Appreciate them now!
Reward and recognize your employees. It’s always important; and, it’s in a successful employer’s best interests to show employees that their efforts and performance are acknowledged and appreciated.
This theme is even more important today, given this ongoing-tanking economy. As an HR leader and employer resource, HRTools.com has thoroughly covered the topics of employee layoffs, alternatives to layoffs, etc.
We have also highlighted the importance of not overlooking those survivors of layoffs and downsizing events. Basically, many employees have been asked to accept the realities; and that they are expected to do more with less.
For example, many employees have been asked to:
- Take pay cuts;
- Accept pay freezes;
- Cut back on their hours and/or wages;
- Postpone bonuses or monetary awards
This is an especially relevant point right now, because when times are tough, it is easy for business owners to spend their time and efforts keeping their businesses afloat.
At the same time, employers can unknowingly put themselves at serious jeopardy. This is because employers can end up facing costly consequences, such as high turnover rates and decreased productivity levels, when they fail to take the time to appreciate their employees.
Not only that, it’s not uncommon for employees’ morale to wane in these hard times, and employees can start thinking, “I can still get paid just for showing up.”
There is a remedy, a positive solution. Organizations can use rewards and recognition to build employee loyalties, which helps motivate them to continue doing their best. I believe that most employees want to come to work and do something special.
Along these lines, consider the following powerful observation, as put forth by Attorney Fred S. Steingold, in this NOLO article titled, “Motivating Your Employees.”
“By taking notice of an employee's efforts and letting the employee know when he or she is doing an especially good job, you'll reinforce that behavior --- and the employee is likely to repeat and build on the traits you want to encourage. The beautiful thing is that you can recognize and reward an employee's good work at little or no cost.”
In my work as an HR professional, I understand how management is overwhelmed right now.
Business owners are focused on numbers, generating revenue and the bottom line, if not just plain surviving. As previously mentioned, it’s not unusual to see employers and management forgetting to pay attention to things such as employee appreciation.
So it cannot be overstated: Employees are the ones who see the businesses through the tough times; and when they do not feel appreciated, they often don’t bring forth their best game.
I also want to remind those in upper management of an often overlooked element of leadership.
It’s vitally important to recognize your direct reports—or those managers overseeing and supervising the employees. Take the opportunity to acknowledge and appreciate those front-line managers. Of course, managers are expected to do their jobs, and oftentimes, the focus or emphasis is entirely on correcting errors.
So don’t forget to recognize your front-line managers when things are done well and done right. As the attorney indicated above, employers will want to make the effort and reinforce those more positive behaviors.
Finally, as they say, it doesn’t cost a dime to stop and say to someone, “Thank you for doing such a good job. I appreciate you.”