WHY EMPLOYEE

Why Employee Appreciation Matters & Can Boost Your Bottom Line

Attracting and retaining talent creates a positive working environment for your business, but it’s also good for your bottom line. When team members come and go constantly, your office becomes a revolving door, with no steady workforce, abiding company culture, or continuity for your clients. What’s more, breaking from your duties to post ads, interview applicants, and train new hires takes up valuable time—and time is money. Instead, creating a working environment with built-in perks and morale boosters makes everyone happy, including you as a leader. You’ll have fewer fires to put out or squabbles to referee if your employees are motivated, feel appreciated, and inclined to work together for the business’s greater good.

In that vein, let’s consider the concrete benefits of employee appreciation and how to apply these principles to your business in meaningful ways.

What is employee appreciation and how do you enact it?

Whether built-in through perks and benefits or by hosting regular events, employee appreciation is about making your team feel valued and part of a whole. No one wants to feel replaceable or voiceless, so it comes down to this basic truth: employees who feel heard and appreciated invest more in their work and your business. Likewise, no one wants to hop jobs every six months. Employees desire reliability and consistency in their work options, but they’ll be forced to move on to greener pastures if they don’t feel like their talents and contributions are recognized, or if there isn’t enough value to match their output.

By displaying gratitude through employee appreciation, you’re sending the message that your employees’ efforts are respected and considered integral to your operation’s success. Employee appreciation also sets the right tone for professional relationships in your office to flourish, which makes for better workflow and communication on an interpersonal level. Motivation and morale are closely tied to employee appreciation, so there is a clear symbiotic benefit to investing in your employees’ happiness in order to breed a happier, more productive work environment.

How do you make employee appreciation an active part of your business model? To start, keep it simple. Treat your employees to a bagel spread on a Monday morning to boost morale ahead of the workweek. Or, consider an employee happy hour on a Friday, or a group lunch mid-week. Well-timed moments of generosity can lift spirits and signal your intuitiveness as a leader, while creating fuel for upcoming projects and deadlines.

If you want to take it to the next level, consider in-office perks from which your employees can derive value or morale. For instance, some offices allow employees to bring in their docile pets. Other offices keep the communal kitchen stocked with sparkling water, fresh fruit, and quality coffee to keep team members satiated. Maybe your office would benefit from a modern décor update, which might make for a more compelling, progressive workspace for your employees to enjoy. Whatever route you take, cultivating a positive office environment can extend employee appreciation on a daily, hands-on basis.

Perks and benefits are another way to build-in employee appreciation and demonstrate your investment in your team. Bike-to-work benefits, subsidies for public transportation or gym membership costs, or even supplying your team with their own smartphone—all demonstrate a company culture that’s focused on fueling your team’s morale and productivity.

While some of these steps may seem like a costly investment, the returns are unequivocal when it comes to lasting employee retention. Turnover is a blight on your bottom line, so taking a proactive approach to employee appreciation can inspire a dynamic team, lead to a more positive work environment, and boost your financials for the long term.

LAURIE GLASS & DANA COOPER

Laurie Glass and Dana Cooper of Cooper Glass Homes and Max Broock Realtors, are Michigan’s real estate dream team, covering everywhere from the Woodward corridor, to the Lakes, to the Thumb. They also dominate the market in Huntington Woods where they both live and where they conduct about forty percent of real estate transactions. “Huntington Woods is ranked in the top ten towns in the U.S. and is a small, close knit community,” Laurie Glass says. “I’ve lived here the majority of my life and Dana has been here for almost thirty years. We have a great network of wonderful friends, clients and neighbors!” As a result of the confidence the community has in them, an impressive ninety percent of their business comes from repeat and referral clients.

Dana, whose background consisted of years of successful sales, retail management and pharmaceutical sales decided to take a leap and follow an early passion she had for real estate, becoming a Realtor in 2012. Laurie was the successful CFO of a company, but wasn’t fully satisfied. She had a degree in Art and Architecture and felt she hadn’t found her true calling. Right before her father passed away he told her, “Life is short. Find what you love to do and do it.” So in 2011, Laurie decided to make a change and become a real estate agent. “I’m so glad I did, we love what we do! It’s incredibly rewarding to help people every day. We are blessed to have the best clients.”

Dana and Laurie’s broker raves that the secret to their success is that they care deeply about their clients. Laurie and Dana are passionate about what they do and treat a $100K sale the same as a million dollar sale. “We think everyone deserves the same attentive service,” Dana says. “We feel every transaction closely and love to help our clients find their dream home.” The majority of their clients become their friends, and Laurie and Dana host fun client appreciation parties and community events like Pumpkin Giveaways and blanket the city with Fourth of July flags to say “thank you.”

Laurie and Dana were some of the first agents in the industry to create short, personal video tours of their listings which they share with their large social media following. The videos can receive as many as 1,700 views in an hour. Social Media followers say they look forward to new videos and love seeing the inside of area homes. Laurie and Dana focus on social media and run print and online ads. “We put the listing out there everywhere and many people see it—often more than once,” Laurie says. The demand they create before the listing hits the market often results in a quick sale at a very competitive price. The pair closes an average of $40 million a year. They are in the top half of the top one percent of Realtors in the country and have received many accolades such as Real Trend Top Agents and “Favorite Realtors” on Nextdoor.

To give back to the community that has given them so much, Laurie and Dana are involved in the Women’s League where they have both been Board Members. They sit on the committee for the Home Tour, a fundraiser for underserved women and children in the area. They are major donors to the Men’s Club fundraising auction and are members of the local Berkley Chamber of Commerce, through which Laurie and Dana recently hosted a social media campaign to support local businesses hurt by the pandemic.

For the future, Laurie and Dana want to keep offering the same dedicated level of service to their beloved clients. “We love are jobs. We love our clients,” Laurie says.

“We work hard to make sure our clients are taken care of!” Dana adds with a smile.

For more about Laurie Glass & Dana Cooper,

call 248.658.8030, email info@cooperglasshomes.com, or visit them at www.CooperGlasshomes.com

NEAL COLLINS

After leaving behind an international career in the Conservation field, Neal Collins decided to get into the world of real estate where he felt he could make a considerable positive change. He is the co-founder of Latitude, a real estate firm brokered by eXp Realty, which is centered on the ideas of sustainability, health, and community. His passion for creating a better world, and his firm’s unconventional emphasis on the ecological impact of real estate, continue to impress and inspire the numerous clients he and his growing team throughout North America serve.

Neal’s vision for his business was never about million dollar deals, instead he wanted to create a work space that would educate agents on regenerative real estate and allow them to help their community and improve their environment. “Our focus is not just the bottom line. We have strong ethical values of truly wanting to counsel and guide our clients through this process, and help them make the right choices. The question I constantly ask our team, and myself, is, ‘How do we go from being real estate agents, to being Change Agents?’ There are a lot of mission-driven people out there, but they often fall short because they don’t have the right business model. We are hyper conscious about our brand and what we stand for, and we focus on educating and developing our agents so that they can go out and be change-agents who can positively transform their communities. It’s about combing your values with a powerful financial model,” he says.

When it comes to marketing Neal focuses on storytelling and showcasing the benefits of sustainable living through multimedia, public speaking, and writing. “We explore all the positives of these properties, such as reduced energy bills and how the space enhances our well being,” he says. Having passion as the driving force behind his work has been incredibly motivating as well as rewarding for Neal. His dedication comes from feeling personally and professionally aligned by knowing that his business is aligned with his deeper values. “I know we are really making a change with the work that we do. We help people and planet thrive and through that get a chance to work with amazing people. We help people increase their health and wellbeing, lower their carbon footprint, and become financially resilient. It doesn’t hurt that we work with some incredible properties as well.”

In order to ensure that his company accurately reflects Neal’s vision, every agent that comes on board of Latitude is Living Future Accredited. This accreditation is one of the most rigorous green certifications, and it symbolizes the agent’s in-depth knowledge on sustainable and regenerative design. Neal is regularly sought out as a speaker on sustainability in the built environment, is the host of The Regenerative Real Estate Podcast, and is a regular contributor on Medium’s Regenerative Real Estate publication.

When Neal’s not busy working, he’s busy running after his 4-year-old and spending quality time with his family. He also enjoys outdoor adventures, working in the yard, and reading. Looking towards the future he plans on growing Latitude to be the global leader on sustainability in real estate. With each new agent it means they are able to scale impact and community transformation. For him it’s about being a part of the solution to meet the challenges the world faces.

To learn more about Neal Collins, email neal@chooselatitude.com, visit www.chooselatitude.com, or Instagram @latitude.realty.