You Matter To Me Day is on October 7th and provides a day for managers to celebrate with their teams. For leaders searching for a day or a reason to re-emphasize and recognize employees, You Matter To Me Day provides that. Some managers have used the day on a specific year when projects are going long, and team members are facing discouragement. They’ve stopped, celebrated, reminded the team of the successes and challenges they’ve overcome, and refreshed the whole team to start again the next day.
One of the challenges leaders often face is communicating how much they value their team and employees. Recognition is found in probably every business on earth (with few exceptions). However, lack of recognition and feeling unappreciated is still cited as one of the biggest reasons employees leave. It comes ahead of payscale and benefits.
Clearly, the appreciation managers feel and try to express is getting lost before it reaches some employees’ hearts. That may be for many reasons. Managers might be failing to speak employees’ love languages or may be celebrating service anniversaries in a way that fails to communicate an employee’s importance.
History of “You Matter To Me Day”
You Matter To Me Day started as a small grassroots day after an accident claimed the lives of a father and son duo. Nobody really knows who the original pair was, but the tragedy caused family and friends to ponder the significance of every person on earth. Soon October 7th was chosen as a day of new beginnings and to reaffirm the importance of others.
Sure, it’s really more of a social media holiday and it’s not recognized officially by any government entity, but it does give managers a day to reinforce employee recognition and make sure that employees feel valued and appreciated.
.
3 Simple Ways to Celebrate You Matter To Me Day Vía Employee Appreciation
Managers, execs, and leaders can utilize You Matter To Me Day as a day to focus on employees who might be at higher risk of leaving or who are feeling more discouraged than usual. Or, you can use the day as a reason to celebrate with everyone on your team!
Send an Ecard with a Personalized Message
Celebrate You Matter to Me Day with an ecard and personal message. Whether your team works remote or sits next door, send them a personalized message through an ecard. Thanks offers free ecards so you can quickly express how much you value and appreciate the members of your team.
Recognition is all about saying “Thanks!” and mentioning a specific reason an employee makes a difference makes it more meaningful. You can send an ecard in under a minute so it doesn’t have to take a lot of time out of your day.
“Thank you for always remembering everyone’s birthdays!”
“Your positive attitude is invaluable on this team”
“I admire how persistent you were with that difficult customer last week!”
“You continue to learn and grow quickly since we hired you!”
A simple personalized message can have a more profound impact on an employee than a generic “good job!”
Focus on Discouraged Employees Facing Big Challenges
A hallmark characteristic of a disengaged employee is discouragement. But, not all discouraged employees are disengaged. A very engaged employee who is facing a difficult and trying personal time can still strive for a time to remain engaged. Or, an engaged employee who is struggling through a professional dilemma or obstacle may still be engaged.
But, often prolonged struggle or challenges can lead to disengagement. That’s why it’s important to recognize and support employees and colleagues who are facing roadblocks in their lives, both personal and professional.
On You Matter To Me Day, focus on the 10-20% of your employees who may be facing more difficult challenges or who may seem more discouraged than usual. In the weeks leading up to You Matter To Me Day, look for employees that seem a bit more crestfallen or have a bleaker outlook. Focus on them today.
You may not know why a particular employee is struggling or discouraged. It would be easiest to address and fix if it was always work-related. But, many struggles in your employee’s personal lives will probably not be obvious or talked about by them.
Recognizing employees who are traversing failure helps them to feel appreciated even when they make mistakes and can be one of the greatest tools you have to build loyalty and increase longevity and You Matter To Me Day provides a great time to do that!
Focus on Often Forgotten Employees
Another way to celebrate the day is to take time to recognize the often forgotten and behind-the-scenes employees at your company. As a manager, you can create a big difference by showing appreciation to employees that aren’t on your team or that are often quieter and hidden.
In many companies, there are employees who are often left out of company recognition programs. While sales, marketing, and customer service employees often receive regular recognition, there may be employees who seldom receive appreciation for their hard work.
At any business, some of those common jobs include custodial employees. They usually work unseen and often during different hours than the rest of the company. One hospital drastically cut the attrition in custodial staff by recognizing them and focusing on how their cleaning keeps the hospital safe and helps save lives.
IT employees are critical employees to the success of the business. But they are often behind-the-scenes employees who work in a different location or part of the building than everyone else.
One visible, but often unseen department is Human Resources. HR employees are visible to everyone and often spearhead recognition, employee events, and service anniversary celebrations. But, they are often forgotten about when it comes to recognition and they seldom point out their own contributions to the company.
Take the time to tell the forgotten and hidden employees around you that they matter and make a difference. Sometimes recognition from someone outside the employee’s line of command can make a big difference. So don’t underestimate the impact of recognizing an employee in another department.
Conclusion
You Matter To Me Day can become a day of quietly showing appreciation to employees and focusing on employees who may feel neglected or have higher stress. Or, it can be a day of recognizing the impact every employee makes and celebrating together the successes of the month!
About Thanks
Thanks is a leading provider of a recognition-based platform that increases communication, builds teamwork, and makes recognition a part of company culture. Fast, easy and simple Thanks makes it easy to bring data-driven employee recognition to your entire organization. O.C. Tanner purchased the Thanks platform in 2019 to fulfill the recognition needs of smaller businesses.
Thanks customers benefit from the same decades of research in employee motivation and company culture that O.C. Tanner enterprise clients enjoy, but in a product that is geared for fast, easy and simple deployment. Whether you’re starting a recognition program or improving and expanding on what you already have, Thanks has everything you need to engage your people with effective, scalable recognition.