Thanking employees is 100% free

In the relentlessness of daily working life, it’s easy for employees to disappear from an organisation’s radar screen. With ever-present deadlines and back-to-back meetings, businesses can often forget to acknowledge a team member’s contribution, which can lead to staff feeling undervalued. And staff who feel undervalued can be at risk of considering their future.

While larger corporations have the budgets to invest in often significant reward and recognition programs, there’s a much easier (and cheaper) way to recognise the achievements of staff. It’s as simple as saying ‘thank you’.

Recently, I had the opportunity to meet Frank Blake, former CEO of The Home Depot — the largest home improvement retail business in the USA.

During his time as CEO, Frank made it a keypart of his routine to send handwritten notes to employees, thanking them for their standout customer service. Every Sunday, he would set aside time to write the notes — and across his seven years’ tenure, Frank estimates that he sent over 25,000 of them.

Over his time in the Home Depot’s top job, Frank knew how prized his handwritten notes became; team members would frame them and display them in their stores.

Through this route, Frank found a way both to connect with staff, and just as importantly, to underline the value of personal dialogue through a simple and arguably neglected form of communication.

While it’s possible that thanking staff for doing the job they’re paid to do could be viewed as unnecessary, it’s important to remember that employees are people. Real human people. And people crave recognition and affirmation when they do a job well. As Dan Ariely says in his book, Payoff, “acknowledgement is a kind of human magic — a small human connection, a gift from one person to another that translates into a much larger, more meaningful outcome.”

So, whether or not across-the-board pay increases or high-end incentive rewards are financially viable for your business, a simple ‘thank you’ always is. Ensuring that gratitude plays a key role in your internal communications strategy can be a powerful way to give your staff the recognition they’ve earned. It’s a human-first approach to IC that could be at the top of your daily to-do list.