We all need a little bit of love at the moment and Valentine’s Day and Random Acts of Kindness week are the perfect excuse to show your team how much they mean to you. After all, the 14th February isn’t purely dedicated to celebrating our significant others; there’s ‘Galentine’s Day’ (where women tell their closest friends how much they mean to them) and last year a survey by the National Retail Federation in the USA discovered that 27% of people buy their pets Valentine gifts. So, in a year where cash could be tight, your team may be dispersed across multiple kitchen tables, and everyone is sick of Zoom calls, how can you let your staff know how much you appreciate them and celebrate workplace friendships?
Send them a surprise gift in the post
It’s always lovely to get a surprise in the post and businesses have been quick to adapt their offerings to make their products easily accessible and deliverable. Whether you choose a personalised gift, some letterbox flowers (literally a bouquet that can be delivered through a standard letterbox), or maybe their favourite tipple, it goes some way to reminding your team that they’re appreciated.
Gift a voucher from a local business or restaurant
Sending a voucher for somewhere local not only supports your local business community during a time of huge stress and crisis, but also gives your team members the option to look forward to something in the future.
Give them an extra day off
Offering an extra day or half day off can provide your employees with the opportunity to gain some headspace. This could be particularly helpful if they are also juggling home schooling responsibilities.
Send them a handwritten card
In the last year everything has suddenly become very digital. Emails, video calls, group text and WhatsApp messages, so sending a handwritten card makes a nice change. It also lets your team members know that you have personally taken the time to think about them. You could even throw in a recognition certificate too (which doesn’t necessarily have to be work related).
We’re just going to add here that we should show our employees how much they mean to us all year round. In the same way that Valentine’s Day shouldn’t be the only time you tell someone you love them; it shouldn’t be the only time you let your team know how important they are to you. Richard Branson put it perfectly when he said, “I’ve always believed that the way you treat your employees is the way they will treat your customers, and that people flourish when they are praised.” We couldn’t have put it better.
Random Acts of Kindness Week also provide a free downloadable calendar with little nudges and ideas of ways to improve workplaces by being kind. We’ve downloaded ours and think it’s an amazing resource full of ways to show the important people in your life how much you appreciate them.
If you’d like any more advice on how to let your team know how important they are to you or if you fancy sending us a bunch of flowers or some champagne, get in touch.