One of the most effective ways to make your business successful and to exceed expectations of your clients is to keep employees happy.
Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin, speaks on the importance of employee appreciation. He's worth more than $4 billion now but started his first magazine at 16 and dropped out of high school to focus on his mail-order record business. Branson believes putting employees first is one of the biggest factors that led to his success.
Employee retention is critical for a cohesive and successful team. Loyal employees deserve recognition with years of service awards.
Check out our guide on how years of service awards can help you and your staff reach your full potential.
Isn't Their Paycheck Reward Enough?
In the past few decades, employers have come to realize just paying an employee for doing their job isn't enough to make them love working there. Someone who is just putting their time in for the paycheck at the end of the week is going to do the bare minimum.
Your team needs to feel valued and like they make a difference to be motivated and to give you their best effort. In fact, employees will reportedly keep a job that pays less where they feel appreciated and like their manager over a job that pays more where they don't feel valued by their manager. People leave good managers not just well-paid jobs.
It doesn't take a lot to make a big difference in the moral and work culture within your business. All it takes is some planning and effort to bring out the best in everyone. But the returns on having a motivated team are huge.
Awesome Potential and Potentially Awesome
You can turn an ordinary business or a pretty typical staff into a potentially awesome power for success. All it takes is a little appreciation and effort to motivate everyone to do their best and give it their all.
Letting employees know what they bring to the team is important. Making every employee feel valued can give them the confidence to share more ideas. They'll give more of themselves and offer more talent to get the job done. A person who doesn't feel like their opinion matters or that their suggestions are listened to will eventually stop putting the effort in to contribute to the success of the team.
Showing appreciation for years of service and for efforts that go above and beyond can help your team thrive and increase their commitment and deepen their sense of purpose within the company.
Personalize Your Praise
A general form letter where you plug in a name and give a generic gift doesn't really make an employee feel special. They want to know it's more than a computer acknowledging the calendar date.
An employee that is dedicated and doesn't just "phone it in" wants you to recognize their efforts in a more personal way. One that shows after years of service that you know and appreciate them as an individual.
You could even get the rest of the staff and management to write personal notes to go with the years of service awards you offer. It doesn't take a lot to make someone feel special.
Some individuals can work someplace for decades and because it's a big corporation the management and owners barely know their name and have rarely had contact with them. This makes it even more important to personalize the gift so that no matter how many employees there are, each one feels like they matter and that the company recognizes their hard work.
Thanks for the Memories
When an employee has dedicated years and decades of service to your company, they deserve recognition. Good help is hard to find and if you think about it a full-time employee spends more of their awake hours working for you than they do at home or doing anything else.
Giving them some acknowledgment for a job well done and showing gratitude for their loyalty can improve their mental health, productivity, work culture, and self-esteem.
It's not enough to just give them an award when they retire at the end of their career. If you want employees to feel respected and appreciated you need to acknowledge every year of service they add to your success.
You may not want to give a present or award for each year so you can give a more significant gift on milestone years but at least show them some love for making it through another year.
If You Don't Show Them Love Someone Else Will
An employee that feels stuck in a dead-end job will not perform to the best of their abilities. If you want team members to feel like part of the team and like they make a difference then you need to give them opportunities to grow.
Someone who doesn't feel challenged and like there is room to grow in their employment will look for a position someplace else. Where they can grow, learn new skills and use all their talents.
You can show appreciation for their years of service by giving them the chance to learn new things and develop new skills. Hiring from within rather than leaving someone in the same position and hiring outside the company can make all the difference in your work culture and employee satisfaction.
If you want team members to stick around for decades, hopefully never looking elsewhere because they are completely happy with your company, you can make that happen by letting them reach their full potential within your organization.
Years of Service Awards Can Be the Secret to Your Success
Giving years of service awards that actually show your appreciation and dedication to your staff will give you a stronger and happier team. Your team is the key to your success.
Connect with us to design the perfect award program for your needs.
