employees in ways they can resonate with. 

Get Leadership to Commit to Employee Appreciation Initiatives

Employees need to buy into employee appreciation. However, it might be even more critical for leadership to commit to employee appreciation initiatives. This is because policies, procedures, and all else in a business seem to stick when leadership embraces it first. Employee appreciation is no different. 

If you can get leaders to genuinely show employees appreciation, lower-level workers will be more likely to adopt these practices too. It’ll also improve communication between the two because employees are more likely to listen and converse with managers they feel love from.

Take all of your employee appreciation initiatives and strategies to leadership. Explain their importance and show them what their commitment to employee appreciation would do for their workers and the company overall. 

Also, hold leadership accountable for their commitment to employee recognition. Workers won’t feel the effort is genuine if it stops after a week. Follow up with leadership to keep things progressing. Their consistency will ignite employee happiness and, in turn, employee retention. 

A huge part of your role as an HR professional is ensuring employees are supported and happy in the workplace. Incorporating employee appreciation into your overall talent management strategy helps ensure this happens. Use the tips above to guide you into consistent employee recognition.