15 Creative Ways To Show Employee Appreciation

Jun 21, 2021
15 Creative Ways To Show Employee Appreciation
workmates logo

Let Us Help You Engage Your Employees!

We'll show you how Workmates can engage eveyone in your organization, transform your culture, and drive productivity to new highs.

Onboard New Hires Safely, Efficiently, and Effectively.

We'd love to chat with you more about how HR Cloud can help you create an Exceptional Onboarding Experience.

Are You Interested in Improving Your HR Organization?

HR Cloud is the hidden hero powering the world's best HR teams - book a call with our team!

Employees work tirelessly in the background. They need to know how much their hard work is appreciated.

Sometimes, however, it can prove tricky to figure out how to show appreciation. Luckily, it’s easier than you might think to show employee recognition. One way to accomplish this task is by giving them a gift card or other token of gratitude.

Still, employee appreciation isn’t just about giving employees a pat on the back. It’s more than that.

Recognition is also about the sincerity behind your actions. It’s also about creativity.

Hopefully, our employee appreciation tips will get you headed in the right direction. Here are 15 creative ways you can show your employees how much you appreciate them.

WM logo

Find Out How Much You Can Save by Switching to Workmates.

Other HR Teams made the switch from Workplace
and save upwards of 60%
Calculate Now
Workmates calculator

1. You Can’t Go Wrong With Food

Everyone likes to eat. Break open the petty cash and spring for a healthy but tasty treat such as an Edible Arrangement.

The gift of food brings people together and will help to strengthen interpersonal relationships in the office. It will also make employees feel appreciated.

Show Employee Appreciation With Food

 

2. Get Social

Your social media platform is an excellent place to share some good news. You can use your social media channels to recognize employees on special days, such as their service anniversaries or birthdays.

You could also post a photo along with a blurb highlighting an employee’s contribution to your company. Alternatively, you could list fun and interesting facts about them that their current workers may not know.

 

Recognize Employees

3. Gamify Appreciation

It’s simpler than you might believe to use corporate gamification to show your appreciation. For instance, you can have each team member claim a task. For each task completed, your team members will receive points associated with the value of their completed tasks.

You can then allow employees to redeem their points using a corporate rewards portal. In the portal, you can offer anything from vacation days, work-from-home days, or even scholarships for continuing education.

Employee Appreciation Through Games

4. Give The Gift Of Fitness

A fitness incentive is a great way to boost wellness among your team members. For instance, you can award employees for achieving physical fitness goals.

It only takes a handful of early adopters to get the fitness ball rolling among your team members. You could offer free gym memberships or even build a company gym. By rewarding employees for healthy habits, you can improve the health, wellness, and overall productivity of your staff members.

 

Throw A Party to Recognize Your Employees

 

5. Throw A Surprise Party

One of your team could land a major deal. Alternatively, they might launch a new product line flawlessly.

In these instances, you can celebrate with an unexpected acknowledgment. A surprise party is a great way to get a positive and memorable rise out of employees who deserve it.

5-Jun-28-2021-03-37-14-19-PM

6. Splash Some Cash

Money isn’t the most original incentive in the world. However, there are few employees who’ll find disappointment in a cash bonus. Show that you recognize employees’ value and the work it takes for them to help your company reach its goals with the gift of cash.

Recognize Employee Value

7. Move Away From The Desk

Sometimes, staff members go above and beyond the call of duty. They might work extra hours, give up personal time or sacrifice sleep to get the job done.

In these instances, you can award overachievers by giving them back time. For example, you could give them off the rest of the day to spend time with their family or do something else that they enjoy.

Staff Members

 

8. Take Advantage of FaceTime

Recognition is a personal gesture. It should reflect the preferences of your employees.

As a corporate leader, it’s important to spend one-on-one time with each employee. When you do, use the opportunity to find out what kinds of appreciation they might enjoy.

Recognition Through FaceTime

9. Give Out Vacation Days

Again, giving your staff members time off is a great way to show appreciation. This time, however, you can let them choose the reward that they receive for their hard work. You can award them with vacation days that they can use at their leisure. For instance, they can go on a guided trip visiting the Canary Islands, the Spanish autonomous community in the Atlantic Ocean.  Fresh ocean air, magnificent mountain chains, green hills, and forests might be a good reason to go on a hiking guided tour around the mountain and forest routes in Tenerife.

Employee Appreciation and Time Off

10. Send Them To The Mall

Sometimes, ongoing bonuses aren’t in the budget. Still, if you like the idea of employee appreciation gifts, you can award your employees with occasional monetary rewards if that works better for your company coffers. For instance, you may consider giving out occasional gift cards that your stellar performers and their families can enjoy together at the local shopping center.

Recognize

11. Boost Their LinkedIn Profile

Career development is a great way to improve employee engagement. However, you can show employee appreciation beyond the workplace.

One great way to do so is to write a glowing LinkedIn recommendation for a star staff member. This kind of recommendation can help them find success in their current role—and in the future.

Boosting Linkedin Profile

12. Get Away Together

Sometimes, it’s a great idea to show appreciation to your entire organization. For instance, you may consider an annual team retreat. A Caribbean getaway or a company get-together at a luxury downtown hotel is a great way to demonstrate how much you appreciate your team.

Team Building

13. Happy Birthday!

Most people won’t mind if you celebrate their birthday. Here, however, it’s important to understand that some people like to keep their birthdays private.

Remember that one-on-one conversation? If your employee doesn’t mind, a catered meal and cake is a great way for your entire office to celebrate staff member birthdays.

Employee Recognition and Birthdays

14. Recognize Your Winners

It’s a good idea to establish an employee recognition program. A formal program will enable you to recognize your staff members throughout the year. You can even have team members pitch in to help create meaningful staff appreciation ideas.Recognize Your Winners

15. Let Them Appreciate Each Other

Small, regular shows of appreciation go a long way toward motivating staff members. Here, you can set up an easy way for employees and managers to send employee appreciation messages. For instance, you could use a technology platform to establish a system for sending kudos easily.

Appreciation among employees

Employee Recognition Matters

Your team must trust you if you want your company to operate smoothly. Employee appreciation builds trust.

In part, employers want to know that the higher-ups see them as people. They also want to know that their employer has their best interests in mind.

Many employees feel that they can trust managers who show sincere recognition regularly. When workers believe that you care, they’ll work harder.

You can build trust by providing recognition during all levels of an employee’s tenure. Over time, you’ll find that workers will make sacrifices for the sake of their company because they feel valued when you acknowledge them with gifts and other gestures that show your true appreciation.

Going Beyond “Thank You”

Your business is a machine. Your staff members are the parts of the machine that keeps your business running. Businesses with happier employees enjoy the most success.

Kind employee appreciation words are nice and always welcome. Still, your employees deserve more than a simple “thank you” or an occasional pat on the shoulder. Making an effort to show that you really appreciate your employees can improve employee engagement, productivity, retention, and morale.

It takes effort to host an event or a company happy hour. What’s more, an event such as an annual retreat or volunteer opportunity gives employees time to bond.

However, you also want to mix things up. In other words, you want to find different ways to show your appreciation. Kudos, awards, and recognition plans are all effective ways to recognize your team members.

Keep Your Team Satisfied and on Task

If you show appreciation for your team, most employees will work harder. However, employees want more than a certificate of recognition once a year.

Here’s where you get to show your sincere appreciation for your team. The best recognition programs recognize employees’ wants and needs.

However, they should also align with your company values. When done correctly, a recognition program has a positive impact on your company’s profits.

Appreciation and recognition do more than make one employee feel good. It has positive benefits for your entire organization.

Become an Employee Appreciation Hero with the Right Technology

Now you know 15 creative ways you can show employee recognition. What you need now is technology that can make showing appreciation and other important employee management tasks a breeze.

HR Cloud is the employee lifecycle management platform that helps you find, hire, and manage your workforce.

See for yourself how easy it is to use HR Cloud. Contact us today to request a demo.

 

WM logo

The 40 Best Thank You
Messages for Colleagues

Download our ebook now to learn even more about
building a positive and engaged culture at your company.
Download Now
Workmates Tour

 

About Author: This article is written by a marketing team member at HR Cloud. HR Cloud is a leading provider of proven HR solutions, including recruiting, onboarding, employee communications & engagement, and rewards & recognition. Our user-friendly software increases employee productivity, delivers time and cost savings, and minimizes compliance risk.

 

Close
workmates
The 12 Most Common HR Mistakes
Learn how to avoid common HR mistakes that frustrate employees and plague organizations.
Download Now