Employee Appreciation Day officially falls on the first Friday of every March, but why not make employees feel appreciated every day?
Corporations are beginning to realize the direct correlation between employee happiness and company profit. The Boston Consulting Group collected data on employee onboarding and found that companies could nearly double their revenue growth when onboarding was well thought-out rather than just “average”.
It doesn’t take supernatural powers to make new employees feel appreciated and valued. What it does take is respect and continuing support to fuel their passions and strengths. One of the best ways to communicate these feelings is by gifting a new hire useful branded merchandise that's remembered and used over and over again.
The IT company Wipro found that focusing heavily on a thorough onboarding process which emphasized each individual’s strengths, and provided additional time for coaching and answering questions, made them 32% less likely to quit after 6-months of work in comparison to those who had participated in the traditional method of tedious company-focused onboarding.
No matter how excited a new hire appears, the first few days of engagement are a fragile balance and should be executed with careful planning and attention. Overwhelming anyone with company facts and figures, long orientation videos and lectures, and huge employee handbooks might be helpful for a robot - but would you really find it valuable if you were the new employee?
Shift your focus to the comfort and engagement of those new hires, rather than conducting a monotonous class about the company. Make the first day a celebration of you choosing them, help them understand the team they’re joining, involve their family and other coworkers, and give them an opportunity to feel needed. The gifts given should reflect what the recipient means to the company.
Emphasizing the new employee's value on day one and supporting that value with meaningful gifts that are branded with your company logo will keep them enthused and productive. Remember that this relationship is a mutual decision that should be nurtured, like any other partnership or friendship in life. So make it count with some quality branded gifts for your dream team.