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I have always believed that if you want good people, you must treat good people like they matter. That sounds simple. It should be simple. But too often, employee appreciation becomes nothing more than words. We tell employees they are valued. We tell them they are appreciated. We tell them they are the backbone of an organization. Then we go right back to doing things the same way we have always done them. And those employees see it, they feel it and they are tired of it. Words matter. But words without action eventually become empty. That's where we are, already.
Real employee appreciation is more than a gift card once a year, a pizza lunch, a Christmas party, a token "team" gift or a few words during Employee Appreciation Week. Those things are nice. There is nothing wrong with them. I am sure they are looked at nicely. But if that is where appreciation starts and ends, we are missing the point.
People know when they are valued. They also know when they are not.
As a leader, I believe appreciation means investing in your people. It means making sure they have the equipment they need to do their jobs safely and effectively. It means providing training. It means listening when they bring concerns forward. It means recognizing that their time has value. And sometimes, it means making hard decisions to put your employees in a better position. One of the things I have learned over the years is that leadership is not about having a title. It is about accepting responsibility.
If I expect someone to work nights, weekends, holidays and long hours, I better be willing to do the same. If I expect someone to answer the phone at 2 a.m., I better understand what that means. If I expect a deputy, jailer, dispatcher or other employee to walk into difficult situations on behalf of our community, I better make sure they know that their organization has their back.
It is easy to stand in front of a group of employees or the public and say, “We appreciate everything you do.” But do you really?
It is harder to look at a budget and figure out how to invest more in the people doing the work. It is harder to create opportunities for advancement; provide meaningful training and make sure people have the resources they need. It is easy to say employees are our greatest asset. It is harder to treat them that way.
I have always believed that one of the most important responsibilities of a leader is to remove obstacles for the people doing the work. That also includes compensating those who are the ones doing the worked. Especially those that are given responsibilities that go above and beyond, for example, various supervisors.
My employees should not have to spend their time fighting unnecessary battles inside the organization just to do their jobs. They should be able to focus on serving the public. That does not mean employees get everything they ask for. It does not mean every decision will make everyone happy. Leadership sometimes requires making difficult decisions, and sometimes the answer must be no. But even when the answer is no, people deserve to know they were heard.
They deserve honesty. They deserve transparency. They deserve a reason. They deserve to be treated with respect. They deserve leaders with a backbone.
And when an organization asks more of its employees, the organization should be willing to invest more in them.
I have also learned that appreciation is not always about money. Obviously, compensation matters. People have bills to pay and families to support. We cannot pretend otherwise.
But appreciation also looks like flexibility when it can reasonably be provided. It looks like recognizing someone’s accomplishments. It looks like giving someone a chance to grow. It looks like trusting people to do their jobs. It looks like saying thank you and actually meaning it.
It means knowing the names of the people who work for you. And not just for the name card on the cheap trinket of "appreciation". It means knowing when someone is having a tough day. It means celebrating the victories but also standing beside people when things do not go according to plan.
And perhaps most importantly, it means giving people a reason to believe their work matters.
In public safety, that matters a lot. Our employees deal with things most people will never see. They answer calls when someone else is having the worst day of their life. They work holidays while other families are sitting around the dinner table. They deal with difficult situations, difficult people and difficult decisions. The kicker is; most "ordinary" people will never have to understand that. That is the point.
They do it because they care about their community. That should never be taken for granted.
I am proud of the men and women who serve Hamilton County. I am proud of the work they do, and I am proud of the progress we have made together. I love the people I serve with. But I also know that leadership is never finished.
There is always another way to improve. Another piece of equipment that could make someone’s job safer. Another training opportunity. Another process that could be better. Another way we can show our employees that their work matters.
That is what real appreciation looks like. It is not just saying, “Thank you.” It is asking, “What do you need?” It is not just recognizing the work after it is done. It is investing in the people who must do it tomorrow. It is not just talking about how important employees are. It is making decisions that actually demonstrate it.