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Appreciating Your Employees on Labor Day

Appreciating Your Employees on Labor Day

Labor Day has recently passed, but that doesn’t mean you’ve missed an opportunity to let your employees know they’re appreciated. After all, the whole point of Labor Day is recognizing the hard work every single employee puts in to keep the company running. Without people working on the front lines, the company wouldn’t exist. Without people in the back office doing what they do best, there would be chaos.

Here at Raab, we are incredibly grateful for every bit of value our staff adds to the company and client relations. Identify. Mark. Package. Those three things are at the forefront of what we do, but there are also the little things that differentiate us from the typical industrial equipment supplier. When our employees go out on an emergency service call or simply make a note to check in on a client after a new install, they go the extra mile to ensure our clients stay happy.

Taking the time and effort to highlight a job well done is incredibly important for not just office politics but overall profitability. “Since appreciation plays a large part in employee satisfaction, which in turn improves retention and productivity, actively engaging with employees is a must for staying competitive,” reasons GlassDoor.

Luckily, you can do so much more for your dedicated staff than just giving them a day off during a federal holiday. You can show your appreciation in plenty of ways and help your employees feel recognized. Most don’t even involve a huge show of effort or a large budget; a simple, sincere “thank you for what you do” can go a long way!

So, in honor of labor day and all our hard-working staff, here are four ways to show employees you care around Labor Day.

Call a Quick Employee Meeting

The simplest way to tell your employees you care is to tell them all directly. It only takes a few minutes out of their day, and at the very least, it shows you’re trying to reach out to them and recognize their contributions.

Doing this sort of recognition regularly can make a big difference in morale and motivation. According to a 2016 Gallup study, only one out of every three workers can recall receiving praise or recognition for a job well done in any given week. “At any given company, it's not uncommon for employees to feel that their best efforts are routinely ignored,” explains the study, which goes on to suggest that “employees who do not feel adequately recognized are twice as likely to say they'll quit in the next year.”

Bonus points if your meeting includes cake, sodas, or some other type of treat!

Write Down Instances of Outstanding Work and Recognize Them Either Publicly or Privately

A general “thank you” to your crew is a good start, but employees feel that such recognition is far more meaningful when you point out specific deeds or actions. An employee may be particularly proud of the way they handled an upset client, for instance, and they may wish that someone commended them for keeping the client from peeling off the rails. Recognizing these moments not only makes an employee feel good, but it also sends positive reinforcement to encourage the same behavior in the future.

For this type of practice to work, you must write down positive examples as soon as you see them. Then, decide whether you want to thank several people for their work during a team meeting or if you’d rather privately thank someone immediately.

Just be sure that your praise is fair and equitable – employees may feel even more neglected if a select few people get thanked every week while one gets unduly ignored.

Invite Feedback and Make Employees Feel Listened To

Saying “thank you” is one part of showing you care, but so is listening to employees who have improvement suggestions or common frustrations they bump against on the job. Everyone remembers the classic office printer beatdown scene in the movie “Office Space,” and part of what makes it so memorable is that employees feel disrespected by employers who let bad or frustrating conditions persist in the workplace.

Solicit feedback, listen to it, and implement the most beneficial or reasonable suggestions so that employees actually see their ideas put into action.

Provide Gifts, Bonuses, and Promotions

The ultimate way to show you care to employees is to offer them a reward that provides real value to their life. It can be something as simple as a few extra vacation days or a gift certificate to a local restaurant.

Ideally, the acknowledgement involves a reward that makes the employee feel a greater degree of ownership over their work, such as giving them additional responsibilities or allowing them to tackle a big project. Of course, money is always the most appreciated gift from employers, so consider offering a bonus or giving employees a raise when they consistently contribute value to your bottom line.

End Production Room Employee Frustrations When You Identify. Mark. Package. With Raab

As mentioned above, a great way to “treat” your employees is to ensure that they have the proper equipment at hand to do their job. With industrial identifying, marking, and packaging solutions from Raab, you can provide more reliable, efficient machinery that makes their jobs easier and more satisfying than ever.

Get started improving your production or packaging line when you take a look at Raab’s advanced industrial machinery for printing, packaging, coding, and labeling, and make your employees look forward to going to work in the morning.
 

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