How to Make Employee Appreciation More Meaningful

Everyone likes to be noticed for their achievements or a job well done. A small ‘thank you’ can often produce a long list of positive effects such as increased motivation, engagement, and a great sense of belonging.

Without feeling appreciated, people can quickly become demotivated and unvalued, but employee appreciation is not only about rewards or saying, ‘thank you’. Appreciation can also be enhanced by even smaller things.

Be authentic

Make people feel acknowledged

Listen to your team

Be authentic

Like with any praise, managers give, it must be authentic and personal. Whether you publicly declare your appreciation for individuals or do it privately, express specifically what you appreciate and why you appreciate it so much. Doing so will enhance your relationships and encourage positive behaviour.

Scheduling or routinely giving impersonal feedback can devalue your efforts and make it seem as though your appreciation is insincere or artificial. This can have a negative effect on manager and employee relationships and reduce trust in your organisation. 

Highlighting the achievements of a select few individuals indicates favouritism and can leave the rest of your team feeling dejected, overlooked and unmotivated. 

Only give appreciative comments publicly to team members you feel really deserve public praise. If you give public appreciation too often, it can seem inauthentic. 

Make people feel acknowledged

Appreciation is not always a ‘thank you’ but can also be as simple as acknowledgement. A simple ‘Good morning’ or ‘How are you?’ is enough to demonstrate to them that you ‘see them’ and are actively seeking their input. Socially interacting with your team strengthens valuable connection points and helps build relationships of belonging and trust. 

A 2019 study found that a strong sense of workplace belonging and inclusion leads to a 56% increase in job performance, a 50% reduction in turnover risk, and a 75% decrease in employee sick days (source).

A survey by Glassdoor found that 53% of people said they would stay longer at their organisation if their manager showed them more appreciation, while another study revealed that 79% of people who left their jobs cited a lack of appreciation as their principal reason for leaving. 

Listen to your team

Ignoring or ‘pretending’ to actively listen to your people will have the opposite effect of showing appreciation. Failing to pay attention during a meeting or choosing not to listen will make people feel invisible, demotivated, and disengaged from the organisation and you as a manager.

If you’re guilty of being distracted during a one-to-one meeting or dismissing feedback, you’re missing out on valuable insight and opportunities to build trust with them. 

Only by actively engaging with their people and taking a more holistic approach can management show genuine employee appreciation that will have a lasting impact on their people.