20 Ways to Show Your Employees How Much You Care

A big factor in operating a successful business is employing people who are committed to the work they do every day. This is demonstrated in many ways, but it’s most easily measurable in terms of employee engagement.

Employee engagement can be defined as the emotional connection that employees have with their role in the organization, the mission, and the outcome of their hard work. When employees feel that they are part of something bigger and that their contributions make a difference, they understand the impact this has on others and on the future of their career. 

Nearly every leader has employee engagement on their radar in 2019. Research from Gallup poll has shown that when employees are actively engaged, organizations benefit from higher profits, improved productivity, and higher customer service ratings. 

20 Easy Ways to Demonstrate How Much You Value Your Employees

How can employers foster employee engagement when it seems that younger generations of employees are too eager to look for other jobs? Make the work experience more rewarding and positive with meaningful incentives. Be genuine, but focus on what employees really want. Here’s a few ideas to get you started. 

Respect all employees - A policy of diversity and inclusion demonstrates daily that all employees are valued. Everyone is treated with respect, ideas are heard, and this creates unity. 

Learn to say “thanks” - Every supervisor should be empowered to thank employees in a variety of ways whenever possible. This includes giving out gift cards, movie tickets, and discretionary bonuses for a job well done. 

Be More Flexible - Managers who want to help employees stay engaged in their work need to remember that they have lives and responsibilities too. Offering flexible scheduling and the option to telecommute as needed is a great way to show employees they are valued. 

Celebrate Publicly - Every employee enjoys being recognized in front of peers. Host a monthly company-wide celebration and give out awards to deserving employees. Be sure to include remote employees. 

Offer Learning Benefits - Developing new skills for career advancement is very important to many employees. Offer support and access to job-specific learning and certification, or provide tuition reimbursement for those pursuing degrees. 

Let Employees Give Up a Customer - Almost every employee has been in the difficult position of dealing with a negative customer. Switch things up and rotate the list of customers every quarter so that employees can ditch the customers that annoy them. 

Provide Progressive Raises - Connect employees with promotions and salary increases that are based on their performance. Employees will often stay longer at a job if they know they can expect to earn more rather than having to seek other employment. 

Reward Positivity - Come up with a set of positive behaviours you would like to see in all employees. Encourage peers to identify employees who demonstrate these behaviors and nominate then for a special award. 

Recognize Excellence - In addition to behaviors, recognize employees who go above and beyond the call of duty when dealing with customers, difficult situations, managing or bringing on new projects. Have a special bonus that honors their dedication to the company’s success. 

Vacation Perks - Give employees the opportunity to travel to new destinations on breaks as part of a corporate discount program. This shows that you care about their well-being so they can return refreshed. 

Boss for a Day - Invite an employee once-a-month to shadow a member of management for a day, and enjoy all the benefits that come with being a company leader. This gives employees a new perspective, and gives them a chance to have direct communication with a superior for hashing out ideas and making improvements. 

Improve the Work Environment - When employees work in dull outdated quarters, it can be difficult to get engaged and stay enthusiastic. Open up office spaces with collaborative work areas, soft seating areas for meetings, natural lighting, and outdoor spaces for enjoying breaks. 

Technology is Key - Offer your employees the opportunity to work with the latest technology, which encourages them to stay up-to-date on their skills and gives them a chance to try new gadgets they may not otherwise have access too. 

Bring Wellness Onsite - Show your employees that their health is important to you with onsite wellness support. This can include a weekly massage therapy session, a workout room, and a nutritional expert to help plan meals. Healthier employees are happier too. 

Pets in the Office - Allow your employees to bring their favorite furry friends (or scaled, feathered, etc.) to the office once a month for a special pet day. Or adopt a campus pet so all can enjoy. Animal companionship has been shown to boost happiness in people. 

Family Celebrations - Recognize the important milestones in your employees’ lives that are part of their families -- like weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, and more. You’ll score many points with employees who normally keep things private. 

Promote from Within - Succession planning should be an active aspect of your workplace. Keep employees engaged in the company with frequent internal training and promotional opportunities. 

Management Touchpoints - Hold managers accountable for the engagement of their subordinates with weekly one-on-one manager meetings with every employee. Use this as a coaching moment to help employees overcome obstacles. 

Community Service - Incentivize the work of your employees who are involved or want to be involved with causes in the community. Allow employees a paid day off for every 8 hours of community service they complete, and match contributions made. 

Encourage Sharing - Build a strong team that’s engaged with each other by hosting a weekly meeting that includes at least one sharing session. Employees are free to talk about anything that’s on their minds with the goal of the team coming up with collective solutions. 

Create Special Projects - Many employees have other talents than what they can demonstrate at work. Develop a way of finding out what these talents are and inviting employees to come up with a special project so they can show off their chops to peers. 

These are just a handful of ideas you can implement to engage employees and reward them for their efforts. Consider that the more committed your organization is to employee engagement, the more creative you can be with a rewards program. Imagine the impact this can have on your organization.  

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Thymometrics is a new breed of disruptive employee feedback technology. Through real time, always-on surveys and feedback solutions, we provide revolutionary yet simple tools to empower employees and monitor wellbeing whilst providing managers with deep and useable insights to improve business culture, wellbeing programs, productivity and profitability.

For more information, please call 01223 750251, email info@thymometrics.com or visit thymometrics.com.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash