The Importance Of Expressing Your Thanks For The Staff You Have

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I thought it would be an appropriate time for me to ask the employers out there how thankful are you for the staff you have? I don’t mean are you just thankful you have people who work for you in a general sense but how thankful are you for what they bring to the workplace every day? Maybe you have never thought about it like that. I’m certain you are thankful that Bobby showed up on time today or Mary Jane rang up customers without a customer complaint. But have you ever looked at how you express your thanks to your team? Maybe your attitude is that you pay them and that should be enough. Perhaps you give your employees a birthday card when their birthday rolls around each year. But is that really sufficient? Is it fair for your employees to expect more from you in terms of recognition?

In an article in forbes.com titled, “66% Of Employees Would Quit if They Feel Unappreciated”, by Victor Lipman, April 15, 2017, the author references, “…a study from Office Team examining the impact of appreciation, or lack thereof, in the workplace.” Quoting the study Mr. Lipman points out two startling findings:

• 66% of employees say they would “likely leave their job of (sic) they didn’t feel appreciated.”
• Among millennials, the number of employees who’d leave if unappreciated jumps to 76%.

The author states, “So what does all this mean? I’d call it a short message with a powerful takeaway: Appreciation matters.”I agree with the author’s sentiments. People need to feel like their efforts are appreciated by the supervisors/managers.

What are some of the ways managers can express their appreciation towards their employees? Below are some ideas that can be easy and meaningful:

• Greet your employees when they arrive to work and say goodbye when they leave. I don’t mean you should say, “Glad you’re here, it’s been a crazy day” or “Oh, you made it on time, what a pleasant surprise!” Be genuine, say hello, hi or it’s good to see you when they come in and have a good afternoon or a great weekend when they leave.
• Some large retailers have recognition cards they hand out to employees for performance and then have a monthly drawing for a gift card or monetary prize. It may not be practical for a smaller retailer but you can give a Thank-You card out from time to time
• I work for a business where my superiors have expressed their appreciation with a company travel coffee mug, candy, greeting cards and a gift card at various times on top of emails expressing appreciation for my contributions. All of these make my efforts feel like they are worth the effort. Sometimes it’s the little things that mean a lot.
• Appreciation may be demonstrated with the assignment of a special project or task that shows trust or gives more responsibility. With that assignment, there must be a verbal acknowledgment by the manager of how the employee’s work performance has merited the responsibility. It would be appropriate to also give some additional incentive if the assignment would merit it.

Aside from the possibility of employees quitting due to feeling unappreciated, it is also possible their performance is tied to how appreciated they feel working for you. According to an article in apa.org (American Psychological Association) from March 8, 2013, titled, “APA Survey Finds Feeling Valued at Work Linked to Well-Being and Performance”; “Almost all employees (93 percent) who reported feeling valued said they are motivated to do their best work and 88 percent reported feeling engaged.”  Clearly, it is in your best interest to find ways to express appreciation to your employees for the work they do for your business. Happy employees will want to make the company they work for successful and that means YOU will be successful.

This holiday season as you consider all the things you are thankful for, don’t forget those who make your business the success it is. Express your thanks and find ways to recognize them, now and all throughout the year. You won’t regret it.