In our All-to-All meeting on March 10, 2025, Frank Rosado, an ATAP Operations Team administrator, presented an entertaining talk on the importance of appreciation in the workplace.

Appreciation, a core stewardship value in the division, impacts morale through “simple words that can help people feel valued and enhance motivation,” says Rosado.

ATAP’s core values guide the stewardship of our people, research, and resources:

• Integrity, fulfilling our commitments with honesty, transparency, and accountability.
• Trust of colleagues and the community earned by honest dealing and respectful behavior.
• Respect based on regard for the people who make up our teams—and on caring for each other.
• Service, the spirit in which we discover and innovate to further the Berkeley Lab and DOE missions and perform outreach efforts to prepare the next generation.
• Safety, integrated throughout the planning and conduct of our research and operations to ensure the well-being of our people and the public.
• Appreciation, recognizing the commitment and dedication of the people who support and advance scientific accomplishments.
• Collaboration that bridges gaps between disciplines and institutions to perform best our mission—a tradition of team science dating back to Laboratory founder E.O. Lawrence.
• Innovation, transforming the unexplored into the understood and advancing new approaches and applications.

Rosado says, “Formally recognizing employees for their achievements will always be welcome in the workplace, but the regular, casual expression of appreciation is a direct way to make staff feel valued.”

He adds that expressing genuine appreciation:

• Increases loyalty
• Improves employee experience
• Reduces staff turnover

He cited work by Gary Chapman and Paul White, authors of “The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace: Empowering Organizations by Encouraging People” (Northfield Publishing, 2012), which shows how the following can be used to show appreciation in the workplace:

• Acts of service involve helping and supporting employees in practical ways.
• Quality time refers to spending dedicated and focused time with employees.
• Words of affirmation involve expressing appreciation through verbal or written communication.
• Tangible gifts range from small gestures to large rewards.
• Appropriate physical touch refers to non-intrusive forms of contact.

For more information on ATAP News articles, contact caw@lbl.gov.