Turn Valentine's Day Into A Staff Appreciation Day

Don't limit the ways you celebrate employees to annual summer outings and holiday parties.

Forbes contributor Colleen Reilly once asked: Is there room for love in the workplace?. Perhaps a different, nuanced type of love. Perhaps the authenticity and empathy with other human beings to achieve common goals, like an organization’s mission and objectives, go a long way.

Researchers Sigal Barsade and Olivia O’Neill argue in the Harvard Business Review that employees who share more “companionate love” (a love of warmth and connection as opposed to passion) are more engaged. We all know that engaged employees are more productive and better for your business. 

Showing and sharing the love at work isn’t about giving everyone hugs, constantly complimenting each other’s work, and organizing a cheesy Valentine’s Day at the office. Small or large gestures show that you genuinely care about others, that you appreciate your team and team members for who they are and the work they do. Lending a sympathetic ear when a colleague is stressed, grabbing a coffee for a colleague who was burning the midnight oil, or organizing a monthly team event that’s focused on having fun help your managers, peers, and personnel feel cared for. 

Regardless of the shape or form that ‘love’ in the office takes, we should all be striving to weave it into our company culture so consideration and connection happen effortlessly and regularly. 

5 Ways To Show Your Team A Little Love And Appreciation

And, no, it doesn’t have to be on Valentine’s Day!

1. Get to know your employees - Take time to get to know your employees for who they are at work but also outside of work. Use 1:1s, team-building events, and icebreakers to learn about their interests, what makes them tick, who they hang out within the office, and anything else that’s appropriate. Because when you know who you work with and a little bit about their lives, it’ll help you to see work from their perspective and to show a little empathy when required. 
2. Recognize and reward - Proven to be a big morale booster, recognizing and rewarding effort and achievement is a great way to show a little team appreciation. It could be a shout-out in a team meeting, a gift, or a bigger ‘thank you’ in the form of a non-work-related team-building event. 
3. Encourage development and growth - Create a culture of learning and growth by giving employees opportunities to improve their skills and learn new ones. It could be internal or external training, shadowing, mentoring, or an internal secondment to another team. Any of these options can help employees feel like you’ve got their best interests at heart and want them to learn and grow rather than stay in the same role for years to come. 
4. Show compassion - Let your employees know you care. If you continue to push them and make excessive demands, it can come at the expense of emotional and physical health. Instead, try to come from a place of understanding. If an employee is currently burned out from home-schooling their children, maybe avoid scheduling back-to-back meetings with them, or if they’re struggling with remote work challenges, try to help them come up with ways to ease the pressure. A little compassion goes a long way.
5. Build internal relationships - Encourage internal networking and regular 1:1s between team members and managers to help foster deeper internal bonds. As an added bonus, consider setting up cross-team catch-ups to help spread networks further in the business. 

Given the past two years of craziness, it’s a great time to show your team how much you care. Of course you don’t need a Hallmark day like Valentine’s to celebrate your team, but why not use it as an excuse to draw your team out of the post-holiday winter slump and have some fun? 

Let Us Help You Celebrate Your Team This Valentine’s Day

With tinyB Chocolate, you can organize a fun virtual team building chocolate experience that will have everyone laughing with delight. We’ll send your team everything they need to participate in the experience and then one of our expert chocolatiers will guide them through a fun, engaging, and delicious event. With options available for under $50 per participant, there's simply no virtual Valentine’s team-building event on the market that employees love so much for such a small investment.

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