How to Show Appreciation
to Your Activity Staff

From leading activities to completing activity assessments, activity assistants provide an invaluable resource for any activity program.

To keep your staff feeling good about their tireless work, be sure to recognize them. Here are a few ways to show your appreciation to your activity staff:

Involve Them in Planning. Each month, host a fun pizza lunch, just for you and your staff. At this working lunch, challenge your staff to create fun activity ideas that you can add to your activity program.

Discover Their Needs and Deliver. Ask your staff about their goals for their jobs. If you discover that your activity assistant would like to eventually become an activity director, consider sharing some of your responsibilities to help her learn more about the position. In contrast, if you have an assistant who enjoys room visits, then place her in charge of one-on-one activities.

Reward With Food. Each quarter, use money from your activity budget to order take-out for you and your activity assistants or to take them out to lunch. This is a great way to bond with each other and learn more about one another.

Ask for Their Opinions. If you are considering changing something that may affect your residents, be sure to ask your activity assistants for their opinions, as they are probably more involved with residents on a day-to-day basis.

Request Their Feedback. At the end of each quarter, ask your staff for their thoughts about the current activity program and how it can be improved.

Boast About Your Staff. Spread the word in your facility that your department has the best staff.

Use Their Activity Ideas. Implement your staff’s activity suggestions. All of the ideas may not work, but your staff will feel even more energized and willing to help you and your activity program if they see that you are willing to give their ideas a try.

Say Thank You. Each evening before leaving, be sure to tell your staff “thank you” for their hard work for the day. Wouldn’t you appreciate it if your boss took the time to say “thank you” at the end of a hard day’s work?

Give Them the Credit. When a resident congratulates you for a job well done, be sure to pass the credit on to your assistants.