Make Employee Appreciation Day a Year-Round Event
Employee Appreciation Day has become a nationwide respected tradition. To help employers reaffirm their connection with employees, celebrate their talents and re-energize them as they head into Spring, Cord Himelstein offers critical employee engagement and recognition best practices for March 6th and beyond.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that December through March are the most popular months for employees to leave their jobs often due to dissatisfaction and additional stress. March is especially susceptible to turnover, being the typical payout deadline for the previous year’s bonuses.
That’s why Employee Appreciation Day, happening March 6th, is an opportune moment for employers to celebrate employees, reaffirm workplace bonds, spread a culture of appreciation and kindness, and keep engagement up when it’s needed the most.
Celebrated the first Friday of March, Employee Appreciation Day was started in 1995 by Bob Nelson, Recognition Professionals International founding board member, when he began adding the date to workplace calendars and promoting it through his organization. Since then it has become an unofficial holiday for companies to focus on employee recognition all across the world.
Employee Appreciation Day acts as a helpful palate cleanser for employers to reaffirm their commitments with employees, celebrate their talents, and reinvigorate them as we move into Spring. In fact, year-long recognition efforts are critical to keeping employee engagement and overall levels of happiness strong.
Establishing Genuine Connections
While it’s important to celebrate and give gifts and throw parties, making genuine connections is even more important to encourage positive relationships. Surprisingly, establishing personal relationships between managers and employees is often an afterthought or low on the list of priorities, taking a backseat to ensure the work is getting done or other HR initiatives such as training.
The power of strong personal relationships is immeasurable in the workplace. When employees feel trust and confidence in their employer, they are free to do their best work. However, genuine connections are hard to manufacture on-the-spot, taking real-time and sincere effort to build. Employee Appreciation Day is a perfect annual event to keep this top-of-mind! It also gives managers a golden opportunity to connect and engage with their people.
Demonstrating Leadership Involvement
Active management and leadership involvement with recognition and culture-building is the secret sauce to keeping employees engaged and satisfied. There are several factors that can contribute to an employee’s unhappiness, but the relationship with management has the most direct influence. Gallup estimates that manager-employee relations account for up to 70 percent variance engagement levels.
Additionally, senior leadership sets the tone for establishing and building a strong workplace culture that is filled with mutual respect and trust. Simply put, employees look to their leaders’ behaviors and attitudes to determine how they should treat their peers. Highlighting recognition as part of a thriving workforce is critical and must be shown as a priority from the top down.
Learn More: Why Companies Can’t Afford to Ignore National Employee Appreciation Day
Creating a Socially Responsible Workplace
Creating a culture of wellbeing in the workplace demonstrates that the organization is not only talking the talk but walking the walk. This often starts by building an environment based upon dignity and respect for all and establishing standards for ethical behavior and integrity. Regularly celebrating employees heightens your culture and helps spread that energy of appreciation and respect to customers and local communities.
Whether offering free food or a full catered lunch, giving out swag bags or allowing employees to leave early or come in late, Employee Appreciation Day is an important holiday for employers to either reinforce their workplace culture or begin creating a new environment of recognition. An appreciative work environment creates a strong connection with both peers and managers and ultimately creates an environment that is more productive, more proactive, and prosocial.
Learn More: Employee Appreciation: A How-To Guide