"Appreciation can be a stress buster as well, leading to a healthy work environment. It can also encourage low to mid rung performers to try and improve their outcomes so they can be recognized as well." Suman Chowdhury, Co-Founder & COO, Clovia

Employees don’t want careers to be punctuated with sob stories — my boss was terrible; the company grew but gave me nothing, just occasional peanuts; it was a thankless job. Ouch! Neither do employers want an unhappy workforce even as they set tough growth targets for the company and the employees.

There will always be a few sore thumbs sticking out but there’s nothing more discouraging than a demotivated team. That’s where the onus is, not only on the HR department but also on the top management to ensure employees are valued, appreciated and rewarded for their contribution, however small it might be.

Employees spend considerable time in jobs not just to earn a living or run their kitchens but to contribute meaningfully to the growth of the companies they are working for, and their own growth. For employees, good life is as much about holidays, parties as its about great work environment. If employee contribution towards the company goes unrecognised year-after-year it can lead to couple of unpleasant outcomes, detrimental to future growth of both the employees and the organisation.

First, it could mean losing high performers to competitors. As it is, there is shortage of top talent who can deliver consistently and losing a star performer just because she or he did not feel valued enough can be a difficult to compensate loss. Besides, high attrition means high costs both in terms of money and time in replacing performers, training new recruits and so forth. Second, nobody wants `deadwood’ in their companies — but high attrition could mean you are left with the less performing hands. Such a situation can result in a company derailing from its goals and growth.

Simple, inexpensive steps can go a long way in bringing about that change from creating a disgruntled employee base to one who delivers. It’s all about appreciation at workplace. Simple gestures like `Thank You’ or `great job’ for ostensibly mundane tasks can be the start of bringing about positive change. No contribution is small and any recognition makes employees appreciated at a personal level. Be careful to praise individually or in public but reprimand in private. PDA or Public Display of Appreciation can have a rub off on others as well, encouraging them to deliver and get similarly recognised. However, pulling up employees in front of their colleagues can be demoralising.

Many companies miss out on small gestures and wait till annual appraisal time to reward performers. To ensure consistent performance, rewards and recognitions have to come at regular intervals. If it’s an annual affair of rewarding, the carrot becomes a routine and will lose its impact over the years.

Also, if you are trying to differentiate from other companies it’s great to develop a regular appreciation program, as all companies do have annual appraisals, but may not have

spontaneous, on the spot recognition of a goal met. Make it a frequent habit to appreciate contribution, and don’t make that a once a year ritual.

Appreciation can be in multiple ways – from the occasional e-mail of great work done to paying for employees upskilling programs, sending them to business trips and have them represent the company at conferences. The more you recognise an employee the more encouraged will they be to deliver better results each day.

Appreciation can be a stress buster as well, leading to a healthy work environment. It can also encourage low to mid rung performers to try and improve their outcomes so they can be recognised as well. For instance, our regular beer evenings are also great stress-busters and team interaction events. Apart from this, we have 3 town halls in a year which allows us to present our short term plans with the team while sharing the progress on long term vision. This keeps us all on the same page.

Do keep in mind that money is a motivator, but only up to a limit. In fact, it’s not always money that encourages people but the sense of being valued, respected and rewarded at work. Money talks, but according to a University of Buffalo study, employees will not work harder or perform at their peak for money alone. Recognition is often more sought after than just increased compensation or benefits.

Some bit of regular appreciation is actually good. When employees feel valued they embrace the goals of the company as their own, and help achieve them with missionary zeal.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the authors' and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of this publishing house