The Employee Appreciation Mindset

Let’s be honest—if there’s one thing these difficult times have taught us, it’s that life is too short to stay in places where our work goes unappreciated. Without a doubt, your employees have taken this lesson to heart, too. The new challenge in 2021 will be committing to a mindset that consistently demonstrates how much we value our teams and the work they do.

Fostering an Affirming, Connected Workplace

Our goal as employers is to create work environments that people love. When you show your team that you value them, you’re setting an affirming tone for everyone. What’s more: you’re also increasing retention and overall job satisfaction, while strengthening personal connections that will ripple through your team and out to your clients.

Investing in Your Team

With an employee appreciation mindset, the possibilities for offering recognition and attention are endless! This is an opportunity to creatively honor the unique talents of your team. Individualized gift cards, favorite team snacks and meals, personal social media shoutouts, special team bonding opportunities and fun company perks are just a few ways to let your employees know you value them. Showing your investment in your team makes it easier for them to invest in you, too.

Finding Unique Ways to Share the Love

Looking for some real-life examples of how True Talent Group does employee appreciation? It’s no secret that gift-giving happens to be our favorite love language! Below are a few things we’ve done to let our team know they matter (some of which help earn us the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal’s “Best Places to Work” Award multiple times): 

• Organize a workout class via Zoom with a local fitness instructor
• Create flash cards with sayings like “You’re Frozen” for those dreaded zoom-fail moments
• Give everyone a day off to promote mental wellbeing
• Send gift bags full of goodies to employees on holidays
• Celebrate employee anniversaries and birthdays with cards and online shout-outs
• Amplify your team’s accomplishments on social media platforms like LinkedIn
• Schedule a Happy Hour via Zoom outside of work hours
• Plan a socially distanced picnic outdoors
• Make time for weekly check-ins with employees to see how they’re really doing
• Arrange for DoorDash or GrubHub delivery or gift cards on meeting-heavy days
• Give subscriptions to Craftsy to promote creativity and new hobbies

Celebrating your team creates an engaging, dynamic workplace. Take the hard lessons from last year to heart! Show appreciation to your employees and they’ll return the favor with loyalty, passion and good work.