Thanksgiving will soon be here; therefore, here’s a bit of information about the practice of giving thanks.
Throughout history humankind has celebrated the bountiful harvest with thanksgiving ceremonies. Harvest festivals and thanksgiving celebrations were held by the ancient Greeks, the Romans, the Hebrews, the Chinese, and the Egyptians. In 1621 the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast, which is now known as the first Thanksgiving in America.
This brief jaunt through history demonstrates that people have long recognized the benefits of saying thanks. While it’s very nice to have others thank us, it’s even better when we say thank you to someone else.
For employers, the effort of saying “thank you” to employees can have benefits far beyond the value of the moments involved. “Thank you” can motivate, validate, and give positive reinforcement. “Thank you” can enhance interpersonal relationships and make employees feel like valued members of the organization. In essence, employers can’t afford to not say thank you to their employees.
There are a variety of ways that employers can demonstrate their thanks to employees such as e-mails that publicly recognize their outstanding achievements, personal thank you notes, gift cards, paid time off, and, of course, cash. However, a “thank you” doesn’t have to be costly – it just needs to be sincere.
Humanresources.about.com sums it up nicely by saying, “Employee recognition is not just a nice thing to do for people. Employee recognition is a communication tool that reinforces and rewards the most important outcomes people create for your business. When you recognize people effectively, you reinforce, with your chosen means of recognition, the actions and behaviors you most want to see people repeat.”
Thanksgiving presents an opportune time for employers to say “thank you” to their employees. It also presents us at Worklogic HR Legal Solutions with the opportunity to say “thanks” to you for continuing to turn to us to help with your HR counseling and training needs.
