The first Friday in March is Employee Appreciation Day. And while it’s true that a one-time effort won’t make or break your relationship with your employees, that doesn’t mean the holiday isn’t worth celebrating.
Employee Appreciation Day gives you a chance to thank your employees for everything they do. Recognizing your employees’s contributions is critical in order to retain talent — and can help companies save a significant amount of money. Voluntary turnover cost U.S. employers $617 billion in 2018, according to the 2019 Retention Report: Trends, Reasons and A Call to Action by consulting firm the Work Institute. (To find out how much turnover costs your company, check out this calculator by staffing agency Adecco.)
Wondering what you can do to show employees you care? You’re in luck: We’ve put together a few last-minute suggestions.
Share a Meal
Surprise your employees with an invitation to lunch. Everyone enjoys a chance to get away from the office for an hour, especially on a Friday, and eating a meal together is a great way to bond as a team. (Not sure where to go? Industrious members can ask their Community Managers for ideas.)
If you have too many employees to take out, or if scheduling lunch is too complicated for your team, you can also order in food. Just be sure to include a few options so that there’s something everyone can eat. Or, skip lunch in favor of dessert — after all, it’s a celebration!
Give Them Paid Time Off
Tell your employees to take the afternoon off, with pay. Or, give them an extra day of PTO, and encourage them to use it by the end of the month, so that they have time to find coverage and make arrangements. Getting out of the office can not only help refresh employees but also prevent burnout and even increase productivity. What’s more, studies show that employees who take most or all of their vacation days have greater job satisfaction. And employees who are satisfied at work are less likely to go job hunting.
Write a Thank-You Note
Nothing says thank you like actually saying thank you. If you have a small team, consider writing a personal note — by hand or on email — to each member thanking them for their contributions. Be specific. Bring up at least two ways they’ve made a difference at the company, whether it’s qualitative — such as staying calm in a crisis — or quantitative — such as spearheading a project that outperformed its KPIs.
If your team is too big for personal notes to be feasible, talk to your department heads and see if they can help out, and consider throwing in a gift card or piece of swag. Or, write a company-wide note and call out a few key accomplishments by each department. Again, your leadership team can be a big help out here; ask them what projects they’re most proud of. Everyone wants to feel like their work is respected and meaningful. At the end of the day, that’s what Employee Appreciation Day is all about.