8 Actionable Employee Appreciation Ideas

Every company relies on its talent to carry it to new heights, but if your employees feel unappreciated, it won’t be long before they start looking for other opportunities. According to Achievers’ 2023 Engagement and Retention report, employees with a strong sense of belonging are 21% less likely to job hunt in 2023.??

The key to employee appreciation is finding out how to recognize employees in ways that they find personally meaningful. If recognition feels generic or disingenuous, it won’t have a lasting impact, and it may even result in further disengagement.??

Here are 8 great employee appreciation ideas to suit any situation, team member, and budget.?

1. Find out what employees want, and give it to them?

Don't play the guessing game — have employees tell you how they’d like to be recognized.??

Make it easy for team members to share their true thoughts on the forms of employee appreciation they really want with an employee engagement platform. Find a solution that offers intuitive, effective ways to gather input from employees, like pulse surveys and always-on, AI-powered feedback channels.??

Then, quickly build collaborative action plans to deliver what your employees are looking for — to establish that you’re listening to your employees.?

2. Say thanks in many ways?

The easiest way to start practicing recognition at your company is by making a point of saying thank you and encouraging others to do the same.??

Ensure appreciation comes from all levels with a recognition and reward platform, so choose a solution that makes acknowledgment fun and intuitive whenever employees have the urge to say thanks.? Choose a platform that allows team members to combine messages of appreciation with monetary rewards.?

3. Provide personalized rewards?

Further boost social recognition’s impact by linking employee appreciation with rewards. A rewards system should go beyond the occasional bonus or raise, empowering the entire organization to support and recognize each other through points-based rewards.??

The best employee reward solutions let you give whatever number of points fit your budget to team members on a weekly or monthly basis. Employees can then award these points to others who have gone above and beyond or exemplified company values in big or small ways. The recipient redeems their points for personalized rewards they actually want from a wide-ranging marketplace, saving your organization endless effort and spreading appreciation across the company.?

4. Offer real flexibility and work-life balance?

Genuinely show employee appreciation by ensuring each team member has a healthy work-life balance.??

Workers who say they can work in the way they prefer are more than twice as likely to be highly engaged and are 22% more likely to say they will not job hunt in 2023, based on the Achievers Workforce Institute’s Engagement and Retention Report. The freedom to be hybrid and work in the way employees prefer, has shown that employees are more than twice as likely to be highly engaged and are 22% more likely to say they will not job hunt in 2023.?

5. Feed your team?

Keep things flexible by filling a cabinet with a variety of snacks at the office, reimbursing employees for a meal of their choice, or simply providing a stipend or reward points to use however they please.??

6. Support employee wellness?

In 2023, 59% of HR professionals are prioritizing employee wellbeing to engage and retain talent —Employee wellbeing ranked #1 on their priority list, followed by increased flexibility with where and when employees work (52%).?

Employee wellness programs support your team’s physical and mental health and encourage work-life balance, which helps employees avoid burnout while feeling more focused.?

Regardless of your wellness initiatives, be sure to include an employee wellness platform that integrates with your organization’s employee recognition solution. When employees achieve their tracked wellness goals, they’ll love immediately receiving rewards that incentivize them to keep up the amazing work.?

7. Help team members create the office of their dreams?

Simply offering a stipend for leveling up the office shows that you appreciate how important an employee’s work environment is and helps team members be as productive as possible.??

If your workforce is fully or partially remote, consider covering the cost of co-working spaces to ensure employees are guaranteed to have a great place to work and, potentially, collaborate in person.?

8. Start a mentoring program?

Foster collaboration and teamwork within your organization by investing in proper mentorship training programs for your managers, so they know how to best employ coaching techniques and strategies. There’s truly nothing that employees appreciate more daily than leaders that act as coaches that empower and teach rather than micromanagers that undermine and control.?