Employee appreciation is all about showing your team that you value their hard work, but not just any old token of appreciation will do. To truly show your employees how much you appreciate everything they do, you need to come up with some employee appreciation ideas that are going to be genuinely special for the people you’re trying to thank.
You want your employees to feel appreciated, as well as valued. After all, aren’t we all just looking for ways to retain top talent and keep them happy? No matter what type of employee you might be, there’s a 99.9% chance that your team could use an extra helping hand right now.
Fortunately, with this handy guide, we hope to make things easier for you! Here we’ll share with you some of the best employee appreciation ideas so that next time around you won’t have any trouble picking something out of our array!
Don’t Just Show Up
We all know how easy it is to drop by the office and just say hi to the team. But, this is rarely seen as an employee appreciation idea and is more likely to be mistaken for a social visit. Instead, how about sending your team a little token of appreciation to let them know that you truly care about them?
While you can always go with the usual, generic gift options, why not think outside the box and pick something that’s more personal to them?
A gift that has personal meaning to them will be much more appreciated than one that doesn’t! For example, if one of your employees is an avid traveler, then pick a gift related to travel like a travel guide, a travel bottle, or a travel accessory that they can easily use while traveling.
Similarly, if one of your team members loves photography and spends a lot of time editing pictures, then pick a gift related to photography so that they can easily get their hands on something creative that they can use to unwind after a long day at work.
Reward And Recognize Good Work
Rewarding and recognizing good work is one of the best ways to keep your best employees happy and motivated. No matter how good an employee is, they won’t be able to stay happy and motivated forever if there is no recognition for their work.
In fact, research has found that the more you show your team, the happier they will be. Being an employer means you can easily reward your employees for their work. What you can do is pick out a reward option that is related to your organization and team.
For example, if you work in a company that rewards attendance, you can reward your employees with incentives for attending their scheduled meetings. Similarly, if you work in a company that rewards participation in team events, you can pick a reward option that is related to team events.
Give Something in a Gift Box or Stocking
Another employee appreciation idea that is among the best is to give your employee a thoughtful gift box with a multitude of various items or a stocking. What you can do is pick something that’s related to your company’s culture and traditions.
For example, if your company always celebrates safety month, you can give gift sets to all of your employees with safety items.
Utilize Technology To Stay Connected
When you’re looking for employee appreciation ideas, it’s also a great idea to look at ways in which you can stay connected with your team. Technology has made it a lot easier to stay connected with your team and allows them to communicate easily.
Make use of tools that allow you to stay connected with your team like a company-specific Slack channel or an internal chat application. Similarly, if you want to reward your employees for staying connected, you can pick something related to staying connected, such as new iPads.
Surprise Popular Employee With A Gift Card
If you want to surprise one of your employees with a gift card, then, you’re in for a treat! There are a lot of benefits associated with this idea, including the fact that it’s easy to execute and can be a genuinely exciting way to surprise a specific employee.
If you have someone on your team who receives a lot of gifts from colleagues and clients, then, this is the perfect way to show them that you care about them. Not only can you get them a gift card to their favorite store, or restaurant, but you can also choose something that’s tied to their interests.
If you have an employee who loves boats, then, you could get them a gift card to a boat store or an engine repair shop. If they’re avid sports fans, then, you could get them a gift card to an athletics store. The possibilities are endless!
Host An Indoor Game Night
It might not seem like the most exciting thing in the world, but, trust us, it will be a real hit. You could host an indoor game night for your team members to get them in the mood for the new year. There are a lot of fun things you could do for an indoor game night, from board games to video games to sports.
You could also organize an indoor trivia night or a challenge-based activity, like a scavenger hunt or a word search. If you want to make your game night even more special, you could get your team members together for an employee potluck. This could help your team members bond over something as simple as food, which is always a nice touch!
Conclusion
Employee appreciation is a great way to show your team how much you value them. This doesn’t mean you need to spend a lot of money to do it, though. There are many simple things you can do to show your team that you care.
These employee appreciation ideas will make your employees feel appreciated and valued. They’ll be happy to receive something that means so much, and they’ll love you even more for doing it!
