What if you had a secret method to reduce employee drop-out and enhance retention?

Well, luckily, studies show that appreciating your employees makes it easier for the organizations and the HR managers to retain employees. This reduces turnover and helps you achieve more with less effort.

Let’s see how is that:

You have an employee who has been working with the organization for 2 years now. In these 2 years, this employee has delivered several projects and many clients have appreciated his work. However, only 2 times this appreciation was actually forwarded to the employee. After 2 years of hard work, this employee feels demotivated, unappreciated, and unrewarded. He gets a job offer from an organization which is known for its employee recognition methods. And just like that, you lose an employee.

This scenario happens in every organization in some way or the other. The only difference is that some HR managers acknowledge the importance of appreciation sooner than later. So, join their league and read below tips to understand how you can appreciate your employees.

1. First and foremost, plan to recognize. You can achieve this by sitting down with your team leads and project managers to encourage them to appreciate employees. Ask them to leave regular feedbacks for the employees.
2. Then, next, celebrate all the birthdays. It makes employees feel special. You don’t have to celebrate every birthday separately. Just celebrate all the birthdays of the month at the end of the month and have a small in-house team party.
3. Give team members and coworkers a chance to leave positive feedback for other employees. You can have an appreciation board or an online channel where every related team member can leave positive, uplifting feedback for each other. However, you need to keep a close eye on this one to reduce negativity.
4. Publicly announce your appreciations. It is endearing and people love being recognized in public. It simply makes them feel valued and that is exactly what we are looking forward to here.
5. Track the successes of every team and individual members. When someone reaches new heights or breaks an internal record of another employee, make time to appreciate this team or employee personally for the achievement. Simply congratulate and send in a broadcast to let everyone know.
6. Thank you notes are not yet old-school. In fact, we think a simple thank you would never go out of style. If an employee goes overboard to help you deliver a project on time, thank them. Leave a small note on their desk or in their email box.
7. Allow your employees to have a voice. They should have a choice to stand with what they believe in at the workplace. Having this choice alone means that you respect everyone’s opinion. So let everyone get involved in project discussions. You never know who might end up giving a winning idea.
8. Create a wall of fame. Here, all your monthly out-performers should be displayed. It may be childish but is also kind of amazing.
9. Take your team out for dinner. When they work extra for the whole week, just take them out to relax and unwind. Everyone needs a break. Plus, it is a good way to appreciate their efforts.
10. Place a suggestion box in the office and allow every employee to put suggestions in it: anonymously or not. Of course, you don’t have to cater to every suggestion but it might be incredible to implement some of these suggestions. For instance, an employee suggesting you to keep green tea in the pantry. It is doable and easy-peasy.

Conclusion

A small note of thanks goes a long way. Imagine how happy your employees would be if you execute even 5 of the above tips. They would understand your dedication towards employee experience, which would help them increase their trust in you. And this would help you in increasing the productivity of the workplace. Great, right?