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Today has been dubbed ‘Employee Appreciation Day.’ Much like other popular awareness days, it can seem random. At best, it’s a welcome day for a free drink or lunch, but at its worst, it can be insulting to employees that managers and leaders need a reminder to treat them well. Showing gratitude and recognition for your employees’ efforts and excellence should come naturally and happen on a regular basis, as should continually striving to offer the compensation that employees deserve.
According to CUPA-HR’s 2022 Higher Education Employee Retention Survey, recognition for contributions was one of several areas of dissatisfaction among higher education employees, along with pay, schedule flexibility, and workload.
It’s safe to say that college and university leaders need to level up in order to attract and, most importantly, retain talent.
If you are ordering lunch or coffee for your employees today, that’s great, but it shouldn’t be a one-off effort. Much more is required to truly show that you appreciate and value your employees each and every day. A free meal or coffee or even a brief thank-you email — without institutionalized plans for addressing employee satisfaction — isn’t the answer to talent retention.
Consider today not only a chance to say ‘thank you’ to your employees but a call to examine where you and your institution have room to improve. Talk to your employees — find out what they need and where their challenges are.
Here are some questions to help you reflect and corresponding articles to reference as you develop action items:
- Are you having routine conversations with employees about their careers and offering guidance on career development? If you want staff members to stay and grow with your institution, you must invest in them and support them on their career journeys.
- Are you demonstrating empathy when employees need it most? Employees must be held accountable, but sometimes there are extenuating circumstances you cannot ignore.
- Do you foster equity among faculty and staff in the use of names and titles? Your language could result in some employees feeling their contribution is less than that of others.
- Are you a remote helicopter boss, or do your offer the flexibility needed in today’s world?
- Do you check in and truly listen to your team members?
- Have you prioritized employee health and wellness?
What has and has not worked for your institution or department when showing employee appreciation? Let us know in the comments below.
Disclaimer: HigherEdJobs encourages free discourse and expression of issues while striving for accurate presentation to our audience. A guest opinion serves as an avenue to address and explore important topics, for authors to impart their expertise to our higher education audience and to challenge readers to consider points of view that could be outside of their comfort zone. The viewpoints, beliefs, or opinions expressed in the above piece are those of the author(s) and don’t imply endorsement by HigherEdJobs.
