Could you be about to lose your star players?

Feeling valued is a core human need.

If attrition is high on your agenda, this could be the solution to retaining more of your key people.

69% of employees admit that recognition would keep them at their company, and with the average cost to hire and onboard averaging £20k, it is important to focus heavily on employee engagement.

Read on for how to ensure your people stay happy and engaged in their jobs through employee appreciation.

The Power of Employee Recognition

Employee recognition is key for a strong company culture and delivers high impact for low cost.

With recognition, employees are three times as likely to feel loyal to their organisation and four times as likely to be engaged at work.

And it makes sense:

Happy employees equal a happy company 🥰

Plus, by creating this solid foundation for a happy team, leaders can then begin to truly unlock the potential of their people.

With all of this in mind, how can leaders and managers show their employees that they appreciate them?

Here are our favourite tips for delivering effective employee recognition:

If you appreciate something, make it known! 📣

It happens – work can be noticed but not always be appreciated.

Instant feedback has many benefits including improved communication. Verbalising appreciation in that moment can make a significant difference on your team – they can’t read your mind after all!

Consistently hearing “thank you” from a leader or manager will help employees build trust in that their efforts and presence within their organisation are being valued.

Get specific 📍

For feedback to be understood as sincere and genuine, it needs to be specific.

Before sharing your thoughts, ask yourself:

• What exactly did your employee(s) do that you appreciated?

• How did it impact you, the team, and the company as a whole?

Pinpointing exactly what it is that you appreciate about your employee(s) in that given scenario will ensure that positive feedback is well received.

Recognise actions over outcomes ✍️

Sometimes, the outcome of a project may be underwhelming.

However, this does not mean your employees didn’t put hard work into it.

When reflecting on a project that didn’t quite reach the bar, it is important that actions are still acknowledged despite the outcome.

Focusing on the positive actions as opposed to the negatives surrounding the outcome will help employees feel understood and that they aren’t there to be an input, output machine.

Let go of the irrelevant stuff 🔬

Your employees are doing their best, but mistakes are going to be made from time to time.

This is to be expected.

Allowing leeway for minor mistakes will signify to your team that you appreciate their hard work and accept that there will undoubtedly be slip-ups.

It will also give employees more breathing room and feel that you empathise with the scale of tasks they are working on.

Alter delivery 💬

Meetings can be the optimum time to publicly appreciate specific individuals within your team, but this may not always be your employees’ preferred scenario.

Those more introverted members of your team will probably prefer to receive feedback on a one-on-one basis as opposed to in front of a group. Whereas those more extroverted would probably thrive in that situation.

Take time to decide what is right for each team member so that when you make a point of appreciating them, they are in a situation where they feel comfortable and open to receiving that praise.

Be creative! 🎨

Aside from a verbal “thank you”, which does still hold value, there are a variety of other ways that leaders and managers can express gratitude for their employees:

• Why not treat the team to lunch? 🥪

• How about getting the team involved by running an employee of the month? 🏆

• What about organising a fun social event? (We loved the Crystal Maze Experience in London 🙌)

Think outside the box to go above and beyond when appreciating your employees 🪄

– it will not go unnoticed.

Who We Are:

Yellow Bricks hires exceptional interim and permanent leaders for scaling organisations. Learn more here.

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