How to Increase Employee Engagement with Appreciation

The following blog is the 5th blog post in a series of posts about creating high-performance teams and references the 7 New Rules of Employee Engagement Wallchart. To view previous blogs and resources click the links below: 

1. Complimentary Wall Chart: 7 NEW Rules of Employee Engagement
2. Creating a Culture of Engagement Begins at the Top
3. Creating a Culture of Employee Engagement Continues with Resources
4. How Communication Can Increase Employee Engagement

This blog post pushes us over the halfway mark as we explore the 7 NEW Rules of Employee Engagement. To recap, we've so far discovered how to increase employee engagement, how to provide employees with resources to develop their skills and advance their careers, and most recently, how communication can enhance employee engagement. Today, we explore the benefits of appreciation as it relates to employee engagement.

Rule #4: Appreciation

Value your employees and their ideas. Recognize employees for providing input and for taking initiative outside of their daily responsibilities.

Your employees are the heart and soul of your organization. Engaged employees pass on their enthusiasm to co-workers and to your customers alike. Likewise, disgruntled employees can quickly fuel co-workers down a negative path, which can wreak havoc on your customer's experience with your organization.

What's one of the best ways you can counteract negativity? By communicating true appreciation to your employees. You can never show too much appreciation or tell your colleagues and co-workers how much you value their contributions too often. 

People never get tired of hearing positive praise.

Showing Appreciation and Building Employee Recognition

Building a culture of employee appreciation is a learned behavior that begins with upper management, however the benefits can be seen throughout the workforce at every level. If your employees are appreciated for their hard work, they will in turn be inspired to work harder and be more engaged at work.

Building Appreciation with a Total Recognition Program

A great way to convey your appreciation for employees' ideas and suggestions is by implementing a Total Recognition Program, awarding employees points for their strategic thinking. This will encourage and motivate employees to create more solutions and suggestions, leading to a united company vision. 

The points system can be used not only for performance, but for workplace anniversaries, birthdays, peer-to-peer recognition, and more! Our People Are Everything™ Platform makes recognition and employee engagement easy, allowing employees to find and achieve rewards that truly excite them, while making it easy for managers to monitor and track program budgets. 

Easy Ways to Recognize Your Employees 

Some suggestions of how your organization can show employee appreciation include:

• Sending them an eCard
• Giving employees an Instant Award Card
• Providing due praise
• By simply saying, "Thank You!"
• Asking employees about their weekend or upcoming special events or celebrations
• Writing a personalized thank you note
• Posting a message on your company wall or Intranet
• Publicly acknowledging an employee's accomplishment at a staff meeting
• Bringing in breakfast or lunch for your employees

Appreciating your employees shouldn't be hard; think of it as a genuine act of kindness and thoughtfulness. By placing an emphasis on recognition in the workplace, you can improve your company culture and employee morale!

Partnering with C.A. Short Company

At C.A. Short Company, we are your partner for employee engagement solutions. With over 80+ years of experience building successful, award-winning, recognition programs, we can help you define and achieve your productivity and workforce goals. 

Our process and research-based platform helps you engage your team in order to increase your bottom line, motivate your staff to the benefit of the entire organization, and reward your people for the positive changes they make. Request a complimentary consultation of our platform today!