Personal : The importance of saying Thank You

The importance of saying Thank You

Time and time again we have read articles reiterating the fact that saying thank you to staff is so important. The reason that there is so much coverage on this seemingly simple task is because it works. Our research into happiness at work (in association with our latest report - The Business of Engagement, Improving Productivity Through People) found that contrary to popular belief, recognition means a lot to employees in the UK. In fact, 35% of UK employees would be happier if they had more recognition.

Whilst some people think that reward and recognition programmes exist only to tick boxes or give people a warm fuzzy feeling from doing something good - we know that this isn't the case. A carefully considered recognition programme can benefit your business in more ways than you might think.

Firstly, it can save you time and money. Is that enough to get you interested? What if we told you that staff that who are recognised in work are more likely to stay working for you for longer? Research tells us that when staff feel like they make a difference, they do, and they will be happier to work for you if you openly recognise their hard work. So, the happier staff are, the more likely they are to stay. This means that it keeps your recruitment costs down, eases the retention issue and saves you time spent replacing disengaged staff who have since left. What's not to like?

Still not convinced? That's ok, we get that it can be hard to talk people around, so we will give you as much evidence as we can to help you demonstrate the value of a simple thank you. Having happy staff not only reduces costs as just mentioned, it also adds to the bottom line. Happy staff are 12% more productive than unengaged staff, so what would a 12% productivity boost mean to your organisations bottom line? Surely this is something all businesses strive for, especially considering that we are lagging behind so many other countries in the productivity stakes. If you are in doubt about creating a culture of reward and thank yous, just remember that this is a relatively simple gesture that could significantly benefit your business.

When we talk about company culture we don't mean AstroTurf carpet and ping pong tournaments at lunch. These are all great, and some do work, but with more generations in the workforce than ever before, it is unlikely that this will hit the mark for all members of staff. Many Millennials are drawn to companies that work for the common good, and why can't this start in their own office before taking over the world of CSR? If you practise what you preach and make staff feel valued (regardless of their age, experience or preference for quirky benefits), then you might find people are happier to work for you.

We know that the proof is in the pudding and that you might not be convinced until you see some hard quantitative results. No problem, we have them. Last year, we implemented our own reward and recognition programme called Cheers (see what we did there?). This programme was a way to say an in the moment thank you to colleagues for those little things people do at work every day to make others' lives a bit easier. Previously we had quarterly awards celebrating those who went above and beyond, and although this was well received people also wanted a smaller way to say cheers to those who had helped in smaller ways too. Introducing Cheers alongside our quarterly awards meant we could recognise the small things within the business that often make a big difference but are not often celebrated. Our employee engagement scores continue to rise year on year and since its launch back in 2016 there have been 1,627 thank yous shared amongst staff.

Not only does this show that we implement internally what we recommend to clients, it reveals that something very simple, cost effective, that takes no time, can make a massive difference to employee engagement, happiness and performance. The team here at Personal Group are the perfect example.

To learn more about Personal Group and how we realised the importance of saying thank you, check out our article on Reward and Recognition here.