National Employee Appreciation Day falls on the first Friday in March each year. It’s a day for employers to recognize the contribution employees make to their organization. This kind of recognition is important, with multiple studies showing the positive impact it can have on productivity, job satisfaction and talent retention. But appreciation goes beyond handing out gift cards once a year. The same studies that emphasize the importance of acknowledging your employees’ contributions also show that one day of recognition isn’t enough — employees need to feel valued year-round.
Establishing and sustaining a year-round employee recognition program can be complicated and expensive. But workplace management technology can help human resources (HR) leaders make their workers feel valued and appreciated every day, while at the same time advancing business objectives like reducing costs, improving efficiency, decreasing risk and optimizing space utilization. Here’s how:
Enhancing Health, Safety, and Well-Being in the Workplace
Showing employees that they’re valued and appreciated starts with safeguarding their health and safety at work. One essential component of this is making sure that spending time in the office doesn’t make them sick. FM:Systems environmental sensors measure indoor air quality (IAQ) by collecting data on temperature, humidity, particulates and other variables. Facility managers (FMs) use this information to identify areas of the office where IAQ is lacking and take steps to improve it. While this work is done behind the scenes, FM:Systems solutions enable organizations to make the data from these sensors accessible to workers. Employees can check the status of IAQ in real time — a potent reminder that the organization values them and has invested in protecting their health while in the office.
Organizations can also demonstrate their care and concern for employees by making them feel safer and more secure in the workplace. Our FMS:Workplace integrated workplace management system enables data gathering from, and centralized control of, access control, security and alarm systems to enable technicians and authorities to address issues impacting occupant safety more quickly.
Technology can also support employee well-being by reducing stress in the office. This is especially true for younger workers, who rely on tech applications to help them increase efficiency and maximize the value of their in-office time. For example, the room and desk booking features in FMS:Employee allow employees to easily secure the specific types of space they need to breeze through their to-do list, whether that’s meeting space for collaboration or a quieter workspace for heads-down work. Giving employees the tools they need to make the most of their day is a great way to make them feel appreciated and valued year-round.
Enhancing Workplace Flexibility for Employee Empowerment
According to the FM:Systems 2025 Inside the Workplace survey, 76% of employees believe it’s important for their organization to tailor work models to individual employee needs. But only 15% of business leaders responding to the survey said the best approach to return-to-office (RTO) plans is to give workers full flexibility over their work model. This tug of war isn’t new, and up until recently, employees have had the upper hand. But the proliferation of RTO mandates shows that the balance of power has shifted.
While organizations are no longer willing to give employees total freedom in how they work, they can take some of the sting out of RTO rules by granting workers more flexibility in the workplace than they had pre-pandemic. FM:Systems workplace management technology helps businesses provide employees more autonomy while ensuring they align with company policies and goals. For example, workers can use room and desk booking software to reserve different workspaces throughout the day. Employees who were used to sitting at a desk by a window at home can start their day at a window desk in the office to soak up some morning sunlight before moving to a workspace closer to teammates for collaborative work.
Embracing Sustainability: Innovative Practices for a Greener Workplace
Another way organizations can show employees that they’re valued and appreciated is by taking action on issues they care about. Three quarters of employee respondents to the FM:Systems 2025 Inside the Workplace survey said it’s important for their organization to commit to sustainability initiatives in the workplace. Employers agree: Two-thirds of business leader respondents said sustainability is a higher priority than it was a year ago.
The recent launch of the Energy Dashboard in our FMS:Insights multi-data point analysis platform is just one example of how FM:Systems innovations can support sustainability initiatives. The Energy Dashboard combines utilization data and energy cost and consumption information in a single platform, making it easier for facility managers to understand the complex relationship between energy use, emissions and space utilization. These enhanced insights can also reveal new opportunities to decrease spending and reduce waste.
“Tools like the Energy Dashboard are intended for use by facility managers, but that doesn’t mean their value has to end there. Information about these solutions, the insights they produce, and the sustainability benefits they deliver can be incorporated into internal communications,” said Deb Hill, Senior Director of Human Resources at FM:Systems. “Making this a recurring feature in the monthly employee newsletter, for example, creates a regular reminder that the organization shares the concerns of its workers and is taking action.”
Expanding Opportunities for Employee Rewards and Recognition Programs
Forward-thinking organizations can use FM:Systems technology to support new reward and recognition programs based on encouraging practices that are beneficial to both the employee and the organization. Objectives can be as simple as meeting attendance goals or conserving energy by getting employees to shut down laptops and desk lamps when they leave the office.
Reward and recognition programs are also a great way to promote adoption of new technology, like a visitor management system (VMS). Using a VMS to streamline and automate the scheduling and welcoming of guests makes employees more productive and the office more secure. But embracing new processes can be intimidating when you’re used to the old, manual way of doing things. Rewarding employees who, for instance, use the visitor management system for 100% of their guests in a quarter is a great way to recognize workers for doing something that benefits the entire organization.
Conclusion: Fostering a Year-Round Culture of Employee Appreciation
On this Employee Appreciation Day, let this be a reminder that true appreciation isn’t about a single day of recognition — it’s about creating an environment where people feel valued every day. FM:Systems workplace management technology helps organizations cultivate a culture of appreciation, while at the same time supporting business goals. When employees feel supported in how they work, they’re more productive, more satisfied and more invested in the organization’s success. The right workplace management solutions don’t just improve operations — they can help build a workplace where people actually want to be.
