Today is Employee Appreciation Day! This is the one day to say thank you to your employees, to show them you value the hard work they invest each and every day, and that you care about their well being. Right?
Of course not. Just like Valentine’s Day isn’t the one day of the year to show affection to your significant other, neither is Employee Appreciation Day the only time to acknowledge your staff. As we’ve discussed in previous blogs, your employees are essential to creating the customer experience your business needs to stand out from the crowd.
As Shep Hyken says in his Forbes article, Keep Your Employees And You’ll Keep Your Customers, “Employees who love their companies will work harder, stay longer, and be more engaged with their customers.” He adds, “Work is becoming an extension of a person’s identity” because “An employee spends a large percentage of their waking hours working for a company”.
This is why it’s so important for your staff to feel engaged with your business, to feel like they’re making a difference and being recognized for it. Obvious tokens of appreciation, like perks or bonuses, are fantastic to be sure, but they’re not the only tools for earning your employees’ loyalty. So too is your investment in their growth, in how they develop—this entails education and training. When you coach an employee on how to be a better salesman using a mystery shop, or you send him to a training seminar, or even when you’re thoughtful enough to lend him your favorite self-improvement book, you’re telling him that you care about his development and that it’s important to you to see him realize his full potential. This shows a personal touch not often seen in the business world.
As ServiceThatSells.com’s article on the subject of Employee Appreciation says, “One day of employee appreciation won’t get you a year’s worth of motivation. For your employee appreciation efforts impact morale, productivity, and guest service in the long term, they must be part of your culture.” One such way of accomplishing this is to make sure you “Set employees up to succeed,” which you can only do by giving them “the tools and training.”
Mystery shopping is one such coaching tool to help your staff achieve success to the level you know they can attain. Another is training. The Brandt Group specializes in both. Contact us today to learn more about both tools and together we’ll help you create a plan to develop and retain the best staff possible, which will in turn enhance both profits and customer loyalty for your business.
