National Caregivers Day is on February 21, 2025. This is a good time to recognize the hard work and dedication of all types of caregivers, including the professional caregivers at your assisted living facility. Here are five ways to show your team that you appreciate them.
Why It’s Important to Show Appreciation
Few jobs are as hard as caregiving. In addition to the physically demanding work required to help individuals with daily tasks, caregivers also face emotionally demanding and stressful duties. When caring for dementia patients, who are often confused or combative, it’s even more challenging.
It’s no wonder that burnout is so common. In fact, Cleveland Clinic says 60% of caregivers show symptoms of burnout.
Burnout can negatively impact a person’s physical and mental health, as well as their work performance. According to the American Psychological Association, the effects of burnout include absenteeism, presenteeism/lower productivity, depression, insomnia, headaches, and heart disease, among other things.
To reduce burnout, employers need to take a multi-pronged approach that includes healthy work-life balance, reasonable workloads, and benefits and perks that help take care of employees. According to HR Dive, meaningful recognition can also help.
If you’ve ever worked hard and been proud of yourself only to have no one else care, you know how important recognition is. When employers give their employees the recognition they deserve, it makes a big difference, and National Caregivers Day is the perfect opportunity.
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Provide a Handwritten Card
Yes, it should be handwritten. It should also contain a personalized message that shows you’re recognizing the individual and not just going through the motions. A card that’s printed out and contains the same message for everyone just won’t have the same impact. It will take a little more time, but it doesn’t need to be long. Just write a short message with a detail or two about the individual’s contribution.
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Make It Public
While a personal message is a fantastic way to show appreciation, it’s also nice to show off the hard work of your team members to others. You can do this as a social media post, a blog post on your website, an article in your company newsletter, or all three. Sign the praises of your staff and state how valued they are. (As a bonus, this is also good press for your company!)
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Provide a Thoughtful Gift
Many companies provide mugs, possibly filled with goodies, as a small token of appreciation – but how many mugs does a person really need? If you want your gift to show that you actually care and appreciate your workers, put some thought into it.
For example, you could give your employees gift certificates to a local massage therapist and include a note about how they’ve worked hard and deserve to relax. Or you could provide a gift certificate to a local restaurant so your team members can enjoy a nice night out.
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Provide Special Treats
A cake is a great way to celebrate pretty much any occasion. Although it may be hard to get the entire team together at the same time, stocking the breakroom with special treats is a nice way to show appreciation.
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Make It a Year-Round Event
National Caregivers Day only happens once a year, but your team works hard all year. Showing appreciation on a special day is a nice start, but it might not be enough to help your team feel valued year-round.
Make National Caregivers Day the start of an ongoing display of appreciation. For example, if you don’t already have an employee of the month, you can establish one starting in February. Each month, celebrate a different team member with a small prize, such as a gift certificate, as well as a public display, a social media post, and a statement on your website or in your company newsletter.
Another option would be an ongoing perk to help your caregivers manage stress. For example, you could pay for a mental health app like Talkspace or Calm.
Taking care of your employees is an important part of maintaining a healthy, positive work culture. Robust risk management resources are also crucial. Tangram provides residential care facility insurance through the Personal Care & Assisted Living Insurance Center (PCALIC), as well as resources to help manage risks and protect the residents in your care. Learn more.
This article is brought to you by Tangram Insurance Services
