17 February, 2023

5 Ways to Make Employee Appreciation a Year-Round Activity

Every organization articulates a budget for their employee rewards and recognition strategy, and this budget is meant to be utilized throughout the year with maximum optimization. In line with the popular saying, “Appreciate often, not just one day”, it is imperative to ensure that employee appreciation is a year-round activity and not just reserved for specific occasions or exceptional performance.

Research emphasizes that in order to reap the maximum benefit out of your R&R program, employees should be recognized at least every two weeks. So how can HR teams bring about this kind of consistency, equality, and impact? This blog discusses 5 ways in which you can space out your employee recognition initiatives throughout the year.

Personal and Professional Milestones

This is undoubtedly the most apparent and widely used form of employee appreciation across organizations. Personal milestones such as birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and childbirth are some of the key moments that accentuate an individual’s life; and receiving a warm gift with best wishes from your organization just amplifies the importance of these days!

On the professional front, there couldn’t be a better way to showcase your appreciation than applauding professional milestones- onboarding, work anniversaries, target achievements, and learning and development (L&D) milestones are all worthy of a social recognition with reward points, physical gifts, or pleasant experiential rewards.

Get in touch with us to know how Gratifi can help automate your corporate gifting strategy!

Organizational and Business Milestones

Events such as company anniversaries, winning an industry award, recording an exceptional business performance, or ringing in Founder’s day are a great way to express your gratitude, as your employees are indispensable to organizational success.

Make your workforce feel valued by commemorating such achievements with meaningful company swag, a symbolic award, and a personalized note.

Holidays and Special Occasions

The holiday season, traditional festivals, and cultural events are all noteworthy gift-giving moments. Apart from these, consider including professional holidays such as Boss Day, Manufacturing Day, Engineer’s Day, and Employee Appreciation Day in your year-round appreciation activities. Host fun virtual contests such as dance, music, and sports competitions through a digital employee engagement platform to up the ante and add a dash of excitement to these events!

Going the Extra Mile

It is important to remember that rewarding exceptional performance is not the only way to showcase appreciation; there are many more work-related achievements that deserve to be recognized, regardless of their magnitude or significance. For instance, employees who go the extra mile to complete a project, adhere to a rigid timeline, or help out a colleague are all commendable and worthy of recognition.

A digital R&R platform offers convenience and accessibility into the process, as employees can effortlessly recognize each other with the click of a button. Read our “Guide to Modern Employee Recognition Programs” to know more!

Just Because!

It is worth mentioning that the element of surprise can make a huge difference while professing appreciation. The impact of being recognized is twice as wholesome when employees don’t see it coming. Send a formal recognition with a simplistic experiential voucher to acknowledge a good deed or value-driven behavior, or just send a casual greeting such as “Good Going!”, “Have a Great Day”, or “Thank You” to make someone’s day!

Make Appreciation a Year-Round Activity with Gratifi

Leverage the above ideas to formulate an employee appreciation strategy that fosters a consistent, fair, and impactful R&R culture within your organization. You can also connect with us to explore our myriad R&R offerings, experience our digital R&R platform in action, and get more employee appreciation ideas from our experts. Schedule a personalized demo today!