Personal and professional happiness are two things that everyone should aim to achieve. The idea of a ‘work-life balance’ has never been more prominent and long gone are the days when employees were seen as simply cogs in a machine. One of the main elements of personal and professional happiness is the fundamental need to feel appreciated.
When an individual feels appreciated, it confirms for that person that the effort and hard work that they have been putting in is having a positive effect and is valuable to a greater cause. Reinforcing someone’s hard work will only encourage them to continue working hard, and perhaps push them to go the extra mile in their role. In contrast, when appreciation is absent, it may not necessarily demotivate an individual, but they are far less likely to put in maximum effort if they don’t feel as though their extra effort is being recognised.
As an organisation, if you are not actively looking to reinforce positive behaviour and actions of your employees, you are most definitely missing an easy way to drive productivity. The benefits of showing employee appreciation also go much deeper. Increased employee engagement, increased employee retention and the creation of a company brand/culture all also come off the back of showing appreciation to your employees.
It is for these reasons that risual are always showing appreciation in different ways. Every week we award an employee of week as well as one at the end of every month. This is a way for managers and team leads to show appreciation for employees who have gone the extra mile in their team. As well as this, risual offer the opportunity for all employees to submit a Song of Praise. This is a chance for employees to show their appreciation for each other across the whole company, which really encourages integration and encourages employees to look to help other aspects of the business, not just the department that they work in.
“The deepest principle of human nature is a craving to be appreciated” – William James
