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An enterprise is only as strong as its weakest employee. That being the case, it behooves business owners to staff each position with the best possible candidate and prioritize qualification over charisma.
In the quest for long-term sustainability, a skilled workforce is an invaluable asset. However, this isn’t to say that your team members should be viewed as nothing more than tools to further your personal success. While they may be professionals, your workers are also human beings, and to keep them happy, you’ll need to show them how much you appreciate their efforts.
In the absence of capable employees, your business wouldn’t be sustainable, and it’s important for you to acknowledge this. When looking for ways to show appreciation to your team, you can’t go wrong with the following options.
Time off in the Wake of Big Projects
We live in a culture that celebrates workaholism. Working unreasonable hours and burning oneself out on a daily basis are regarded as points of pride in many circles. As far as many U.S. employers are concerned, if you’re not constantly working yourself to the bone, you’re lazy and inefficient. While adopting such an approach toward work hours may help certain companies’ bottom lines, it also breeds stress, resentment and job dissatisfaction in employees.
The more overworked someone feels, the less likely they are to take pride in their work. This can ultimately lead to an overall decrease in both quality and efficiency. With this in mind, businesses should consider giving employees a day or two to recharge their batteries after wrapping up big projects. Not only will this give your workforce time to decompress, it will show them how much you appreciate their efforts. You’d be hard-pressed to find a member of your team who’d say no to paid time off.
Present Them With Awards
It isn’t difficult to see why so many members of the workforce feel like inconsequential cogs in an enormous machine. Bosses rarely do anything to illustrate appreciation, much less anything personalized. In this type of work environment, it’s easy to feel like your contributions count for nothing. Even if an entire staff is rewarded for its collective efforts, some individuals feel like they’re just along for the ride.
If there’s a member of your team whose contributions have been invaluable, consider presenting him or her with a custom trophy or engraved plaque. This is a great way to show someone that their efforts are very much appreciated and have not gone unnoticed.
Celebrate Birthdays
It’s no secret that many people don’t like their jobs. For these individuals, work is simply a place they report to for eight hours a day and feel no personal investment in. For businesses to make a personal connection with their employees, they need to illustrate that they see them as people instead of numbers.
In the quest to form a bond with your workers, celebrating their birthdays is sure to serve you well. This means bringing in cake, buying a few presents and publically toasting the birthday boy or girl. Even if some employees find this a little embarrassing, the fact that you took the time to organize a mini birthday celebration for them will not go unappreciated.
Organize Employee Appreciation Events
Organizing celebrations in their honor is among the best ways to show your workers how much they’re valued. Employee appreciation events take many different forms, and if you’re unclear on what type of event your workers would prefer, don’t hesitate to solicit their opinions. Popular options include buying the entire staff tickets to a sporting event, treating everyone to dinner at a nice restaurant and booking popular venues for large-scale parties. You can score extra points with employees by allowing their families to attend these events with them.
Skilled workers are every business’s most valuable resource. The happier your employees are in their jobs, the more efficiently your enterprise will run. A number of elements factor into maintained employee satisfaction, most notably respectable salaries, flex time and manageable workloads. However, while all these perks are nice, they need to be paired with consistent doses of appreciation. The more appreciated an employee feels, the more likely he or she is to feel personally invested in a business and its success.