Employees who feel valued at work are often happier, more productive, and less likely to seek other employment opportunities. There are numerous ways to show employees how much you appreciate them, ranging from recognition programs and financial incentives to simple gestures such as listening to and acting on employee feedback. Knowing the value of valued employees and how to show appreciation can help build a strong company culture.

In this article, we will discuss the importance of making employees feel valued, as well as 15 strategies for implementing programs and practices to ensure employees know how much you value them.

The importance of employee appreciation

Making employees feel valued at their work is important in business because it can improve the workplace environment, individual and team performance, and help an organization achieve its goals. Showing employees how much you appreciate them can do the following:

Build trust: Employees who know their input, feedback, and ideas are more likely to have faith in leadership and confidence in a company.

raise productivityWhen employees know you appreciate and value their work, they are more likely to continue working hard, setting new goals, and becoming invested in the company's successes.

Increase morale: When you take the time to get to know your employees, allow them to contribute, and demonstrate that you value them, team, department, and company morale usually rises. The more positive people are about their workplace, the better their output.

Reduce turnover: When you value and demonstrate your appreciation for your employees, they are more likely to pursue continued employment or advancement opportunities and refer other job candidates rather than seeking new employment. This can help to reduce turnover and increase retention.

Improve brand reputation: Being known as a company that values its employees can help you attract highly qualified job candidates as well as new clients or customers who want to support a company that has a strong reputation for being a good place to work.

How to Make Employees Feel Appreciated

Consider the following 15 ways to create a positive work environment through programs and practices to make your employees feel valued, appreciated, and satisfied at work:

1Provide competitive pay packages

You can retain and attract quality talent by providing rewarding compensation packages that demonstrate how a company values its employees from the beginning. Developing competitive or industry-leading compensation packages is an excellent way to ensure employee satisfaction and value. These tangible and fundamental components may include:

• A reasonable starting salary

• Vacation and holiday pay

• Salary increases, bonuses, and incentives

• Time off programs that are appealing

  • Health and wellness advantages

  • Matching retirement contributions

• Performance pay

• Days of Service

• Schedule flexibility

• Reimbursement for transportation

2Produce meaningful work

Employees typically perform well when they believe the work they do on a daily basis is valuable and matters.

Consider highlighting teams to help others understand the work that each group or department does, whether through company emails and newsletters or by discussing accomplishments during meetings.

Look for ways to directly give meaningful work to your employees, such as offering a project lead position to an employee aspiring to a managerial position.

3Make work-life balance a top priority

Because there is often a link between work-life balance and both employee performance and job satisfaction, emphasizing this aspect of the workplace can have a significant impact.

Maintaining a healthy and balanced work environment can help to reduce stress, prevent burnout, save money, and promote a caring company culture. Here are some ideas for emphasizing work-life balance for employees:

• Provide wellness days

• Embrace and encourage autonomy

• Encourage health and wellness.

• Establish work hours that are flexible.

• Allow for opportunities for remote work.

• Make generous paid time off programs available.

• Have reasonable expectations for after-hours communication.

• Develop your time-management abilities now.

4Begin an employee appreciation program

Employee recognition programs are an excellent way to recognize the efforts of individuals and teams throughout the year. Consider asking current employees what kind of recognition they want, such as starting an employee of the month club or hosting an annual rewards ceremony event. Other possibilities include financial incentives, lunch with the CEO, or earned time off.

5Recognize accomplishments

Celebrating accomplishments can keep teams and employees engaged, so consider recognizing both large and small work accomplishments, such as:

• Obtaining high customer satisfaction ratings

• Achieving quarterly sales targets

• Orientation of new team members

• Launching new services or products

• Obtaining new clients or renewing contracts

• Successfully transitioning products, procedures, or programs

As a personal and thoughtful gesture, you can publicly acknowledge these accomplishments, highlight them in company-wide correspondence, or distribute a hand-written thank you note to employees.

6Provide opportunities for professional development and learning

Investing in your team demonstrates that you value them. Consider providing professional development classes within the company, as well as funding online courses, conferences, or tuition reimbursement.

Cross-training between departments is another effective and cost-effective way for employees to learn and discover new skills, and formal or informal mentorship programs provide employees with support and guidance. Other ways to assist employees in growing include:

• Manager-to-manager meetings

• Peer learning communities

• Advice on career or talent management

• Time set aside for learning

7Hire from within

While hiring always includes ensuring that a person is qualified for a position, considering internal candidates first demonstrates that you value your current team, want to see them achieve their personal career goals, and enjoy investing in the development of your employees.

Hiring internally has additional benefits for a company, such as easier and faster onboarding and transitioning, lower costs, and higher employee retention and loyalty rates. Consider developing best practices for internal recruitment and holding candidates to the same standards, qualifications, and criteria.

8Provide incentive pay or bonuses

As your employees grow, learn new skills, and improve at their jobs, it's critical to align their compensation, give raises, and share bonuses to reward them.

Consider comparing merit-based raises to length of service raises to demonstrate to employees that their growth is aligned with performance and to ensure morale remains high rather than inadvertently rewarding underperforming employees.

9Set aside time for the team

Employees frequently feel the most valued when they spend time with a leader or manager outside of their normal job responsibilities. Treat them to a coffee break or lunch to get to know them better and hear their thoughts on the workplace.

Instead of holding a quick meeting, offer genuine feedback, explain areas of concern, and leave time for questions when conducting performance reviews. Furthermore, even a few minutes a day spent talking with the team or individuals can build rapport and connections that make them feel valued as people and employees.

10Organize departmental or corporate events

Consider hosting events in or outside of the workplace to thank employees and demonstrate your appreciation. Food can often bring people together, whether it's a small luncheon, a happy hour, or a formal event like an annual catered retreat.

Explore other options, such as attending the opening of an art exhibit together, going on a fitness outing, or having a volunteer day. Interpersonal, leadership, and team relationships are strengthened or developed as a result of events and team-building activities.

11Commemorate anniversaries, milestones, and birthdays

Make a special effort to recognize employee birthdays, work anniversaries, project milestones, and holidays such as Employee Appreciation Day.

Recognizing important dates across your team, whether it's coffee, cake, or a meal, an extra day off, a company-wide announcement, a decorated desk, or a monetary gift, is a way to show you value them as individuals. Simple gestures of appreciation for employees' dedication and loyalty to an organization can make them feel valued.

12Conduct pulse surveys

Allowing employees to provide feedback is a great way to demonstrate that you value their input. Providing anonymous feedback portals or surveys helps to build trust and ensures honest, high-quality responses. You can conduct surveys on a quarterly, annual, or project-by-project basis.

Consider combining pre-written questions, such as "Does your leader make you feel valued?" with open-ended areas for employees to write in any additional thoughts. Employees often feel valued when they are heard and want to contribute directly to a company's success.

13Request, accept, and act on feedback

Allowing employees to share feedback and then acknowledging and acting on it is part of engaging with them. It demonstrates that you are open to ideas from all levels of the organization and respect and value the input of those with whom you work.

The ability to provide feedback can provide employees with a sense of purpose, and the ideas generated can often lead to improvements and promote good company culture.

14Establish a praise portal

Giving and receiving praise and appreciation on a regular basis is an excellent way to boost morale, collaboration, and job satisfaction.

Whether you use a formal program to allow employees to give peer thank you's and acclamation through online platforms and written summaries, or you establish an informal weekly shout-out habit to acknowledge someone's work or a team accomplishment, the benefits of doing praise in the workplace are enormous.

15Consider a leader review program

While leaders frequently conduct performance reviews for their employees, consider conducting one for yourself. It demonstrates that you value employee feedback and can motivate leaders at all levels to meet and exceed expectations.

A leader review program can also assist businesses in establishing, refreshing, or reinventing their leadership development practices, as well as serving as a peer review procedure at the leadership level.