It’s nice to feel appreciated. When you experience gratitude from someone, your brain releases dopamine and serotonin, chemical messengers that improve our mood and make us feel good.

Showing your employees that they are valued benefits everyone. It reduces stress, makes people happy, improves their physical health, and creates a positive work environment. When people feel recognized for their work, they feel more engaged and motivated, which in turn increases productivity.

Of course, staff should be paid the going rate for their role in the charity sector. This is especially important when people are suffering from the cost of living crisis. But it’s tough for small charities right now – many are struggling with rising costs.

Encourage open and honest conversations with employees and ask them what they expect from the organization. Send a survey to employees and ask them how they feel about working for the charity, whether they feel valued and what would make them feel valued.

Give people a one-time payment

Instead of giving your employees a raise, you can give them a one-time payment through payroll. This is a great way to show your employees that you value them and can have an immediate positive impact on their attitude toward their work. It’s important to understand the tax implications of doing this.

Stuart Davis, CEO of Stuart Davis Consulting, which helps charities with their finances and operations, says it’s important to be honest with staff if you can’t afford a pay rise. “Staff are aware of the financial challenges. Tell them you’ll be reviewing salaries next year and that you can offer them a one-off payment in the meantime.”

“From our experience with charities, staff appreciate a lump sum payment. It’s easy to set up and the underlying salary stays the same. You can adjust the payments gradually based on staff salaries.”

The employee will have to pay national insurance contributions and tax on the lump sum payment. Davis explains that if you want your employees to actually receive the full amount (e.g. £500), you should adjust the gross amount you pay your employees to cover the tax they pay.

A simple word of thanks

Remember to thank people for their hard work. Some people will love being in the spotlight, others won’t, so think about how best to do that for each person.

For example, you could publicly acknowledge and thank a person for their work at a staff meeting, or you could call the person to thank them.

Thriving Small Business recommends writing a thank you note to an employee because it is more personal than an email and is something employees may retain.

The Harvard Business Review published an article on how to write a meaningful thank you message. This includes making the message authentic and genuine by letting someone know what impact their actions have had on you and others.

Give someone a paid day off

When everyone is overwhelmed, it can be hard to step back, but a paid day off is a great opportunity for employees to recharge and for charities to say thank you.

There are a few different ways to approach this. You could give employees a day off on their birthday every year, or give them a day off because they’re working hard on a project.

Check your benefits package

Look at what other charities offer their employees and see if you can expand your benefits package. If you can’t afford to add more paid benefits, there are free and low-cost perks and benefits you can add, including flexible working.

According to a survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, more than seven in ten (71%) say flexible working arrangements are important to them.

Davis says flexible working needs to be implemented properly and is a good incentive for charities as they don’t have huge office overheads to pay. “Saying you have a flexible working policy but asking everyone to work in the central London office once a week is not flexible working. I think companies should be flexible from the outset and assume that people will set their own hours and work in different ways. The policy would only specify a time or place to work if things need to be done at a certain time or you need to be in the office for an urgent reason.”

You could offer gift vouchers to your employees. Davis recommends exchanging these for goods and services rather than cash. “If a voucher is worth £50 or less, HMRC will consider it a marginal benefit and the charity will not have to pay national insurance contributions.”

Organize social events

Since the pandemic, there is no longer always the opportunity to chat with colleagues during breaks, so consider organizing monthly meetings to bring colleagues together.

Going out for drinks in the evening may not be for everyone, so think of other ways to bring everyone together. For example, you could organize picnics during the summer months.