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How To Show Appreciation For Your Team After A Tough Year

In business, there are good years and bad years. The good years are great – those are the ones where everyone remembers the office parties. The bad years are not so great – nobody wants to remember those. 

For most businesses, we’re coming towards the end of the tough year. And, given the ups and downs of the last twelve months, many teams are feeling quite exhausted. 

It’s critical, therefore, that managers show their appreciation for the people they serve. Failing to be grateful can lead to staff quitting, moral problems and deteriorations in your corporate culture. 

Celebrate A Tradition

Just because nobody outside your team celebrates something, it doesn’t mean that you can’t. In fact, team-specific traditions can be a great way to bring everyone together and make them feel special. Team members that feel part of something unique are much more likely to commit to a cause over the long-term. Traditions help to strengthen bonds and reinforce positivity in the workplace. 

Buy Everyone Lunch


There will be some people on your team whose love language is gift-giving. So buying everyone lunch is a great way to communicate with these individuals and show them your appreciation. In general, it is also an opportunity to bring everyone together and show that you care about their wellbeing. When you get people food, it gives them the sense that you’re looking after them. 

Help Them Prepare For The Holidays

With the holidays just around the corner, many managers and executives are showing their appreciation by helping their colleagues prepare. Turkey and ham gift certificates are all the rage right now. These are simply coupons that employees can use to get discounts on meat for Christmas and Thanksgiving. 

Write Them A Personal Thank You Letter

You can also try things like writing them a personal thank you letter. A hand-written note is a great way to express more personal feelings of gratitude for what they’ve been doing over the past year and makes a nice change to good-old fashioned email. 

Give Them More Time Off

You don’t always need to work your colleagues to the bone, especially if they’ve been giving it their all over the last 12 months. Instead, you can show your appreciation by offering them more paid time off. Most employees will jump at the chance – and thank you for it as well. 

Some workplaces actually reward employees with extra time off for high performance. There is no reason, for instance, why a colleague who completed a project early needs to stick around in the office all day long, just because their contract says that they must. Give this employee a break and allow them to use their time more effectively for something else. Often, they will come back refreshed, recharged and ready to take on the day. 

Give Them A Gift Card

If your employees work remotely, then you might want to send them a digital gift card. These are incredibly simple to set up. Just log onto your favorite online retailer and then go to the gift card option. Then send out the gift cards to all your employees who you think deserve some much-needed VIP treatment. It’s simple, quick and effective. Employees will remember it. 

Publicly Thank People

Some brands even make a show out of the gratitude process itself, publicly thanking employees for their contributions throughout the year. This idea works really well and is becoming more popular across a wide range of industries. Employees don’t just want recognition from their bosses: they also want public recognition for the contributions they’ve made towards the team as a whole. 

How you publicly thank people is very much up to you. However, many firms are having success with award ceremonies. This is where they get the whole staff into a single venue and then present people with awards for their good work. Often the awards are highly specific, detailing the individual contributions that the team member made. The purpose of this is to ensure that they don’t go away thinking that their teammates didn’t pick up on something that they did. 

Of course, holding an event like this comes with risks. Failing to include all team members can lead to resentment. 

Recognize Contributions Immediately

You can get around this by recognising contributions and your team’s hard work immediately. Don’t wait for weeks to go by before you show your appreciation. Instead, once a team member accomplishes something, congratulate them for their efforts.

So, are you showing enough appreciation for your team or will these ideas help? 

Rania

rania@transpremium.com

I AM RANIA MERCHAK ANDRAOS, A CAREER MOM WITH A PASSION FOR WORDS, FITNESS & HEALTH, AND FOOD! STICK AROUND AND ENJOY THE RIDE AS YOU GET A GLIMPSE OF MY WORLD!

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