One of the biggest assets a successful business has is its people. Once you have built a team that’s helping you achieve your business goals, keeping those people together should become one of your many business owner priorities. Recognising and rewarding loyalty is fundamental to doing this.
In this article, 1st Formations, who have helped register more than 1 million UK companies, delve a little deeper into why you need to reward your top team members and share some ideas on how you can go about doing this.
Let’s start by looking at the reasons for recognising and rewarding loyalty.
1. Retention
The top and most obvious reason for rewarding your loyal employees (perhaps they’ve been with you since the start) is to retain them. Job hopping is becoming more and more popular, with data from LinkedIn indicating that 25% of Gen Zers (people born in 1997 or later) and 23% of millennials (people born between 1981 and 1996) were planning to leave their jobs ‘within the next six months’.
Whilst giving thanks may not be the key driver in convincing the highly skilled and highly motivated members of your team to stick around and continue their career path with your business, it will certainly not do the chances of them staying any harm.
And of course, by keeping your top people, your business can continue to flourish, and you can save yourself from a recruitment and then training headache (the longer someone has been with you, the more business knowledge they’re going to have).
2. Motivation
By sufficiently and openly rewarding your long-term employees – we’ll explore how you can do this shortly – you are clearly demonstrating to them that you appreciate their effort. This should motivate them to continue delivering their high standard of work (we’re assuming that they’re loyal and valuable)… or take steps to do even better.
This is because, rather than be content with what they have achieved and go into cruise control, the truly driven individuals on your team will want further recognition, and so strive to deliver more – partially to receive the reward but also to please you, the boss.
What’s more, their colleagues will be inspired to reap the same rewards, so they too will be more likely to dedicate themselves to the business and up their game. All of this can result in a devoted and highly motivated workforce.
3. Recruitment
If you are looking to take on more people, you can use your long-serving team members to showcase what a great working environment you have cultivated and convince candidates that your business is right for them. After all, it would be a great place to work if employees remain loyal to you and your business.
There are a number of ways you can do this, such as:
- Create team-focused content (‘Meet the team’ blogs and videos) that you can share on social channels
- Post on LinkedIn whenever a key milestone is met (‘Congratulations to Peter who is celebrating his 5th anniversary with us!’)
- Maintain an up to date ‘Our people’ section on your website where, if employees are willing, includes a joining date
- Publish employee testimonials on appropriate areas of your site, such as the ‘Our people’ section mentioned above and your ‘Job opportunities’ page if you have one
- Produce a company culture handbook that you can pass on to candidates – this can include personal stories from your team about their time with you
- Request that your team leave reviews on employer review platforms such as Glassdoor
If an applicant has a choice between you and another business, all of this can give you that competitive edge and persuade them that your company is the better fit.
4. Culture
By regularly thanking and rewarding employees for their hard work, you are playing a key part in building a positive company culture, which in turn, provides a business with a number of benefits, including:
- Elevation in happiness, mental health, and well-being
- Increased productivity
- Improved employee retention
- Enhanced recruitment
- Goal clarity (with everyone pulling in the same direction)
Consider what happens when you don’t provide team members with recognition. They feel undervalued, used, and potentially resentful. Not only will this affect individual performance, but it will also negatively impact the team as a whole, as people share their grievances with each other.
Take those initial steps into fostering a strong company culture by recognising the team members who deserve it.
How should you recognise and reward loyal employees?
So, now we know you need to make a fuss about your dedicated employees, let’s focus on how you can do this.
A simple thank you – Take the time to have a quiet 1-2-1 word with your loyal staff and thank them for all their hard work. Let them know that you appreciate their efforts and are genuinely grateful. This basic act will demonstrate to employees that they are valued and will empower them to continue delivering.
Celebrate them – It’s commonplace for businesses to celebrate birthdays, but why not take this further and also mark ‘business birthdays’, whereby you treat team members to cake and something fizzy when they reach a work anniversary? The gift is up to you, the important thing is to remember, and then honour the occasion.
Pay review – Whenever a time milestone is met it’s inevitable that employees will start thinking about pay rises. Pre-empt this and save your valued team members the stress of having to ask by holding annual salary reviews as and when someone enters a new working year with you.
Offer sabbaticals – If an employee has been with you for a significant amount of time (5 years for example), consider offering them a paid sabbatical to go travelling, study, delve deeper into a hobby or just spend time with their family. As well as being beneficial for the employees, this is a fantastic perk to attract new talent. If offering paid sabbaticals is a stretch, how about simply increasing the yearly holiday allowance?
Awards events – Celebrate the brilliant people in your business by holding employee of the month awards and hosting an annual awards ceremony (as part of the Christmas party, perhaps?). These events shouldn’t be about the prizes – although if you’re looking for inspiration, fine dining experiences and trips are always a winner – it’s about acknowledging the people who deserve it.
Thanks for reading
That’s the importance of recognising and rewarding loyal employees. We hope you find this article helpful as you seek to retain your dedicated team members, motivate their colleagues and attract new top talent.
1st Formations are the UK’s top-rated company formation agent. If you are looking to set up your own company, they are the perfect starting point. You can trade in as little as 3 working hours thanks to their quick and simple company formation process. Take a look at their company formation packages now.