How to help your organization take gratitude to the next level

Pop quiz—where do you stand today?

See if you can answer these five questions around employee engagement:

1. What’s your employee engagement strategy?
2. Are you passionate about the well-being of your employees?
3. Describe your employee culture—and would your employees agree?
4. Do you plan to enrich the employee experience (EX) at your company this year?
5. What insights do you use to adapt to employee needs?

Have you considered these questions before? With so many priorities in the workplace, you may think there’s little time to address these big questions. You might even feel overwhelmed by the thought of where to begin or how to adapt your strategy.

This is a common challenge—and we can help.

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A new approach to employee engagement

At Augeo, we are architects of loyalty and engagement, and we’re passionate about building a culture of connection, collaboration and recognition. Our approach is simple, proven and effective—and it all starts with six pillars of engagement.

One of the most impactful pillars centers around the expression of gratitude. Did you know that 79% of employees cite a lack of appreciation as the most compelling motivator to quit their jobs? Expressions of gratitude and appreciation don’t cost a thing—but they mean everything.

Let’s explore the impact of gratitude on the employee experience.

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Gratitude is much more than a feeling

Simply put, gratitude is a compelling state of mind that strengthens our social bonds and improves our mental and physical health. This is as true for the person expressing their gratitude as it is for the recipient, if not more so. It’s a win-win—and it’s contagious.

The best part? Often, all it takes is a simple “thank you” or “great job” to kickstart the release of dopamine in the brain. Imagine how quickly the beneficial impact of gratitude can have on an entire organization.

Now ask yourself a different set of questions:

1. At your organization, is gratitude expressed at a companywide, department, team or individual level?
2. Through which channels and means do your people currently express gratitude?
3. How are expressions of gratitude amplified throughout your organization?

Assessing where your company stands is the first step before forming your plan. Step two is learning about new and creative opportunities to consider. For key insights with real-world application, check out the ‘Consider the difference’ sections in our complimentary guide—The Art of Employee Engagement.

You’ll be on your way to creating an environment in which people feel appreciated in no time.

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"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." —Maya Angelou

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3 ways to get started

To create a culture of recognition it needs to start from the top. That might sound like a tall order, but it all comes down to little (and intentional) expressions of gratitude that have a big impact.

1. Identify Influencers: Encourage your leaders to become ambassadors of gratitude, role models who inspire their teams through genuine and consistent communication of appreciation. When your employees observe this behavior from others, especially leaders they respect and admire, it becomes an unwritten rule that helps to build your company culture.
2. Evaluate Appreciation: Pair gratitude with an employee recognition program and the phenomenon is amplified.
3. Express Gratitude: If gratitude is not yet a part of your company language, kickstart an employee recognition campaign on Employee Appreciation Day—which falls on the first Friday of March. Before you know it, one day of recognition will evolve into 365 days of gratitude.

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Employees who feel recognized are 14x more satisfied with their role and responsibilities and 11x more likely to look forward to work each day.¹

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Augment your approach

There are many ways to express gratitude and appreciation. If your goal is to create a culture of connection, collaboration and recognition, consider the overall impact of your efforts. For example, companies may do what they have always done through tokens of appreciation, including printing and distributing thank you notes, cards, vouchers, gifts and plaques. Why not expand those joyful exchanges in a way that permeates throughout and inspires your entire workforce?

Implementing a central employee engagement platform creates opportunities to easily deploy and spread that joy—transforming individual expressions of gratitude into shared experiences with lasting impact. Consider how to broaden the scope of your gratitude and recognition efforts through an evergreen engagement platform.

• Customized E-Cards: Engage and energize your teams by encouraging them to send fun, colorful e-cards that can be customized and sent within minutes.
• Virtual Recognition Wall: Empower employees to share heartfelt messages through a virtual recognition wall that adds a compelling social dynamic to expressions of gratitude.
• Strategic Gifting: Transform individual gifting touchpoints into shared celebrations that your team or the entire company can enjoy.

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Leverage gratitude to transform your strategy

Expressing gratitude is only the beginning—and one of the six pillars of engagement you’ll learn about in our complimentary guide, The Art of Employee Engagement.

In this guide, we reveal new concepts to transform your organization’s employee experience in the modern workplace.

• Discover the six pillars of engagement
• Gain key insights with real-world application
• Explore next-gen strategies for every organization

Get your complimentary guide today!

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¹ Incentive Research Foundation