It isn’t about one date

We have 2 workplace dates this week: Employee Appreciation Day on March 6th and International Women’s Day on March 8th. 

We are surrounded by awareness days, appreciation days, themed weeks and calendar prompts. Some are meaningful. Some are commercial. Most of them start because someone with a reason and enough reach decides something deserves attention. 

Over time they gather momentum in workplaces and on social media, and before long they are embedded. 

To have a day dedicated to something specific and important can be helpful. It prompts us to stop, think, and act. However, missing the exact date isn’t what really matters; it is the repeated and ongoing behaviour that is most important. 

Employee appreciation isn’t a themed email or a single Friday acknowledgement. It is whether people know on an ongoing basis, that their contribution is recognised in a way that is specific and sincere.  

Recognition can often be in short supply, even in companies that are well run and full of good people. 

Most leaders I meet care about their teams. They work hard, they are fair, and they are trying to build a business they are proud of. Yet ask people whether they feel fully appreciated and you will often get a hesitant answer; not because anyone is unkind, but because in the daily running of a business, reacting to demands and time pressures, words and gestures of appreciation are often lacking or insufficient. 

A lot of workplaces end up praising the loudest outcomes: the big new client, the latest project, the visible win. Meanwhile, the things that keep a business delivering can go unspoken: 

• The person whodiffusesa situation down before it escalates
• The one who fixes problems before anyone else even realises they exist
• The colleague who makes a new starter feel included
• The person who does the work nobody else wants to touch
• The reliable people who keep standards high and keep things moving 

Recognition needs to be real, specific, and personal. 

A few questions worth asking, whether you are a small firm, scaling a medium-sized team, or leading inside a larger organisation: 

• When was the last time you thanked someone for something precise, in a way that showed you noticed the effort behind it?
• Who is consistently reliable in your organisation and rarely mentioned?
• What do you praise most: outcomes only, or also judgement, care, and how people behave under pressure? 

Why do we fail to show recognition? 

• Leaders assume people “know” they are valued
• Praise can feel awkward, or managers worry it will look like favouritism
• Hybrid working has removed some of the everyday signals of appreciation
• In high standards cultures, good work starts being treated as the baseline, so only problems get airtime 

Over time, you can see what happens: people stop stretching, they stop volunteering, and they keep their heads down. They are still doing the job, but they feel less connected to the place and to the people, so they don’t go the extra mile. 

What can work to increase morale: 

• Be specific: name what you saw, not a general “great job”
• Link it to impact: what did it change, protect, improve, or speed up?
• Notice the behind-the-scenes work: reliability, judgement, follow-through
• Match the person: some people like public praise, others prefer it privately
• Do it often: once a year in a review is too late 

If you want an easy way to make this a habit, use prompts: 

• “I noticed you…”
• “It helped because…”
• “Thank you for…” 

I run a gifting business, and it keeps this front of mind. Behind every gift is usually a message someone wants to express. The messages that recipients respond to most strongly are nearly always the specific ones. “Thank you for staying late to get that proposal over the line” rather than “Thanks for everything.” One feels personal; the other could be for anyone. Not only do we personalise individual gifts for our clients, but we also often provide guidance on gift messages. 

Why don’t you try this experiment this week: pick one person who has been consistently strong recently, especially someone who does not seek attention. Write one sentence that proves you have been paying attention, then either say it, write it in a card perhaps with a gift, or at least send an email expressing it. I can guarantee it will make their day and strengthen their commitment. 

People do not tend to leave only because of pay or workload. They often leave because they stop feeling appreciated. Recognition is one of the simplest ways to prevent that, and it sets the tone for the kind of workplace you are building.