"I don’t think managers purposefully undervalue appreciation. They just don’t truly understand the value of it in the first place."
In a world where output is everything, input often gets overlooked. But as Laura Lillie Goodridge reminded us on Guusto's HR on the Frontline podcast, it's the input – particularly appreciation – that makes all the difference.
The power of appreciation at work isn't just a soft skill. It's a business strategy with serious bottom-line implications.
During her interview, Laura peeled back the layers of what appreciation really means, why so many organizations miss the mark, and how leaders at every level can bake authentic, sustainable recognition into their culture.
What does good appreciation look like?
Appreciation isn't just a once-a-year pizza party or a generic thank-you card during Employee Appreciation Day.
"When we think about appreciation in its basic form, it's acknowledgement,” said Laura. “It's acknowledgement that somebody else exists and is spending time doing something for you."
It’s about seeing people, not just what they produce. This distinction matters.
Appreciation can show up in countless ways, and one of Laura's key points is that organizations need to move away from a checkbox approach.
"It's not just about saying thank you. It isn't just about providing equipment. That's part of the job. The basic needs need to be met,” she noted. “And we can talk about Maslow's hierarchy of needs and how that is always relevant to any situation, but it's beyond that. It's recognizing: how regularly do you as a manager say thank you to your team? How regularly do you reward in ways that are meaningful to the employee? And not all rewards are the same."
To bring this advice to life as a people leader, consider:
- Giving some time back to employees after they’ve pulled a few late nights to meet a deadline. For many, especially parents or caregivers, time is the ultimate reward.
- Acknowledging effort in a one-on-one, especially when the work might not have been highly visible to others. Just knowing their contributions are seen can go a long way with a lot of people.
- Demonstrating empathy during tough moments. This could mean flexibility during a personal crisis or just a check-in when someone seems off.
Laura captures this with another key insight. "Appreciation stems not only from doing the work itself, but appreciation for the employee's wellbeing and how they're doing their job beyond just the resources that the company's giving them,” she says. “It's about their own resources as humans."
Why managers miss the mark
According to Laura, it isn't that most managers don’t understand the power of appreciation, or ignore it on purpose. They’re just too focused on hitting KPIs and chasing quarterly goals.
"The company always wants to be successful and productive, but what happens is the sentiment for managers is to get the work done, not always focusing on how to get there," says Laura.
In many cases, appreciation isn’t taught. Managers are promoted for technical ability or tenure, not their emotional intelligence.
"What often is taught over appreciation is to drive results and to drive success, almost no matter the cost,” Laura explains. “So there's a lot of focus on the output, but not always as much focus on the input. And input can range from appreciation, time management, all of these things that are involved in the manager role, but seldom does it include really understanding what your team values."
Managers can also get caught in the trap of assuming everyone feels appreciated in the same way. As Laura shares from her own experience, even well-intentioned gestures can fall flat.
"An assumption is calling somebody out, but ask that person, qualify it... If someone were to ask me, then I would say, I just love time back. Like time back for me is really important because then I get free will to do whatever I want with that time."
This really hit home for me, and is one of reasons we built Guusto to offer companies and employees as much choice as possible. When you give people rewards they really want, it has a much bigger impact.
The hidden cost of ignoring the power of appreciation
In a recent Gallup survey, only 1 in 3 workers in the U.S. strongly agree that they received recognition or praise for doing good work in the past seven days. That’s a problem.
When appreciation is missing, it doesn’t just impact mood – it impacts retention. Employees who don’t feel recognized are twice as likely to quit within a year. And when they go, they take with them institutional knowledge, customer relationships, and team cohesion.
Laura also reminded us that people aren’t machines, and that we need to consider that they can’t always be perfect. "Is it possible for us to work at 100% capacity for a whole year? Or are there going to be peaks and troughs around that?” she says. “We can't, as humans. It's very unsustainable to want to consistently achieve all the time. And that's what often results in burnout."
The power of workplace appreciation is in how it buffers those troughs. It creates space for empathy, understanding, and resilience.
An example of the power of appreciation in action
One of the most powerful stories Laura shared was from her time in a manufacturing company. With no budget and only six weeks to plan, she launched what became one of the most impactful appreciation initiatives of her career.
"It was a suggestion I had on a bit of a whim,” she says. “It was a well-known sports car manufacturing company, and the biggest thing that I noticed with the production staff was that they loved being able to talk about what they did. They loved it. Some of them had been in manufacturing and production for years. Some of them were new, some of them were really into supercars, but they loved talking about what they did.”
“We opened the factory for a weekend and allowed every employee to bring their friends and family in and do a tour. I had no budget. I did this on my own, but it was so well appreciated that it was worth it for me. They still do it to this day and they actually chuck a lot of money at it now."
The lesson? Appreciation doesn’t have to be expensive. It has to be intentional.
Managers need appreciation too
Middle managers often bear the brunt of execution without receiving much appreciation themselves. They’re responsible for outputs but often overlooked as employees with their own needs.
"Managers are in a middle person situation, right?” Laura says. “They've got responsibilities to their team, cross-functional teams, and to their leadership team. I think what often happens is managers spend so much time worrying about all of those things that they forget to do a self check-in. What does appreciation mean to me as a human? What gets me up for work every day?"
One of the most practical things a manager can do? Tell their leader what appreciation looks like to them. Whether it’s time back, public recognition, or opportunities for growth – they need to ask for it.
Peer-to-peer recognition: the secret multiplier
Appreciation shouldn’t only flow top-down. One of the simplest and most effective ways to normalize it is to integrate peer recognition into everyday workflows.
At our company’s one-on-one meetings, each manager always asks their team: "Who have you recognized recently?"
This small shift creates:
- A culture of accountability around appreciation
- A pipeline of positive feedback managers might otherwise miss
- A feedback loop that amplifies great behavior
The result is a culture where recognition is a fully ingrained part of the daily lives of employees at every level.
Rethinking big appreciation occasions
Employee Appreciation Day and other important dates are often seen as a symbolic gesture. But Laura challenges us to think differently.
"These days only feel meaningless when either the company doesn't do anything to at least say thank you on a particular day, or it fails to recognize the day-to-day efforts that go in every day. It isn't just about saying thank you. It's about, how does the manager show up for their team? Not just in terms of them showing up for you."
You can use these big occasions as a springboard to:
- Launch new habits or rituals
- Host a team retro to review the year-to-date wins
- Set a new cadence for team shoutouts
- Hold space for deeper team conversations
They can be a gateway towards making appreciation a larger part of your culture on a day-to-day basis.
Appreciation is not just HR’s job
But is it up to you and your HR team alone to make sure your teams feel appreciated? Laura pulls no punches here.
"You don't have to wait. Managers don't have to wait for HR to do an initiative. There's a lot of pressure on HR teams, but HR isn't the manager of your team. You are the manager of your team. So what is it that you're doing to appreciate your team?"
Yes, HR can support, but appreciation has to be driven by the people who work with employees every day.
The power of appreciation: a final thought
The ROI of appreciation is real:
- Gallup found teams with high recognition cultures have 31% lower turnover
- SHRM reports that recognition programs can boost production by 20%
- Recognition-rich cultures are up to 23% more profitable
And it all starts with this:
"Find out what appreciation means to your team and do it that way, because they will receive it 10 times better than what you think that they would usually receive." – Laura Lillie Goodridge
The power of appreciation is transformative. It fuels engagement, builds culture, and drives business results. But more than that, it reminds us that behind every output is a human. And when we start there, everyone wins.
Infuse your culture with the power of appreciation
If you want to really see the power of appreciation in action, check out Culture is the Ultimate Advantage.
This resource details our methodology for transforming your culture through recognition, and using it to align, connect and empower your team. Fill out the form below to get your copy!