Best Employee Appreciation Ideas in 2019

Reducing employee turnover should be one of the major goals of any business organization. One of the easiest ways to do this is to show appreciation for your workers. 50% of workers would stay at their current enterprise if they were tangibly recognized. Moreover, workers who aren’t meaningfully recognized never go above and beyond their formal duties.

So, how to turn the tables and show how much you care for your staff? Read on to find out.

Provide them with a real choice and real voice

Appreciation isn’t just a social tactic you use and then throw away. It needs to be a part of your company culture. To do just that, you can provide to your employee’s real choices and actual voices.

Do you always assign tasks to your workers or sometimes they get to select the projects to work on? Do you hear their concerns and ideas and actually respond to them, or do you listen but forget or never act upon what you’ve heard? Genuine appreciation is the foundation upon which you build everything else. Celebrations are fine, but unless you actually hear them out, all is for naught.

Write it down, and make it personal

You should consider giving the paper “thank you” notes to workers who recently put in long hours in order to accomplish your business’ milestones. Write a personalized message on the card and sign it yourself. To make it even better, place a stamp on it and send it through mail to their home address.

Prepaid visa card

This one is a classic. Gift cards are still one of the best ways to say “thank you for all the hard work” to your employees. The best thing is any worker will appreciate the chance to purchase something they really want or need.

For instance, you can reward your top-performing workers with prepaid visa gift cards in order to not only appreciate those who are the most efficient but also show that due diligence is rewarded in your business. Since they function just like debit cards, you get to select the amount you want to give, while the recipient can redeem it for merchandise or their own volition worth an equal or lesser value.

Celebrate individual hire dates and anniversaries

One of the most amazing gifts your business receives as time passes by is the workers who stay in it. Those individuals have invested in you as much as your lifetime customers. It doesn’t matter how long they stayed with you; the important thing is showing how much their commitment means to you.

For instance, by celebrating the anniversaries of their hire dates. Write somewhere each employee’s hire date and when the time comes, surprise them with a meaningful gift card, cake, flowers, or any other small gift.

Help them with their commute

Your worker’s commute can get expensive when you calculate in the price of gas, parking, car maintenance – or even just a bus or train pass. You should think about reimbursing your workers for a free bus pass or give up your parking spot for a month.

That’s it! There are many more employee appreciation ideas out there. Be sure to check them out and keep in mind – appreciation will do its job only if you really mean it.