How To Show Your Love On Employee Appreciation Day

Employee appreciation day is Friday, March 4th, but you should be showing your love to employees every day.

As a leader, you need to realize that it’s those under you that make you successful – not you.

Our research found that the number one reason people leave their jobs is that they don’t feel appreciated.

Your job as a leader is to make sure that your employees are as happy as possible, and one of the easiest ways to make employees happy is by showing them that you appreciate their work.

Show employees that you’re grateful for the work they do, and be specific about what you’re thanking them for.

A study¹ conducted by Badgeville, a gamification company found that:

• 83% of respondents said recognition for contributions was more fulfilling than any rewards or gifts
• 76% found peer praise very or extremely motivating
• 88% found praise from managers very or extremely motivating
• 90% said a “fun work environment” was very or extremely motivating

Research from OC Tanner ² shows that recognizing employees regularly is the most impactful thing you can do to increase performance.

You need to mindful of your employees’ feelings, which is easier said than done, but is so important. As you develop your emotional intelligence, one of the things you need to focus on is cultivating gratitude.

The Power Of Gratitude

Cultivating gratitude doesn’t cost any money, doesn’t take much time, and the benefits are enormous.

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.Marcus Tullius Cicero

The research behind gratitude is hard to ignore.

People who regularly practice gratitude experience more positive emotions, sleep better, express more compassion, and even have stronger immune systems.

Research³ by psychologist Robert Emmons shows that simply keeping a gratitude journal can significantly increase well-being and life satisfaction.

Emmons and his team at UC Davis at University of California have also found that:

• Grateful people report lower levels of depression and stress
• They tend to be more empathetic
• They are more generous and more helpful
• They place less importance on material goods
• They are less envious of others

Here are two things I would recommend doing to cultivate your gratitude:

1. Keep a gratitude journal. Each day, write down one thing that you’re thankful for.
2. Meditate. Mindful meditation allows you to focus on the present moment, you can focus on things you’re thankful for in your life.

How To Show Appreciation

I’ve talked about this before, but there are two things you need to so to show appreciation to your employees.

1. You need to genuinely care about your employees
2. You need to practice gratitude and build it as a habit

Notice that both of these things require working on yourself before even thinking about doing anything with employees.

Once you understand that your focus as a manager needs to be making employees happier, you can slowly start to take an interest in employees and build a relationship with them.

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Before you can do this, don’t do anything for your employees, because it will likely come across as being fake.

From there, you need to understand the power of gratitude and how it affects employee happiness.

Once you’re in the right state of mind, you can start to think of ways to show employees appreciation.

Remember that it’s the simple things that count, like noticing a night they stayed late or noticing a time when they helped employees.

Once you notice that, thank them for it right away, and be specific about it.

For example, instead of saying “thanks for staying late the other night”, say something like “I noticed you stayed late the other night, you really didn’t have to do that, that was very cool of you. Thank you for that! I love the dedication you’ve been showing lately”

Employee Appreciation At GSoft

Our parent company, GSoft has three separate teams. There’s the services side, a company called Sharegate, and Officevibe. With our three separate teams, it’s sometimes hard to keep track of the small wins on each team.

Using Slack, we can give team members the recognition they deserve to the entire company.
Read more at http://www.business2community.com/human-resources/show-love-employee-appreciation-day-01472579#ymk8dCABpvpLR6Fo.99

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