9 Incredibly Simple Ways to Give Thanks to Your Team

“A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues.” – Cicero

A simple “thanks” might be a little word, but it can do wonders for your team’s morale and self-confidence. 

Do you know that 69% of employees considering quitting their jobs would choose to stay at their current positions if they receive recognition and rewards?

Indeed, you would not want your top performers to leave just because they felt their organization didn’t value their efforts.

No, you don’t need a particular reason to say thanks to your team; you can do it anytime, any day of the year. By the way, Thanksgiving is just around the corner. What better occasion to say thanks to people who grind it out daily for your business?

Need help with ways to give thanks to your team?

Don’t worry. We will help you out.

This article features nine simple yet effective ways to give thanks to your team and make them feel valued as the year draws closer.

Ways to say thank you to the team and lift their spirits (9 ways to implement)

#1. Say it loud and clear!

Now, one of the most traditionals ways to give thanks to your team is to say it! Quite simple, isn’t it? And yes, thank them face-to-face individually and both as a team. Even if you’re managing a remote team, schedule a video conference so that you and your team can see each other as you appreciate your workforce for their hard work. Putting a smile on people’s faces (when they least expect it) is the best thing you can do to make people feel better about themselves.

It’s common to see employers and managers undermine the importance of expressing gratitude. The good news is that thanksgiving to team members is 100%free! Besides giving “in-person” thanks to your team, you can also leave a short, personalized note on their desks, thanking them for their contributions to helping your business grow.

#2. Provide authentic and consistent recognition

When you are serious about thanksgiving for teamwork, it should not be “once in a while.” Instead, your focus should be on providing sincere and consistent recognition. Your “thank you” would carry more weight if you recognize an employee or group on accomplishing a milestone, like delivering a project within set deadlines, supporting a team member, and helping others tackle complex situations at work.

You can also find out how your team likes to be praised. Some yearn for public praise, and others appreciate this move in private. If they want personal recognition, you can send instant messages on your powerful project management and team collaboration software, like ProofHub. If they prefer public recognition, you can use the same software and use its Announcements feature to share your thanks with the rest of your team.

“Say thanks to your team personally or publicly with ProofHub. Sign up now!”

#3. Encourage and implement peer recognition

Do you know that coworker thanksgiving is one of the most powerful ways to give thanks to your team? 

When peers appreciate each other’s performance, it further consolidates their mutual trust and relationship. 41% of companies implementing peer-to-peer recognition have registered a positive boost in customer satisfaction as employees are more happy and productive.

You can enroll your entire team in a peer-to-peer recognition program. Your employees can appreciate each other by writing notes or appreciation quotes, shouting out hard work, and sending thank-you gifts to other team members.

#4. Offer them flexible working hours

This one features among the most trending ways to give thanks to your team. 

After Covid-19, more and more people now prefer flexible working models – remote work and hybrid work. If all your employees work from a physical office space, you can offer them remote work for a few days on a rotation basis. Doing this will give them much respite, especially during the holiday season when there are many family obligations and festival celebrations to look after.

Offering remote work once in a while to employees also gives them some respite from their daily routine, like commuting to and from work, which is not easy due to heavy traffic on roads these days. Also, they spend more time with their near and dear ones, which helps them achieve a satisfactory work-life balance.

#5. Ensure fair and even workload

Gallup’s latest State of the Global Workplace report finds that 57% of U.S. and Canadian workers reported stress at work daily.

To demonstrate your concern for your team’s physical and mental well-being, you should ensure no individual is overburdened with work to the extent that their efficiency and productivity take a nosedive. Smart task management is the key to ensuring fair and even workload among employees. 

Using Kanban boards in ProofHub, project managers can see work moving through multiple stages and empower teams to self-manage with workflows. Gantt charts enable managers to set dependencies between tasks and easily adjust your plans as work changes and deadlines shift.

It is one of the most considerate ways to give thanks to your team when so many pros are stressed out due to hectic workload.

#6. Put thought behind gifts

It’s the thought that counts. So, if you’re giving thanks to your team, make sure that you are putting a thought in every gift you choose to give. Avoid giving random gifts to your team, which can make them feel like you are doing it for the sake of it.

Understand each individual’s likes, interests, hobbies, and their personal lifestyle, which can help you choose an apt gift for a particular person. For example, if a team member is blessed with a newborn then you can consider clothing for infants as an ideal gifting idea. Similarly, if a person has a special liking for music then you could give a musical instrument.

Again, giving thoughtful gifts shows your team your considerate behavior towards each and every individual of your team.

“Gift your team the best project management and team collaboration software. Book your demo!”

#7. Reward behaviors, not just results

Kumar Ramachandran, co-founder and CEO, CloudGenix, says, “We rarely reward outcomes. Instead, we measure and reward cultural behaviors. Our belief is that when behaviors and culture are right, the results will follow.”

While it’s important to reward your team for good performance and productive results, you should also make sure to reward people who contribute to make your work environment vibrant, supportive, and engaged. If there are people who are not just getting better at what they do but also enabling others, you should applaud their wholehearted efforts.

#8. Take them out on a lunch

One of the best ways for managers to say thanks to your team is by taking them out on a lunch date. They would simply love this gesture and you can add icing to the cake by choosing a restaurant of their choice. You can make “paid lunch” a regular part of your thanksgiving practice, say once every quarter.

Use this lunch treat as an opportunity to forge a closer relationship with your team. Your team will appreciate that you took out time for this paid lunch and made efforts to strike a personal chord with them. 

#9. Help them make a charitable donation

Doing charitable deeds for others is one of the most empathetic ways to give thanks to your team. 

So often we forget that thanksgiving to your team can also be a way to enable them to help others in need. It’s likely that your team has a few individuals who are donating (in cash or kind) to nonprofit or charitable organizations. Why not support them in this noble cause? 

You can consider giving your team members some money to donate for a cause they care about. Whether they provide clothing and food for the poor, support women empowerment or fight against child trafficking, a charitable donation allows your organization to join hands with your team to do something good for those who don’t even know you.

Why is it important to thank your team?

Thanking your team is important because not doing so can have a negative impact on their self-esteem, morale, and productivity. Every human being yearns for appreciation though it has to be well-deserved.

Your team is a group of highly motivated and skilled individuals who work together to take your organization to the next level. Employees who feel appreciated, recognized, and valued for their outstanding contributions are likely to work harder and stay with their current organization.

Giving thanks to your team will build a positive, productive office culture, which will pave the way for your business’s growth – all because you cared to value people who matter the most.

Additionally, a workspace consisting of happy people will do better than a toxic workplace centered around biased behavior and self-interest, adamant on manipulating employees to improve the bottom line.

Selected team “thank you” messages you can use

If you’re having a tough time zeroing in on choosing the best thanks messages for your team, here are some awesome messagings ideas to choose from.

1. I’m speechless by how you maintain such consistency in your performance while taking on even more work. You rock!
2. Only an outstanding employee inspires their boss daily and you are that employee. Thanks a ton for setting such a fantastic example for everyone in our company!
3. As the year draws to a close, I wanted to thank you all for your perfect work ethic, positive attitudes, and energetic persona you bring to this workplace. Moving forward to next year, I’m looking forward to another year of continuous growth with such a star team.
4.  You are the best guide because you always put in efforts to encourage your coworkers. I am grateful to you for being such a motivational force on our team!

Read out employee appreciation quotes here.

Conclusion

A simple “thanks” to your team can make all the difference in these times of high employee turnover. Make sure that your thanksgiving to your team appears genuine and not another formal process.

There are many ways to give thanks your team. You can reward them with gifts, cash bonus, flexible work model and so on. Appreciated employees benefit their companies in more ways than one. Improved productivity, better work environment, increased employee retention, etc.

Wouldn’t you love to have a happy and productive workforce work for you? Surely!

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