While expressing gratitude and appreciation for your employees is one way to celebrate the upcoming holidays , consistently thanking them throughout the year may be both the easiest and most effective way to recognize their accomplishments .
It may help to know that employee appreciation need not always be offered in tangible forms .
A Deloitte Survey conducted in 2019 found that 54-percent of employees prefer verbal appreciation , and 31-percent prefer written appreciation to recognize their day-to-day accomplishments . Only a small percentage of employees actually wanted a gift or celebration as a form of recognition . So , as it stands , consistently extending appreciation to your employees is as easy as holiday pie — easier , in fact .
Here are a few tips for extending workplace appreciation to your employees :
1 . Do It Regularly : This will vary by workplace , but take every opportunity to do it . Expressions of appreciation should occur more frequently than simply during an annual review or event .
2 . Know Your Employees : Some people like a high-five , others prefer an email . Tailor your show of gratitude to your employees ’ preferences .
3 . Individualize Your Gratitude : Relate your appreciation to the specific accomplishments of individual team members .
4 . Be Genuine : Your tone of voice , or written comments should be genuine and heart-felt .
Anna Hinton is the Executive Director of Human Resources at the Sellersburg campus of Ivy Tech Community College . She is a SHRM-Senior Certified Professional , with over twenty years of HR and leadership experience in academic and healthcare settings .