by Flex HR

Businesses in Atlanta and The United States Celebrate Employee Appreciation Day

Employee Appreciation Day Atlanta GA United States2, 4, 6, 8 Who do we appreciate? EMPLOYEES – today is the day we are thankful for you! While, this is not a national holiday, the first Friday of March each year is used to appreciate employees across the board in all industries. CEOs, and those with managerial roles, remember to take time out to show your workforce how much you genuinely value them. Conversely, CEO’s are busy because they travel and are in high level meetings most of their time, so it’s as equally important for mid-level managers to make sure they show appreciation to their workers.

 

69% of employees say they’d work harder if they were better appreciated.

 

Human Resource Executives know that a company’s human capital is one of the most essential and dependent assets of a successful organization. It’s imperative to appreciate and recognize employees for their hard work, job engagement and diligent efforts. Most employees consider their most memorable pat-on-the-back to come from their CEO or manager. 69% of employees say they’d work harder if they were better appreciated.

Employee Engagement

It’s important to give your workforce a reason to work hard and feel they are a substantial part of the company in order to achieve success. This shows colleagues they are valued and essential to help complete projects and reach ongoing goals. 51% of employees are not engaged and haven’t been for quite some time.

Appreciation vs. Recognition

While appreciation and recognition go hand-in-hand, management must remember the distinctions of each and why both are as uniformly significant and given for different reasons. Appreciation really expresses the value and worth of an individual and what characteristics set them apart. Recognition is something that workers earn regarding tasks or accomplishments they have completed effectively. Recognizing employees can be informal by giving encouraging feedback, a quick note or just saying thanks. While more formal recognition could come in the form of an award, promotion or monetary compensation. Management should be consistently showing positive appreciation for their co-workers in a meaningful way all the time.

HR professionals will tell you that appreciation and recognition play a huge role in retaining employees as well. When employers express their gratitude, appreciation and recognition for their employees, factors such as job satisfaction, company loyalty and morale, performance, and productivity tend to increase. Employees then feel more confident because of their sense of belonging, trust and purpose at their company. Impressively 55% of workers said that if they feel their employer cares about their well-being, they would want to stay at that company for 10 years or more.

Show your workforce some appreciation and boost some morale by trying one of these:

 

  • Food – Have a bagel breakfast or cater in lunch for your staff. Maybe even have an ice cream bar break mid-afternoon for a fun informal snack.
  • Handwritten note – A handwritten thank you note can go a long way to make someone’s day.
  • Desk gift – Give each employee a desk plant or inspirational sign to upgrade their desk décor. Even a bag of candy at each desk is a great surprise as well.
  • Volunteer – Spend the day volunteering as an office to encourage out of office bonding and giving back to the community.
  • Close early – Pick a day to close the office an hour early to go for happy hour as a group or let employees go run that errand they’ve been talking about before they have to head home.
  • Half day awards– Treat your staff to a half-day off they can use anytime the remainder of the year to use for themselves.
  • Work-from-home day – Give your employees a day they can use to work from home instead of coming into the office.
  • Social evening – Plan a social event one evening for employees (and even significant other’s) like bowling or a yoga session to mingle.
  • Witty awards – Have co-workers come up with silly awards for one another such as “Most Creative” or “Best Baker”

Flex HR serves almost every industry in all 50 states, including Georgia, Florida, California, North Carolina, and Tennessee, as well as Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Canada and Europe supporting U.S. subsidiaries of foreign owned companies.

Our Flex HR specialists serve thousands of different organizations, in countless industries, varying from a few to over 75,000 employees.

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