Appreciation Matters—Why Showing Employees Appreciation Matters More Than Ever Before

APPRECIATION MATTERS

As many of us return to the work environment, whether in-person or virtually, a new normal is being introduced into every aspect of business. Providing employees with training, safety, and confidence is paramount to rebuilding a motivated and consistent workforce during these unprecedented times. The time is now to reset employee experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic to create a more meaningful and lasting connection between employee and employer.

Upon returning to work, many employees are being called upon to help in unfamiliar ways and in shifting roles, while simultaneously learning new safety and security protocols to keep themselves and others protected. Boosting morale and prioritizing well-being during COVID-19 is imperative to creating and maintaining a healthy workforce. But added training, increased stressors, and new expectations can weigh heavily on employees, making it easy to become discouraged and disengaged from their job. This is why it is more important than ever to create a culture of continuous appreciation and recognition that encourages employee happiness, loyalty, and dedication.

Creating a strategic Recognition and Appreciation program is a powerful tool in building and inspiring an engaged and empowered workforce. The first pathway to providing an outstanding, consistent customer experience (CX) is to ensure employees feel valued and appreciated through these uncertain times. This warrants their commitment to consistently exemplifying company safety and CX standards.

Developing a targeted recognition and appreciation program can:

CREATE

PROVIDE

and sustain a premier employee experience

an opportunity to explore process improvements as it relates to employee engagement and service development

FOSTER

EMPOWER

and nurture a healthy service culture, reinforce core business values, and provide higher employee satisfaction

both managers and employees to prioritize opportunities for recognition and appreciation

INCREASE

ALIGN

productivity, employee retention, and revenue generation

recognition and appreciation strategy with current performance measurement, and training programs

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APPRECIATION MATTERS

When employees feel that their organizations care about their well-being, they are more engaged, satisfied, and ultimately more productive. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found happy employees are 12% more productive in their careers, while unhappy employees are 10% less productive. The SHRM also found that between 22 and 35 percent of U.S. employees have experienced symptoms of depression as they live through the COVID-19 pandemic. With 79% of employees saying recognition and appreciation makes them work harder and makes the work environment a happier % place, it is more important than ever to demonstrate appreciation and to create a culture of regular employee recognition.

79

Recognizing that many businesses are rebuilding after a period of revenue loss, showing employees appreciation doesn’t have to break the bank. Appreciation and gratitude can be expressed in many ways and within any budget. With commitment, consistency, and sincerity, appreciation of any kind can garner a contagious culture of thanks.

NO-COST APPRECIATION:

of employees say that recognition & appreciation makes them work harder and makes the work environment a happier place

Regular communications: Information about the coronavirus changes rapidly.

Make sure employees are continuously informed on evolving best practices and changes within your organization.

Thank you notes: Sending or emailing personalized thank-you notes to employees to let them know they are appreciated and doing a great job can go a long way in maintaining or improving employee morale, especially during a pandemic.

Public praise: Celebrate employee accomplishments, such as when they’ve met team or company goals, by giving them praise in front of their peers and executives.

Connect as a team: Whether it is a video conference call or a group chat, keeping employees connected to each other and the business is important.

Cultivate a culture of praise and appreciation peer-to-peer: Reinforce and notice instances of employee praise and recognition of one another. It is just as much a priority to treat each other as a VIP as it is to treat customers with the same standard.

LOW-COST APPRECIATION: Extra time off: Award employees with a half or full-day off that they can use later or allow them to leave a shift early.

Gift cards: Give out gift cards to restaurants, grocery stores, or a type of service. This is a great way to support local businesses and show appreciation to employees.

Company swag: Company apparel, bags, pens, masks, sanitizers, and other swag items help employees feel motivated, safe, appreciated, and loyal.

Food and drinks: Provide lunch, snacks, and beverages to employees in a COVID-safe manner.

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CXE’S RECOGNITION & APPRECIATION By implementing these practices into your company culture, you will undoubtedly see better engagement with your employees, and customers which will improve the experience for all involved.

R&A Custom Online Recognition Portal: CXE can create a custom portal for peers, managers, and customers to nominate employees to recognize and show their appreciation for extraordinary customer service and assistance. The scope of prizes (quantity and amount) can be designed for any budget.

Online Gift Catalog: An online gift catalog can be created in tandem with the online recognition portal for nominees to seamlessly choose prizes that fit within your budget.

Wall of Excellence: Located on the online portal, this “wall” shows a continuous feed from the nomination portal of approved nominations and provides an area where employees and customers can view the incoming stories of success.

On-The-Spot Recognition: What better way to appreciate employees than by “catching them in the act” of exemplifying company standards?

Add a “pay-it-forward” component to encourage employees to also recognize their peers.

Company Contests: Inspire healthy competition to motivate groups and teams to reach performance and strategic goals and achieve success together.

Quarterly/Annual Celebrations: Technology has provided us with many ways to connect during COVID-19. Host a virtual celebration event to share the successes of your employees with leadership and peers.

For over 25 years, CXE has been helping organizations engage their employees to make them feel appreciated and confident in the workplace. During these unprecedented times, it is more important than ever to show commitment, consistency, and sincerity to employees. Please contact us to speak with our subject matter experts to help create a motivating, contagious culture of thanks and appreciation in your organization!

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