Today is Employee Appreciation Day! The perfect opportunity for you to acknowledge your employees efforts. It is essential now more than ever to emphasise your businesses’ values and goals and appreciating how your employees contributions will impact growth and in this upcoming year’s recovery. Have a quick think – how is your current team engagement?
After a rollercoaster of a few years, employee engagement increased to 39% in January, up from 36% late last year, according to Gallup’s latest study.
In early March 2021, as work and life were first disrupted due to COVID-19, the overall wellbeing of workers declined; yet employee engagement showed to remain steady.Â
Whether you notice it within your own organisation or hear it from other business leaders; employee appreciation has become a need, not a want. It’s simple: employee appreciation positively impacts employee engagement levels and drives business success. Appreciating the work of your employees contributes to an increase in their work performance and strengthens when this appreciation continues.
As a result of COVID-19 a number of factors surrounding employee appreciation were observed;
Employees are getting more feedback:
Zoom meetings and other digital communication channels have increased communications amongst employees despite the distance. It has allowed for a more structured approach as to how work is transferred back and forth and has enhanced the opportunity to gain more meaningful feedback. It has proven to be a critical factor in the engagement of all workers.
Engagement among ‘hybrid’ employees has improved:
Long before the pandemic, those employees who worked remotely a few days of the week, already encountered higher levels of engagement. This engagement continued throughout 2020 and increased appreciation was shown for what they can achieve in changing up their environments.
Leaders and engagement of employees have taken a fresh turn:
Some would say leadership has become more difficult but is also at its most critical point. Leaders who are attempting to empower their team have faced various challenges along the way and will continue to do so;
Work life balance has become the latest challenge of organisational culture. Having to constantly update and review as to what your company can do for the whole person – not just the worker as all aspects are incorporated; the culture, resilience, performance – social, physical, financial and wellbeing aspects.
Trying to garner what the future holds is difficult to entail: how long until all out workers are vaccinated? Will we return to the office full time? What is the safest approach? The questions leaders ask themselves do not entail easy answers and they are accumulating.
Currently, the best approach for leaders right now is to be engaged and to nurture a culture of gratitude. Teams with engaged leaders are proven to be more engaged and appreciated, which leads to achieving your business goals and outcomes, adaptability and the chance to #bouncebackbetter.
Although, it is important to note that employee engagement does not simply mean that your employees are happy or satisfied. It goes deeper than that—a fully engaged employee is one who is personally and professionally invested in their work and company, proven by their willingness to go above and beyond for your business – they know they are appreciated!
Learn how Bizimply can help improve team engagement and productivity in the workplace! Speak to our advisors today.
