How to Thank Staff at Major Office Events

In my prior piece, titled “Thanking Staff: Tips for Appreciating Employees,” I discussed the importance of appreciating staff in general. In this follow-up piece, I describe the need to publicly appreciate employees at major office events.

Do you personally thank employees at large-scale office events, such as public programs and conferences? You may think it is a no-brainer, but this gracious action often does not take place.

Yet thanking staff publicly is an easy, no-cost way of demonstrating appreciation. As it is standard for leaders to thank employees at large, public events, a leader who fails to thank people at such times could depress workplace morale.

For 24% of respondents to a Gallup workplace survey, the most memorable recognition comes from a high-level leader, if not the chief executive officer (CEO). The only higher-ranked source is a supervisor, chosen by 28% of respondents. For some people, personal thanks from a CEO could be a highlight of their career.

Although this type of public recognition may seem obvious, you may fail to thank your employees because:

• You just forgot. To address this problem, you can create a guide to refer to when making remarks and include directions for thanking staff. You may also have others review your speech before you deliver it (if you don’t, you could add this step). Reviewers could remind you to thank your employees.
• You want to focus on the work and not waste limited speaking time on thanking employees. However, thanking people does not take much time. It can be great to recognize people by name, but if you are concerned about running out of time, just make a statement along the lines of “I thank my staff, whose hard work helped make this event possible.” Appreciating your staff shows that you care about others.
• You may have already thanked them and thus feel it’s unnecessary to thank them in public. This form of appreciation is important, though, as others encourages others to appreciate your subordinates’ contributions.
• You may think that thanking people is not a big deal. You may be right, but thanking people is beneficial.
• You worry that accidentally, you may forget to thank some people, who would be upset about being left out. It may be difficult to remember everyone. If you have this concern, thank your staff collectively. You could also thank people individually and then say “thank you” to employees you didn’t mention by name.
• You feel that staff are just doing their jobs and thus do not need thanks. As some people say, “That’s why they get paid.” However, employees should still be appreciated for what they do. False praise can cause damage, but you should acknowledge the contributions of others.
• You are insecure, do not care about your staff, and/or may not want to share credit, even if others deserve credit for their contributions. Get over yourself. People may not want to work for such a leader.

Think about how you would feel if your contributions were overlooked. Chances are that you want to be acknowledged, so please treat others accordingly.

Thanking staff at major events is not just nice: It gives credit where credit is due and improves your workplace.

Miriam Edelman, MPA, MSSW, is a Washington, D.C.-based policy professional. Her experience includes policy work for Congress. Miriam’s undergraduate degree is from Barnard College, Columbia University, with majors in political science and urban studies. She has a master’s in public administration from Cornell University, where she was inducted into the national honorary society for public administration. She has a master’s of science in social work (focusing on policy) from Columbia University. She is a commissioner of the DC Commission on Persons with Disabilities. Miriam aims to continue her career in public service. She is especially interested in democracy, civic education, District of Columbia autonomy, diversity, health policy, women’s issues, and disabilities.

Photo by Kane Reinholdtsen on Unsplash