Four ways to show gratitude for your employees

At On Point Executive Center, we love to show our gratitude for employees. From junior assistants to senior partners, professionals at every level are integral to the smooth operation of the entire business model. Some bring youth and enthusiasm, others wisdom and experience. But whatever strengths an individual brings to the table, it's the cohesion of a whole team that helps companies reach the next level of success. 

Sometimes, showing that gratitude can be challenging. Managers may feel inclined to reward excellent work with more responsibility, and the finances of a company may not lend themselves to a bonus or raise. Especially in the first quarter of any fiscal year, resources for "thank you" checks might have been exhausted around the holidays, so finding other ways to show appreciation for employees is essential to keeping them engaged. 

From the sedate to the festive, displays of gratitude can make employees feel valuable and incentivize them to do even more great work. Here are some low-cost ways to demonstrate how thankful you are for your team's hard work. 

• Celebrate holidays. We hope every office enjoyed a warm and entertaining Valentine's Day, but that's far from the end of the holiday calendar. On this blog, we've discussed how obscure holidays can make lively office celebrations. Just around the corner is St. Patrick's Day, and it might be time to start planning your office Easter egg hunt. One helpful tip is to compile a list of all of your employees' birthdays, so that when the big day rolls around you have a format for celebrating that makes individuals feel special. 
• Organize potlucks. Bring-your-own lunch gatherings can feel a bit like elementary school, dividing employees into lonely little silos: one with a turkey sandwich, another with sushi, another with a bowl of cottage cheese. Why not open the floor for each employee to bring in a dish to share? Your team can show off its impressive cooking or baking skills and get out of the grind for an hour or two of community-building. Perhaps consider a chili cook-off in the office or cookie bake-off, with small prizes for the employee who wins a blind vote. Bragging rights are included, of course. 
• Give time off. Time is money, so paid time off comes at a price to employers. However, if additional days off are given to reward excellent performance, odds are good that your projects won't fall too far behind. Sometimes a long weekend is exactly what employees need to recharge and return to the office with renewed enthusiasm and focus. If the nature of your work permits it, letting employees work from home can be another way to relieve them from office pressures. 
• Invest in office indulgences. From massage chairs to state-of-the-art coffee machines, modern offices can include luxury items that would be unheard of in decades past. Comfy break room furniture, karaoke machines, soda fountains, cable TV for lunch breaks and other elements have come to define startup culture, and companies of any size or industry can borrow from that Silicon Valley approach to design. According to Fortune, perks are at the heart of startup recruitment and office culture. 

At On Point Executive Center, we're committed to creating office environments that support employees' creativity and productivity. Contact us today to learn more about our virtual office services and to check out our office space in Tampa. Go virtual! #onpoint