Yes, time may be dragging a tad as we're still in lockdown, it’s still February, but that at least is a good thing - after all, it’s the month of love and appreciation!
With everything that’s going on, it’s more important than ever to show your thanks and express your gratitude to your startup employees. In fact, in our previous posts, we’ve highlighted lots of different ways that you can do just that, including some fab gift ideas to say thanks to your employees.
However whilst it’s vital to recognise the individual members of your team, it’s equally important to consider the entire team. If you want your employees to be really engaged and have a happy and committed team, here are just a few of the ways that you can thank your startup team as a whole when you want to show your gratitude.
Rewards and Benefits matter
Firstly, if you haven't already thought about the perks and benefits that you provide for your team then now is a pretty good time to start! We’ve highlighted a few of the platforms that can help:
Caboodle can help you with creating a benefits programme that’s right for your startup team. Whether you want to incorporate additional financial benefits or lifestyle benefits, they can support you to do just that.
So, if you want your team to avail of a holiday purchase scheme or offer discounted gym membership when the gyms finally reopen, they’ll help you select and create the most relevant benefits scheme that will show your startup team that you truly value and appreciate them.
Ben will enable you to create a benefits programme that not only rewards your startup team but also gives them a little flexibility. You can provide each of your team with a Ben Mastercard and budget permitting of course, they can in turn choose how they spend it.
Ben will even allow you to integrate this as part of your onboarding process for new recruits. Involving your employees in the selection of benefits that suit them from the off can be a great way of keeping your team engaged and happy too - from day one!
Appreciate - As well as being the home of the Love2Shop voucher, Appreciate will enable you to introduce rewards systems for your staff so that you can either thank your entire team on an ad-hoc basis for a job well done or incorporate an incentivised system that is linked to certain targets or achievements.
Take time out
At the moment, when everyone is working remotely, it can be pretty challenging to schedule some downtime, but it's probably more essential than ever. You mightn't be able to pop out and grab a coffee or have an impromptu meeting or catch-up, so you might have to be a little more organised.
Schedule a catch-up with your startup team and hopefully not one where you’re just talking facts and figures and clients and contracts. Chat about the other stuff - the must-see box-set, the joys of home-schooling, the restaurant that’s providing the best takeaway service - whatever.
It’s the little chats like this that many employees are missing most by not working in an office with their colleagues - so reintroduce them, any way that you can! Your team will appreciate it.
Remember the life events
Whilst you may not all be in the office to celebrate Jane’s birthday with a cake, that doesn’t mean you should forget it. After all, she’s still having a birthday, lockdown or not! We know you’re busy, but set up those calendar reminders for the birthdays, the anniversaries, the career milestones, whatever!
And make sure that you recognise them when they happen - even if it’s an email shout out, a mention at the weekly team meeting or getting everyone in the team to send an e-card.
Knowing that you remember the important stuff in your employee’s lives will go a long way to helping them feel valued and appreciated.
Encourage recognition culture
We’re not necessarily suggesting that you should introduce an Employee of the Week or Month award, however, creating a culture where your startup team knows that they get recognition for work well done is important. And that doesn’t necessarily have to come from managers.
Ensuring that your team proactively recognises each other’s support and achievements can go a long way to keeping your entire team happy. Whether you introduce a formal peer-to-peer recognition system or simply create a company e-card that they can send when they want to say thanks to each other, what matters is that you encourage them to acknowledge each other.
Building a culture of gratitude will help your team stay engaged and feel more positive too.
Ask for their input
When you’re thinking about how to thank your startup team, don’t just assume that you know what they’ll like. Yes, for some a formal rewards system might suit perfectly, whilst others might want things to be a little more flexible.
For example, your team might love the option to finish early on a holiday weekend. Or someone might want to be a little more flexible with their working hours - particularly if they’re juggling lots of things - or homeschooling at the moment.
Ask for their suggestions and you might find they have lots of creative ideas that you could implement. By engaging them like this, and then by acting on some of their suggestions, you’ll be really boosting their morale too!
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Offering personalised, consultative service, at TableCrowd Talent we’re a specialist recruitment agency with our finger on the pulse of the startup and scaleup scene. We are committed to matching graduates, professionals and C-level executives to exciting startup and scaleup jobs across London, the UK and Europe.
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