Employee Appreciation

In honor of Employee Appreciation Day, we did a little research on the importance of Employee happiness.   Employee happiness has increasingly become an imperative in business. Why? There is now growing evidence that when one’s employees are happy, organizations thrive.  Consider just a few of these key statistics; a study published Daniel Sgroi found that happy employees are up to 20% more productive than unhappy employees. When it comes to salespeople, happiness has an even greater impact, raising sales by 37%! 

People in general, not just employees, want to feel like who they are matters, what they do has an impact and their work is helping to drive an organization forward.  Sounds like it should be easy for us to express our appreciation in these areas to help keep employees happy, but all too often, employees don’t feel valued at all. Why not?   

Too many companies (and leaders) quickly become overly focused on what they do but overlook and possibly even minimize who is doing the work, as well as how and why they are doing the work. Fortunately, there are a few ways we all can intervene and build happiness among employees. 

• Engage with happy people. Some people are happier than others, so go out and find them. Ask them “What’s working, what’s not working and what can we do as an organization to be even better.”

• Communicate your appreciation.  When we take the time to let people know that we value them, it inspires them to continue doing even more and reinforces the habit for other people to do the same.

• Foster meaningful relationships. Who you work with matters. According to Harvard Business Review, “close work friendships boost employee satisfaction by 50%.” Moreover, “people with a best friend at work are seven times more likely to engage fully in their work.” Build teams that foster friendships and use your current team members to tap new talent. If a member of your team has a strong working relationship with a former colleague and friend, don’t hesitate to bring that individual on board. Good people surround themselves with good people.  

Bottomline, a person (employee) who feels appreciated will always do more than expected because appreciation is one of life’s greatest motivators. Now more than ever, all of our employees need to be shown some level of recognition for the incredible sacrifice and inspire work they perform every day during these unprecedented times.

Happy Employee Appreciation Day!