How to Show Employee Appreciation on a Budget

Employee appreciation is a great way to keep productivity and morale high, as well as retaining more of your employees for longer amounts of time. However, sometimes employee appreciation can be an expensive cost right up front, and often can be financially impossible. We compiled a short list of ways you can let your employees know you appreciate them, without breaking the bank.

1.) Create performance based incentives such as a free lunch or a paid half-day off. These are things that will cost the company very little money, but can truly make someone’s day so much better. A half-day off can  give someone an early start to their weekend, or just give them more time to do the things they need to do. There are multiple variations of this and they can be unique to your business. The possibilities are endless for minimal performance based awards that vastly improve an employees mood. It shows your employees you don’t see them as a number but as people, which goes a very long way with minimal impact to the company’s wallet.

2.) Use your words. We understand that during these uncertain times, things like recognition awards may no longer be in the budget. The easiest and cheapest thing one can do is express your gratitude and appreciativeness in your words. Having one’s hard work audibly praised can create a sense of community and importance. Someone had to take time out of their day to recognize the impact that an employee was having on the company. This is a timeless way that means a lot but is often overlooked.

3.) Employee of the Month Award- Awards create friendly competition that drives everyone to do their best. The benefits of winning employee of the month are completely customizable to your company’s liking. It can be anything from PTO, to lunches and more. This is a great way to create goals within an individual at your company.

4.) Shout them out on Social Media- Have as an employee of your just blown your expectations out of the water recently? Shout them out on social media. It not only feels good to be publicly recognized inside your company, but to be able to show it off to your friends and family is a great feeling that shows them they’re making a difference every day when they go to work. It is a public display of appreciation that can go a long way.

5.) Listen to Employee Feedback- No matter how well things are going at your workplace, there’s a good chance that something can always be improved. The people who can feel the need the most for improvement is the day-to-day employees. Giving employees incentives and all that is great, and is by no means not a good way of recommendation. However, listening to employee feedback and making changes based on that feedback is crucial to a healthy relationship with your employees.