Employee Appreciation Day

With Friday 1st March 2024 marking ‘Employee Appreciation Day’ we wanted to explore why it’s important to show your appreciation to those that you work with, from both a business, and personal perspective. 

You cannot build a successful business without a team of passionate, talented and hardworking individuals working towards a common goal. Employees are a businesses biggest asset, which is why it is so important to show appreciation for their hard work. 

Practising gratitude is also beneficial for our mental and emotional health and it can make us more positive and resilient. It improves our relationships, makes us sleep better and allows us to express compassion and kindness more easily.

Here at ZeroLight, we show our employees appreciation in a variety of ways, and always want to ensure that hard work does not go unnoticed. 

Every Christmas, we hold our ‘Talent Development Awards’. These awards are based on our values, and the winners are nominated, and voted for by our employees. Whilst there can only be four winners, it is incredible to read the reasons behind each nomination. In 2023, we had 70% percent of our employees nominated by one of their peers.

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To ensure that appreciation and recognition flows throughout the year, we introduced quarterly collaboration weeks, which are a chance to get all employees together, to build relationships, but also an opportunity to reflect on our goals and celebrate successes together as a business. We do this through retrospectives, updates on our business goals and workshops. During our September collaboration week, our Executive Directors shared their team’s goals & achievements, calling out individuals for their amazing contributions throughout the year and highlighting those who had received the most kudos from their peers. 

We also think it’s important to share appreciation outside of the business, we therefore finish every collaboration week with an off-site social, having drinks and food together. This allows people to socialise, and share their appreciation for colleagues in a less formal environment. 

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We also encourage peer to peer feedback and appreciation, which is incredibly valuable. 

This is done during our weekly company call, with those presenting calling out their teams for great work on a recent project so the whole company can applaud them for a job well done. We also have a Kudos section on our HR platform, which allows anyone in the business to share kudos with one or more individuals, acknowledging their hard work. We had 62 kudos posts, recognising the brilliant contribution of countless individuals in 2023.

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Today, we asked all our employees to give a shout out to those people who make their day better, and who they appreciate at work. Here are some of their responses….

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It's a pleasure working with such talented and capable folks across all disciplines....learn something new every day

_{I am bursting with gratitude! Our company is a treasure trove of remarkable individuals. Each of you contributes something special, whether it's your contagious smiles, innovative problem-solving, technical expertise, unwavering positivity, can-do spirit, relentless drive, or the laughter that fills our days. The camaraderie and support you extend to one another make this team extraordinary. It's an absolute joy to collaborate with such a united and dynamic group. Thank you ALL for your invaluable contributions! You are the heartbeat of our success}‍

So many wonderful individuals at ZeroLight who make life and work easier! I always feel so lucky to be part of such an amazing team.

I am so glad that I get to work with such great knowledgeable people across the company. I appreciate the hard work, dedication from each one working in delivering projects.

I appreciate working with my team. It is rare to have such compassionate, intelligent and funny teammates. They make work a better place to be.