Appreciation is one of the best benefits a business can offer its workers. Happy, appreciated employees are more likely to work hard toward a company’s mission and stay on the job longer. Both of these elements of staffing mean a better bottom line in terms of profits and losses. As a result, keeping staff happy should be a top priority. Fortunately, there are many ways to show your employees that you value and appreciate them.
1. Partnerships and Discounts
One easy way to acknowledge the hard work of your people is to offer them discounts and rewards with corporate partners. When they’re not working, many people enjoy traveling, sightseeing, and taking leisure time in several ways. A corporate discount program will offer your employees the opportunity to fly, rent a car, and even visit places like Disneyland at reduced rates.
These discounts go beyond travel and leisure. Many programs will offer lower prices on necessary expenses like car insurance, cell phone plans, and pet insurance. When you pay employees a fair wage and offer these kinds of savings, you’re showing you value your people. Then, every time an employee takes advantage of discounts and savings, they’re more likely to connect their happiness to your company.
2. Mental Health Days
While most businesses offer employees paid vacation time and sick days, it’s also important to acknowledge the need for rest. Americans today, for the most part, are overworked and underpaid. Even if they get fair wages, they likely still feel overworked — hustle culture is alive and well. What this reality means for your business is that you may be contributing to your employees’ burnout without even realizing it.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t change it. One way to combat overwork and stress for your staff is to offer a handful of paid mental health days to be taken each year. Sometimes, you just need a day to collect your thoughts, to walk in nature, or to sit inside and binge-watch Netflix. Giving your employees the freedom to make those calls for themselves goes a long way toward spreading goodwill.
3. Remote or Hybrid Work Options
Several countries and companies have experimented with offering more flexible work options to workers. Indeed, the global shutdown in response to COVID went a long way toward showing businesses what staff is capable of off-site. The question has only become increasingly pressing: do you really need to have your staff in the office all day and all week long? Sometimes, it can be good for team building and morale.
Other times, it can feel oppressive and gratuitous. And businesses that recognize the difference can have a huge impact on their employees’ health and happiness. You can offer the option to come into the office for only part of the week or for days. You could let employees work remotely except for important meetings. Or, you could just allow everyone to work from home on Fridays. The more flexible you are, the happier your employees are likely to be.
4. Training and Promotion from Within
Another important feature to offer your staff is one that benefits the company in exponential ways. Implement training programs that ensure promotion from within and watch employee retention rates skyrocket. It’s frustrating beyond belief for staff to watch people from outside the company come into higher positions than their own. Taking this approach is likely to leave your employees searching for work outside of your business.
Instead, you can show your staff that hard work and ingenuity pay off. Provide them with ways to stand out and grow with the company. Offer training programs or reimbursements for educational programs outside of the company. Then, ensure everyone is aware of openings as they come up, so your staff can vie for those spots. As employees watch each other succeed, they will also be more likely to work hard and grow.
5. Support for Parents
Finally, while you’re focusing on supporting your staff, don’t forget to support the parents you have on staff. There is no paid federal maternity or paternity leave in the United States, and only a handful of states offer paid programs. As a result, the responsibility falls to the businesses. You can build a paid parental leave program into your company that encourages new parents to stay home and bond with their family after welcoming a new baby.
Then, you can offer quality onsite childcare for parents returning to work. A daycare center parents can visit any time is a huge benefit. This combination of supportive factors will help ensure your employees feel good about growing their families while employed at your company. They will probably also be much less distracted by childcare needs farther away from your location and happier to come into work when they have to.
In the end, the more ways you can show your employees you value them the better. Happy, healthy workers are more likely to value the company they work for in return. This mutual appreciation can lead to employee longevity and the longevity and success of your business overall. With these approaches, even the largest corporations can feel like a family.