Appreciation will always add to your workspace morale. As Oprah Winfrey mentioned in one of her speeches at Harvard Medical School, “The most important lesson I have learned in my 25 years of working in television is that humans have a sheer need to be validated. Validation is a necessity, just like humans need food and water to survive, in the same way their existential instinct needs validation. I have interviewed the most important personalities of The United States of America, and once the camera is turned off all of them have asked me, how was it? Even the most important people of the country seek validation. So, I never forget to appreciate my staff. Whenever we wrap a show I make sure to tell them that they did better than the last episode. Everyone says that I am being kind, but no I am just giving my staff what they truly deserve, that is appreciation”.
Nine elements build a human personality and one of the most crucial parts of those elements is self-worth. Many factors influence self-worth. The psychological branch of Harvard Medical School also agrees that self-validation is an essential factor that affects a person’s self-worth. So, let’s look into how validating or appreciating your employees can affect your workspace?
Why Appreciating Your Employees Is Important?
A recognised employee is a productive employee, as when an employee's hard work is recognised and appreciated then an employee stays motivated to work harder. However, some proven psychological facts states that appreciation can actually help in improving employees' productivity:
Direct Relationship Between Gratitude And Work Engagement:
The theory that proves that gratitude and work engagement are in direct relationship with each other was proved by an experiment collectively done by Harvard Medical School and Wharton School, where both the schools conducted the fundraisers, and students of both the schools were asked to participate in the fundraisers.
Both the schools were divided into two parts, where one group received regular pep talks and the group director appreciated the students. Hence that group collected 50% more funds when compared to the other.
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This particular experiment continued for 3 months and the same results were observed. So, the experiment proves that appreciation from mentors or managers adds to an employee's productivity. At the end of the day, employees are what make an organisation what it is. That is why keeping their employees happy is so important for an organisation.
Response Of Human Body Towards Appreciation Vs Towards Disparage:
During the study of the relationship between gratitude and work engagement, a study was conducted that studied the changes that a human body undergoes when humans are being appreciated. Here’s what Harvard Medical School observed:
Functioning Of Hypothalamus:
The study proves that when humans are appreciated for their actions, their hypothalamus which is responsible for the daily functioning of the body stimulates the “Reward Neurotransmitter” which helps our body to regulate dopamine and serotonin which are considered as happy hormones. And these hormones avoid the secretion of melatonin which results in brain fog and low energy.
So, there are psychological plus scientific reasons that prove that employee appreciation can boost employees' productivity. Not only external validation, but self-validation is equally important in an employee's life. If employees are seeking external validation, but do not feel good about themselves, then it can affect their productivity as well as their mental health.
Tools To Measure Productivity:
Employee Monitoring Software is one of the tools that can track your employee's productivity, the application allows you to see the application usage and how productive the employees have been during the working hours. Plus you can see the screenshots of the employee's screen, this way you can be really sure about what your employees have been doing.
It also allows you to keep your workspace completely transparent and helps you to create an unbiased ground. By using such an application you can recognize your hard-working employees and can reward them accordingly. The application also helps the employees to work on their self-growth as the employees can monitor their own productivity and can work towards their own growth.
So, everyone needs a little appreciation in their lives to maintain a proper balance between work pressure and expectation. Words of appreciation hold the power to change someone's life or can make a worker more efficient, words can prevent wars, then this is just a workspace that is finding its way to be more productive.
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