The holidays can be stressful. According to one study, 40% of healthcare workers worry about long hours during the holiday season, with over half (54%) reporting higher stress levels. And while all healthcare employees, clinical and non-clinical, deserve recognition, employee appreciation can be an important part of preventing nurse burnout.
Here are five ideas for healthcare employee and nurse appreciation as the new year approaches.
Download our free social media template for employee appreciation
1. Budget for Bonuses
A bonus may not be the most creative way to show your appreciation, but it can be one of the most helpful. Gallup reports that the average American planned to spend $942 on gifts during the 2019 holiday season. This means that your nurses are likely under more significant financial stress during the holidays, and a bonus can come as a welcome relief.
Bonuses can also be a great way to supplement salaries. If you aren’t able to surpass competitors’ wages, the extra payment can help make up for it.
Holiday bonuses are nice, but they’re not always the most personalized. To make the gesture more meaningful, consider pairing your holiday bonus with a letter of appreciation.
Tip: Remember the Holidays While Budgeting for the Fiscal New Year
The earlier you plan your nurse appreciation efforts, the better. The fiscal new year is the perfect time to budget for bonuses and other recognition efforts. You also want to make sure that your recognition efforts are consistent from year to year. If you find near the holidays that you aren’t able to budget for a bonus, for example, despite providing one in previous years, your employees could feel disappointed. They may have even been relying on that amount to get them through the holidays.
2. Shine a Spotlight on Nurses
Use your platform to highlight your employees. Everything from bulletin boards to newsletters to social media posts can be used to showcase your nurses, either as a team or as individuals. Just make sure that things don’t get too competitive—you want employees to celebrate each other, not feel slighted because they aren’t featured.
You can also spotlight employees on social media. We’ve put together a couple of customizable templates that you can use to celebrate your workers on social media, whether you’re looking to recognize your employees as a whole, or an individual who deserves their time in the limelight.
Download our employee recognition social media templates
3. Facilitate Peer Appreciation
While it’s worthwhile to celebrate your nurses as a group, it can be even more special to recognize your workers for their individual efforts.
Peers can speak to how nurses interact with patients, what makes them a good teammate, and how they perform under stress. Peer recognition can be an authentic way of celebrating individuals.
One way to boost employee recognition? Create a space, a forum, website, or bulletin board, where employees can recognize each other—and showcase some of those compliments in a newsletter or during a meeting.
Tip: Use Software for Employee Recognition
Employee recognition software can take some of the logistics of nurse appreciation out of your hands. A platform can help employees easily send recognition without any manual work needed from your HR team.
Learn how to use your tech budget
4. Gift an Experience
Experiential rewards can be a memorable way to demonstrate nurse appreciation—and they don’t have to be pricey. These can include everything from a staff bowling night to discounted theme park tickets.
These types of rewards can also be a good way to partner with local businesses and build recognition in your community. However, make sure the reward is something your employees actually want—you don’t want them to feel like it’s just a symbolic gesture.
Unsure of what your employees would appreciate? When in doubt, ask them in a survey.
Learn more about employee surveys
Nurse Appreciation Beyond the Holidays
The holidays and new year are a good time to jumpstart your staff recognition program. But staff recognition is just one part of improving your worker’s job satisfaction.
According to LinkedIn, employees who aren’t promoted within three years only have a 45% chance of remaining with their company. This can be a problem for healthcare organizations, as progressing might require workers to return to school. It’s important to create career paths so employees feel supported and nurtured at your company in material ways.
Download our free employee appreciation templates
Better Hiring With Apploi
It can be hard to focus on employee recognition when you’re bogged down in the details of hiring. A service like Apploi can speed up the hiring process, leaving you free to focus on big picture ideas. Interested in learning more about how you can recruit, hire, and onboard healthcare staff quickly? Contact us today for a free demo of our end-to-end talent management solution.
