Employee Appreciation Day 2023

Make Employee Appreciation an Everyday Thing

The only way to build a culture of recognition at the workplace is to appreciate your employees every day, for reasons small and big. Recognition has no start-date or end-date, and in an uncertain economic climate, it is now more important than ever to show your employees how valued they are.

BI WORLDWIDE India’s employee engagement solutions, for its long-tenured, diverse global clientele, are centered around one fundamental principle – celebrate every win throughout an employee’s professional journey with a brand, right from the day they choose to join!

The Dopamine Effect – Why Employee Appreciation is Important

What exactly happens when you recognise your employees consistently? It starts a cycle of success, and they feel seen, valued, and appreciated. The dopamine effect comes into play; employees experience a rush of positive feelings when they are appreciated for what they are doing and have accomplished. This in turn keeps employees focused, directed, and willing to repeat those behaviours, which contributes to overall business success.

Moreover, when you share meaningful reasons for recognising an employee, you elevate its significance and eliminate any potential assumptions about managerial bias towards the employee. It’s the perfect opportunity for a brand to signal to both the recipient and the rest of the organisation that this is the kind of employee behaviour they appreciate and are looking for from all team members.

Building a Culture of Appreciation and Recognition – How You Can Do It

One of the key tenets of a long-standing culture of recognition is to ensure that employee appreciation is part of a brand’s communication strategy throughout the employee lifecycle, with the end-goal being to turn employees into brand ambassadors who refer their friends and peers to explore career opportunities with the brand. Some proven tips and tricks that can be leveraged are:

Finding the Idiosyncratic Fit

Especially on decision day, i.e. the day an employee chooses to join your organisation, it’s important for employees to feel confident of fitting into the culture and with their colleagues. This is an excellent opportunity for a brand to highlight how the employee’s individual traits already align with the values of the organisation. This approach is inspired by the concept of the “idiosyncratic fit” in behavioural economics, where employees feel they have an advantage over their peers by feeling like the right fit for a particular job, and therefore being motivated to perform better.

A Smooth Onboarding Experience

Research reveals that a smooth onboarding experience for a new employee, and a warm welcome from their team on their first day goes a long way in helping them feel confident and appreciated. Most importantly, employees feel motivated to put their best foot forward while beginning a new chapter in their career at your organisation. Appreciating their joining, managers and top leadership sending warm welcome messages, and organising an insightful orientation on company policies and culture are all steps in the right direction to help new hires feel part of the team.

The Big Wins

Special occasions call for special celebrations – and brands can scale up their appreciation and recognition efforts for key milestones, such as service anniversaries, completing a big project successfully, hitting their pre-set goals, and so on. Recognition for such milestones is most effective when it is done publicly for the whole organisation to witness, as it has a ripple effect of motivating other employees to work harder, so they too can enjoy the feeling of public validation in the future.

Paying it Forward with Referrals

An excellent opportunity for a brand to attract top talent is to encourage their existing top performers to tap into their social circles to refer prospective candidates to the organisation – and the most effective way to achieve this is if existing employees feel appreciated and valued enough to recommend the organisation to others. These candidates are also relatively more well prepared for their interviews as they have first-hand access to information about the practical aspects of working with the brand. When existing employees turn into loyal brand advocates, brands can rest assured they’re doing it right!

Key Takeaways

In order to grow your business and reap the benefits of a highly engaged and motivated workforce, it’s essential not only to identify, acknowledge and nurture well-performing employees, but more importantly, to celebrate their success in a way that makes them feel good and encouraged to repeat the positive behavior.

BI WORLDWIDE India’s extensive experience and success with their clients’ data-led employee recognition programs is proof that establishing an appreciation routine is a winning strategy for brands on the lookout for an engaged employee base, intent on building long, stable careers with them. And it’s safe to say that the payoff is unmatched – so this Employee Appreciation Day 2023, brands can move away from the usual one-day-a-year appreciation strategy and work on a long-term and consistent employee recognition practice.