6 no-cost employee appreciation ideas

It’s important to show your employees how much you appreciate them – not just their hard work. Clear signs of employee appreciation go a long way toward improving employee morale, boosting productivity and limiting employee turnover.

In our recent report, Recognition’s role in wellbeing: Fostering a culture of appreciation, we found that only half (49%) of employees surveyed felt appreciated for being themselves at work. Although the ideal 100% is probably unattainable in reality, it’s vital that employers strive for more. To maximize that sense of appreciation:

• Create and facilitate strong communication between employees and their managers.
• Recognize personal milestones with a similar fanfare to work accomplishments – things like graduations, marriages and births.
• Develop a robust calendar of social events and celebrations for employees to strengthen team and cross-team camaraderie.
• Reevaluate your benefits suite to ensure that what you offer resonates with your employees and attracts new talent.
• Establish growth and training opportunities for employees – whether that’s within roles or across them, people are hungry for opportunities to do and be more.
• Lock in a dynamic, flexible and multi-way feedback loop between leadership, managers and employees that leads to paths to act on said feedback.

All that said, many employee appreciation ideas involve a significant financial commitment from employers, which can be cost prohibitive in lean times. Here are six innovative, free ways to jumpstart your employee appreciation efforts.

1. Volunteer time

Everyone loves paid time off (PTO), but organizations can’t always afford to offer more vacation days. Instead, consider offering employees opportunities to donate their time externally for volunteer opportunities.

Regularly volunteering is good for our mental health, and it provides individuals with a sense of purpose and connection to their community. Let your employees choose a cause that matters to them, or coordinate a group volunteer excursion for a whole team.

There are countless ways to volunteer in your greater community; letting your employees lead the way with the causes and organizations that inspire them is a great, no-cost way to show employees that you appreciate not only them, but the community in which you operate, as well.

Reward Gateway has official volunteer days scattered throughout our calendar where team members go out into our local communities and give back. This summer, many of our Boston office employees worked shifts at Rosie’s Place, a multi-service community center and the U.S.’s first official women’s shelter, founded in 1974. Our Rochester office team members just spent an afternoon cleaning up the historical Mt. Hope Cemetery.

2. Employee recognition

Show appreciation for your employees through employee recognition programs. One of the most consistently cited reasons why employees leave jobs is that they feel disrespected or unappreciated at work. To prevent needless turnover, create a system that reminds managers and individuals to express their appreciation for one another. 

Many organizations use an employee recognition program (like the one we offer!) to shout out employees doing great work and even offer them perks or spot bonuses. But if money is tight, you don’t actually have to spend money to use this technique. You just need to tell your employees that you appreciate them. 

Be specific: what do you appreciate about them? Is it their work ethic, or their positive attitude, or their contributions on a certain project? Sharing praise publicly and often magnifies its emotional benefits, so consider shouting out employees during meetings or in a company newsletter.

3. Parking perks

Show your employees you appreciate them by offering them free parking. For businesses in high cost-of-living locations, this can save employees hundreds of dollars per month. You can also offer commuter benefits, where employees who commute via bus or train can also have their transportation costs covered.

If your office has its own free parking lot, you could designate a few prime parking spots for employees of the month and reward standout employees by letting them use the spots for a certain period of time.

4. Flexible working hours

Employees tend to prefer remote and hybrid work schedules to in-person work these days. But if your policies on office attendance have already been decided, there is still more you can do to promote employee wellbeing. Many employees, especially working parents, appreciate flexible work arrangements, in which they can work asynchronously or during non-traditional hours. But this is also ideal for organizations operating across multiple time zones or countries, because it facilitates better collaboration planning between regional teams. Allowing employees to work flexible hours costs nothing and can improve job satisfaction and decrease stress.

5. Employee feedback

Employees appreciate being listened to. Show your employees you appreciate them by asking for their feedback and then implementing their suggestions where it makes sense. Use pulse surveys for input on specific topics and use employee responses to inform your decision-making.

This can help create transparency and accountability from employees – not to mention deepening employee investment in the business as they see their suggestions acknowledged and even actioned – all of which can improve morale. 

6. Four-day work week

Willing to try something a little radical? Try implementing a four-day work week. A recent study in the UK across 61 companies showed great results from multiple four-day-work-week models. A strong majority (92%) of companies in the project decided to continue with the four-day-work-week model after the study concluded. They found that employees were less stressed and burned out, and that employee turnover decreased by 57%. Perhaps most importantly, company revenue was not negatively affected and many companies saw an increase in revenue during the experiment. 

The four-day work week may be a bold choice, but studies suggest it is an effective way to improve the employee experience. 15% of employees said no amount of money could convince them to return to the standard work model.

There are many ways to show appreciation for your employees without spending money. From flexible hours to volunteer programs, you can work with your employees to create a culture of support and belonging.

Reward Gateway’s mission to make the world a better place to work is a lofty one, but it’s one we achieve for millions of people all over the world. Learn more about how our platform can help you achieve your mission and engage your one-of-a-kind workforce.