Five Innovative Ways to Make Your Team Feel Valued From Day One

Making your team feel valued and appreciated goes beyond competitive salaries and good benefits packages (although these greatly matter, of course!); it’s about creating a work environment where your employees feel a sense of belonging.

When your team members feel accepted like they’re an integral part of your organization, they feel happier and, as a result, are more motivated and productive. It’s true; research shows that employees are 13% more productive when happy, meaning they work faster and better. Clearly, if you want a team of engaged and productive people in your company, you should do your best to show them they’re valued.

But how do you go about creating that accepting environment where your employees feel valued from day one? There are five highly effective ways to do that, and we go into each one in detail below, so keep on reading!

The Importance of Valuing Your Employees

Before we jump into the practical tips for making your team members feel appreciated, let’s back up a little and explain the reason behind this reasoning. After all, valuing your employees isn’t just a feel-good practice – it is, in fact, a strategic move that can greatly impact your bottom line. How? In several important ways.

Profitability and Productivity

It’s no secret that employees who feel valued and appreciated for their contributions are more likely to go above and beyond to achieve organizational goals. Don’t believe us? In addition to the Oxford study mentioned above, a Gallup research showed that engaged employees are more present and productive, which results in a 14% difference in productivity and a 23% difference in profitability for a company.

Customer Satisfaction

Another fantastic benefit of having happy employees is having (more) satisfied customers. This is because happy workers – those who feel valued and appreciated at work – tend to put more effort into building positive relationships with customers and delivering excellent customer service.

Research from Hay Group reveals that engaged employees are 50% more likely to exceed expectations than their least-engaged counterparts. Plus, they outperform disengaged workers by a whopping 89% in customer satisfaction.

Employee Retention

No company likes high employee turnover – not only is it disruptive to the company’s operations and team dynamics, but it’s also costly. Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to retain your top talent – while some people may find a better-paying job, others may choose to move or follow a spouse transferred to a different location.

However, a large percentage of workers leave due to work dissatisfaction or negative experiences in the workplace, and in these cases, you can do plenty to make your workers stay.

In addition to fostering a positive and collaborative environment, you can implement recognition programs. According to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), having a recognition program reduces employee turnover by 34%, and, as a bonus, it increases employee engagement by 79%.

Five Effective Ways to Make Your Employees Feel Valued

Clearly, every single organization would benefit greatly from making their employees feel valued and appreciated. Based on research, here are some of the most effective ways to do just that.

Personalized Onboarding Experience

Start by understanding your new employees; after all, starting a new job can be a stressful experience: there are new faces, new routines, and a whole lot of uncertainty. And this is true even if you’re the best manager on earth – your new employees don’t know that yet.

What you can do to make them feel welcome (and the whole experience less scary) is offer them a personalized onboarding experience. Keeping things personal in this initial stage can create a deeper relationship with your employees, which, in turn, can help them adjust to their new routines easier and faster.

We recommend starting onboarding before the first day to reduce the anxiety of starting a new job. You can do this by sending your employee(s) a personalized plan of what their first few days or weeks will look like. Make sure you pepper each individual plan with the employee’s personal information (name, email, job title, etc.).

Another fantastic way to personalize the onboarding experience is by creating welcome boxes for new employees. These welcome packages can be anything from personalized notes and company swag to snacks and goodies or even some mindful wellness tools. What you should include in the box depends entirely on the nature of your business and what you’re trying to achieve with the onboarding experience.

Foster a Sense of Belonging

A sense of belonging in the workplace is absolutely essential for your employee’s wellness and productivity. In fact, according to the American Psychological Association (APA) survey, 94% of respondents say that it’s important to them that their office is a place they feel they belong.

Why does this matter? Psychologists divide relationships into two categories: “strong ties” and “weak ties.” The former are close relationships with family members and close friends, while the latter are relationships with acquaintances, such as the folks you talk to at the office water cooler.

You would think that only “strong ties” are essential to a person’s life satisfaction, but research shows that, perhaps counterintuitively, “weak ties” are as important. This is where work relationships come in.

To foster a sense of belonging and make your employees feel heard and connected with not only their coworkers but their superiors, as well, create regular opportunities where everyone can talk to each other. This could be a group chat of just 15 minutes before each meeting or a two-hour get-together at the end of a workweek when you can chat and snack.

Team-building activities and similar events, such as a team retreat, a volunteer day, or a monthly happy hour, are also great options as they allow team members to bond and connect outside of the office.

Regular Recognition and Feedback

Every single person likes being recognized and appreciated for their hard work, but too often in workplaces, this recognition is reserved for big achievements. To make your team members feel valued from day one, make it a habit to recognize their efforts and contributions regularly.

According to Harvard Business Review (HBR), employees need both recognition, which is about giving positive feedback when deserved or even an award or bonus, and appreciation, which is about acknowledging a person’s inherent value or their worth as a human being and a colleague.

So, make sure you recognize your team’s hard work by giving them lots of positive feedback or something more formal and bigger, such as a promotion or a raise. This can be highly motivating and keep your employees engaged, not to mention make them feel valued for their efforts.

At the same time, don’t forget to show appreciation for your team members irrespective of their achievements: listen to them, tell them what you value about them, and regularly check in to see how they’re doing.

Invest in Professional Development

A fantastic way to make your employees feel truly valued is to show them you’re invested in their growth. You can do this by offering opportunities for professional development, such as training workshops, online courses, or even tuition reimbursement for further education. What you offer should, of course, depend on the nature of your business.

By investing in your employee development programs, you’ll not only show you care about them – you’ll also gain more educated and skilled workers. It’s a win-win scenario, really.

On top of that, it’s well known that top talent, who are ambitious, highly motivated individuals, look for more than just a hefty paycheck – they also place a great deal of importance on other work perks, including opportunities for professional development.

So, offering practical and relevant (to your field) training and development programs can not only help motivate your current employees but also help you attract high-performers.

Create a Culture of Transparency and Trust

Finally, transparency and trust in the workplace are essential to creating a healthy, collaborative work culture. When your team members feel like they're kept in the loop and trusted to make decisions, they're more likely to feel valued and respected. This really is a no-brainer, but somehow, many companies forget this simple yet highly effective strategy (the larger the company, the more likely this is to happen).

Being honest and open with your employees builds trust and strengthens loyalty, leaving your team feeling like they’re working for an honest organization, with superiors they can trust.

As a leader, it's essential to communicate openly and honestly with your team, even when the news isn't great. Keep your team informed about company updates, goals, and challenges, and encourage open dialogue and feedback.

You should also try your best to foster a culture where team members feel comfortable speaking up and sharing their thoughts and ideas without fear of judgment or reprisal. This, of course, requires you to be communicative and honest yourself, welcoming of your colleagues and employees' feedback and opinions.

Conclusion

The bottom line is this – if you want your organization to thrive, you must invest in the happiness of your employees. By prioritizing your team members’ well-being and satisfaction, making sure they feel recognized and appreciated, and by investing in their training and development, you can build a happy, motivated, and highly productive team that will help your organization achieve what it is aiming for – and more.