Gratitude is a prime example of the saying ‘a little bit can go a long way’ especially in the workplace. According to research from reward gateway, almost half of British workers would leave the company the worked for if they didn’t feel like they were regularly thanked for their efforts. Even more interestingly the majority of people that took the survey said they would rather work for a company that had a culture of incentivising their staff, than a have 10% pay increase. This is an incredibly insightful statistic, but it does make sense, we will spend approximately 35% of our total waking hours during our working years in the workplace, why wouldn’t you want that to be an enjoyable experience? It doesn’t always have to be a monetary incentive; fans of ‘The Great British Bake Off’ know that a simple handshake and acknowledgement for good work can mean more than any other form of gratitude.
This is not just beneficial for the employees, happy employees mean happy business, and happy business means happy customers! Take something as simple as sick leave, happier employees are healthier employees. The 2008 ‘Gallup’s global health study’ managed to quantify the average cost of an unhappy employee. It found that those who are unhappy take significantly more sick leave, staying home on average of 1.25 days more a month! Happy employees not only cost less, they make more money, provide better customer service, are more creative and provide many more benefits, all by showing them regular genuine gratitude.
When thanking your employees it’s important to do so in a variety of ways, it may be a good idea to scale your methods of thanking, showing what you feel is appropriate gratitude for the great work they’ve done. For example if someone has shown an example of good customer service, publicly thank them (if they don’t mind) and tell everyone about their exemplary service. If a staff member has constantly shown great service throughout the year, overcoming perplexing challenges, and still maintains a positive attitude, a great idea would be to present them with an award. An award shows recognition of excellence; it creates an emotional connection between employees and their company, a concept that if done correctly can resonate throughout your workforce, creating a team of brand advocates.
If you’re looking for something more than a glass award, and/or plaque to reward your employees, there are a number of high-end corporate gifts that make perfect recognition incentives for your staff. We are seeing a great deal of tech companies investing in high-end tech products, individually branded, to give to their workers, products like, Bluetooth headphones, speakers even branded tablet computers, with personalised cases. Whilst on the subject of personalised cases, leather products work very well also. Leather items simply emanate sophistication and look amazing when stamped with a person’s initials.
Whatever your method is, no matter how big or small, all thank you’s are appreciated, whether they are in a professional environment, or personal, if you feel someone is well deserving, why not thank them today! Thank you for reading our #PPWeek2017 #ThankYouPPW inspired blogs, we update our blogs weekly with what we feel is useful not just for our customers, but for everyone in the marketing environment, I hope you continue to read on and stay tuned!