5 Inexpensive Ways To Appreciate Your Employees
As I spend this Labor Day 2015 with my baby daughter and family, I’m reminded that if it were not for our small-but-growing team of dedicated developers, social media, marketing and management individuals, I may have spent this holiday working, instead. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the people that made this possible, and let you know that you’re not taken for granted.
We all know people that make our lives better, be it related to our work or personal lives. How do you show your appreciation to your team? Here are some inexpensive ways to help you do so, without breaking the bank while your business is growing.
- Everyone loves a party – A great way to make sure that each and every team member can partake of your appreciation is a party in their honor. Be it quarterly, bi-annually or annually, a party gives team members something to look forward to and plan with their families. Be sure to make it about them, not about you… there will be plenty of other opportunities to focus on yourself and the company.
- Recognize them in front of their peers – Everyone likes more pay, but sometimes recognition is even more important. Create unique awards that you can issue once a month, a quarter or six months.
- Assign special privileges – Take your appreciation to the next level by assigning special privileges to the awards you present. Special privileges don’t have to cost you money in order to be appreciated. Here are a few ideas.
- Assign special parking closer to your store – Paint your team member’s name on the parking space, letting everyone know, along with the name of his/her award, like “Employee of the Month”.
- Issue special badges – Why not allow your special team members revel in their accomplishments throughout their term, to not just their peers but to your customers as well? Issue those team members a special name badge displaying their special designation during the term of their accomplishment, like “Janet Smith – #1 Customer Service Specialist 2015”.
- Take an extra half hour – Your most dedicated team members often come in early and stay late, and rarely complain about it. Why not give them an extra half hour at lunch once a week? Come in a half hour late once a week? Leave a half hour early once a week? You decide which and how often, as you know what works best for your business.
- Tell their family and friends – Being recognized in front of one’s peers is quite satisfying, indeed, but take it a step further. Send out a special note to the family and friends of your recognized team members telling them of the accomplishments of your team member, along with your thanks for their contributions. After all, these are the people that are making your team member’s contributions possible.
- Incentivize them – Many business owners incentivize their customers and clients to continue to use their services or purchase their products, but rarely offer such incentives to employees. Tie some incentives to the small and attainable goals that you create for your team members. As they succeed in reaching these goals, give them incrementally more challenging goals. Their success, reinforced by rewards, can help to grow their self-confidence and self-reliance and help you build a team member who shares your goals, rather than an employee who works for pay.
As you reach for the stars, remember that you’ll never get any closer to them without a team that’s focused and dedicated to achieving the same goals as yours. Remember, they want to reach the stars too, so help them realize their goals and in turn they’ll help you realize yours.
Diran Alemshah, President
Rewardster®