Why you should make every day an employee appreciation day

Employee Appreciation Day is just around the corner. If you’re not aware, it’s time to add it to your calendar, and don’t forget to make it a recurring event! Employee Appreciation Day falls on the first Friday of March every year, so that’s 1st March this year.

If there’s one thing we know about Singaporean work culture, it’s that we don’t give praise and recognition generously enough. When was the last time you told your peer or your direct report that they’re doing a good job and that you appreciate them? Conversely, when was the last time you received a compliment from your colleagues or your manager?

This needs to change — making employees feel appreciated can go a long way. As such, in light of Employee Appreciation Day, we’d like to emphasise on how important reward and recognition is in the workplace, share some best practices on how employers can leverage recognition to shape company culture, and demonstrate how you can tie it in nicely with your company values.

Employee appreciation matters. Let’s get started.

Why is it important for the leadership team to show their appreciation on National Employee Appreciation Day?

Employee Appreciation Day provides a timely opportunity for the leadership team to be more intentional with their words and actions, and focus on acknowledging and celebrating the hard work and dedication of their employees.

However, it’s not just about celebrating one day out of the year and getting it over and done with. Showing appreciation should be ingrained in your work culture, where positive feedback and public recognition is encouraged and done regularly. Doing so leads to many benefits, such as:

Boosting employee morale and productivity

Recognition and appreciation are powerful morale boosters. When employees feel valued, they are more likely to be motivated, engaged, and satisfied in their work. This positive energy can have a cascading effect on team dynamics and the overall workplace atmosphere.

Appreciated employees also tend to be more productive. A study by Glassdoor found that 81% of employees surveyed felt motivated to work harder when their boss showed appreciation. When individuals feel that their hard work is recognised and valued, they are likely to be more committed to their tasks, leading to increased productivity and efficiency.

Enhancing employee engagement and retention

Did you know that employees who receive great recognition are 20 times more likely to be engaged as compared to employees who receive poor recognition?

Everybody likes to be recognised for a job well done, but according to our Talent Insights Report for Singapore, many employees feel like they aren’t being appreciated. Not only was ‘a lack of reward and recognition’ a top reason for seeking a new role in another business, 21% of employees would be encouraged to stay in their role should their business establish a better reward and recognition program. If you needed any more proof, a further 32% would consider taking a role elsewhere, should the other business have a better reward and recognition program.

Recognising and appreciating employees contributes to higher levels of job satisfaction and loyalty. When employees feel appreciated, they are less likely to seek opportunities elsewhere, reducing turnover and the associated costs of recruitment and training. These findings speak volumes about how important recognition is for employee engagement and retention. If you aren’t putting in effort to recognise your employees, they’ll move on to greener pastures.

Fostering a positive work culture

Demonstrating appreciation on Employee Appreciation Day contributes to building a positive company culture. When leadership demonstrates a commitment to recognising and appreciating employees, it sets a good example for the rest of the organisation. This creates a culture of gratitude and appreciation at all levels, facilitating a harmonious and collaborative work environment.

Improving employee wellbeing

Research has shown that when employees receive genuine recognition, their brain releases oxytocin, which is associated with trust, social bonding, and happiness. This leads to a cascade of positive effects on the individual and their job performance as a whole. Gallup’s report also revealed that employees who strongly agree that recognition is an important part of their organisation’s culture are half as likely to experience frequent burnout than those who do not.

Needless to say, feeling valued and appreciated at work has a positive impact on an employee’s well-being. Recognising their efforts will contribute to lower stress levels and higher job satisfaction, promoting a healthier work-life balance.

Strengthening employee-manager relationships

Employee Appreciation Day provides leaders with an opportunity to connect with their teams on a deeper and more personal level. Expressing gratitude and acknowledging individual contributions helps build stronger relationships between employees and their managers, by fostering trust and mutual respect.

Encouraging open communication

Demonstrating appreciation also fosters open communication between leadership and employees. When employees feel valued, they are more likely to share their ideas, concerns and feedback, contributing to a culture of transparency and open dialogue.

Our top Employee Appreciation Day ideas

Now that you know all about the benefits of employee appreciation, what’s next? We’ve got plenty of awesome suggestions here for you to check out. Remote employees included too!

If you’re spoilt for choice however, here are our top three favourite ways to reward employees:

Give everyone an extra day off

Time is precious to everyone, and sometimes, we all just need a breather from work so we can rest and come back stronger. As part of Employee Appreciation Day, why not give your employees an extra day of leave?

Doing so gives them the freedom to decide how they’d like to spend it — they could be off volunteering, catching up on errands, spending time with loved ones, indulging in self-care activities or having fun on their hobbies. You’ll be amazed at how far it can go in making them feel refreshed and recharged, after spending a full day tending to their personal lives.

Make it remote-friendly: This works across both in-office and hybrid teams, so you don’t have to worry!

Treat everyone to delicious food

What can we say? Singapore is a nation of foodies, and the way to your employees’ hearts are certainly through their stomach. No one says no to delicious treats — so it’s entirely up to your budget how you’d like to show your appreciation. From high-end buffet meals to affordable treats like donuts, ice cream or coffee, gift your employees a surprise on Employee Appreciation Day and it’ll be sure to put a huge smile on their faces.

Make it remote-friendly: Send them a snack box full of goodies, or restaurant vouchers they can redeem at their convenience.

Tickets for events, attractions, concerts or activities of interest

Nothing excites people more than a cheap thrill, even more so when it’s free! In recognition of their hard work, encourage employees to have a healthy work-life balance by gifting them free tickets to the latest movie, concert or exhibition on Employee Appreciation Day.

Life is more than just about work — and sometimes, you never know what might spark their creativity. Giving them the opportunity to expose themselves to interesting ideas and concepts will enrich their lives and empower them to think more critically, translating to more well-rounded individuals at work.

Make it remote-friendly: Get them e-tickets which can be sent straight to their emails for easy access.

What are the best practices for employee recognition?

It goes without saying that employee recognition isn’t just about showering your employees with gifts and fancy words for a day. It extends beyond that — and to ensure you’re doing right by your employees, we’ve got a couple of tips to share that we believe you’ll benefit from.

Gallup and Workhuman have identified five essential pillars which you should keep in mind when it comes to employee recognition. Their research has shown that recognition is most effective when it is:

1. Fulfilling — The amount of recognition that employees receive makes sense.
2. Authentic — It isn’t just a checklist thing.
3. Personalised — One size doesn’t fit all.
4. Equitable — It’s given fairly, without playing favourites.
5. Embedded in company culture — It’s integrated into the day-to-day.

In addition to these five key pillars, to maximise the impact of recognition in your organisation, there are four practical steps you need to take to transform your culture or protect the culture you have already built. They are:

1. Establishing your workplace culture goals and values in alignment with business strategy.
2. Using recognition to reflect your workplace culture goals and values.
3. Continuously evaluating and refining your recognition strategy.
4. Promoting quality recognition across your organisation so your culture can flourish.

In essence, employee recognition is a pivotal tool for building company culture. A culture boosted by recognition can drive engagement and produce other tangible results across key business metrics such as customer loyalty, profitability, productivity, turnover and more. It’s up to you to leverage the power of employee recognition, to transform and sustain the company culture that will propel your business forward and achieve its long-term goals.

How can you use employee recognition to reflect your company culture goals and values?

Many companies don’t realise how important it is to use recognition as a tool, to bridge the gap between your company’s values as ideals and making them tangible behaviours. When you’ve established what your company values and goals are, they need to be communicated clearly to the rest of the organisation, and get company-wide buy-in.

Recognition helps by positively reinforcing how you want your culture to manifest in the day-to-day lives of your employees. Simply stating your company goals or values but doing nothing to reinforce them across the business will just lead to disinterest and apathy amongst your employees.

Instead, when you recognise employees for exemplifying behaviours that your organisation aspires towards, you provide them with insight into what is expected of them, and encourage them to engage in similar behaviours in the future. In fact, a Gallup report found that employees who say their recognition program is aligned with the values of their organisation are 4.9 times more likely to strongly agree that they know what is expected of them at work, compared to employees who feel that their recognition program is not aligned with the values of their organisation.

Recognition also taps into and makes use of everyone’s ability to learn socially — when an employee is publicly recognised for a certain behaviour, others are more likely to engage in that behaviour because they’ve identified that your organisation values it.

For example, here at Employment Hero, our reward and recognition program is closely tied to our five core values, and it’s a great way to acknowledge employees who have been exemplary in showcasing these behaviours. Not only does it help to reinforce our company core values, it also inspires and motivates everyone else to learn from our fellow peers and strive to embody the same values in our day-to-day work.

Make every day an employee appreciation day

That’s right. Employee appreciation should not be limited to Employee Appreciation Day — it should be an ongoing, continuous part of company culture. If you’re at a loss on how to start building an employee recognition program or don’t have a huge budget, why not let Employment Hero help you?

Recognition tools matter, and our all-in-one cloud HR management software comes packed with handy features that you and your employees can use for peer-to-peer recognition. Celebrate work anniversaries, express gratitude, recognise employee achievements and more — they’re all possible with our recognition platform.

Keen to find out more? Book a demo with us today!