Categories for MBA Inventory
We are EXCITED to announce an upgraded revision to one of our core tools – the Expanded Motivating By Appreciation Inventory! At Appreciation at Work, we are dedicated to providing top quality, practical resources that are relevant to the ever-changing workplace. We are also committed to keeping those resources updated with the latest research and that has led to a updated and enhanced version of our Expanded Motivating By Appreciation Inventory. Updated for the Modern Workplace Originally developed in 2011, the Motivating By Appreciation Inventory (MBAI) has been taken by over 450,000 individuals around the world, and we’ve published over 10... Continue reading...
September 22, 2025 9:41 am
For more than a decade, research with hundreds of thousands of employees has consistently found that giving tangible rewards to employees to show appreciation and increase employee engagement is a huge waste of money. Fact #1: In spite of companies and organizations, spending billions of dollars annually over the past decades ($16 billion in 2022 alone)1, Gallup reports employee engagement has actually decreased during the same time period to its lowest level in nine years.2 Fact #2: Research with hundreds of thousands of employees has repeatedly and consistently shown that receiving tangible gifts is the least desired way employees say... Continue reading...
September 8, 2025 9:16 am
One of the core tenets of the Appreciation at Work system is that not everyone feels appreciated in the same way. The more we align our appreciation with the specific preferences of our team members, the more likely we are to encourage them effectively and help them feel genuinely valued. This is the essence of understanding appreciation language in the workplace—and it plays a direct role in how we build trust and rapport with our colleagues. But here’s something we’ve learned from training thousands of professionals in authentic appreciation: A person’s primary language of appreciation is often the language in... Continue reading...
In development for over 15 years, and taken by over 450,000 individuals around the world, the Motivating By Appreciation Inventory assessment tool provides an individualized report that guides your coworkers and managers in knowing how to express appreciation to you in the ways uniquely meaningful to you. Your MBA Inventory report identifies your primary and secondary languages of appreciation, as well as your least valued language. Additionally, you can share the specific actions most meaningful to you and from whom you desire which actions. Taken by over 200 employees every workday, we are consistently given feedback by MBAI users that... Continue reading...
Have you ever worked in a really unhealthy environment? A workplace filled with negativity, deception, sarcasm, and cynicism—where trust between departments is fractured, and employees only stay because they feel they have to? Now, think about this question: what would it take to turn that culture around? After a moment of reflection, many of us might say, “It would take a miracle,” or “There’s no way—it’s a toxic pit.” But here’s the truth: the difference between a toxic work culture, a mediocre one, and a thriving, positive environment usually comes down to a series of small but intentional steps—not magic,... Continue reading...
The COVID-19 pandemic, the dramatic increase in remote and hybrid employees, and the ongoing generational transition have reshaped the modern workforce—where employees work, how they work, and what they expect from their careers. The impact of these cultural shifts is significant on many levels compared to what we knew about employees before COVID-19. Some differences are obvious: today, a much greater number of employees work remotely full-time, and many more express a clear desire to continue doing so. The hybrid model—where employees work remotely at least part-time—has grown dramatically as well. The Ripple Effect of Remote and Hybrid Work Several... Continue reading...
Employees and supervisors in the trades need to know that their work is seen, respected, and valued. Learn more about the practical tools we've developed specifically people working in the trades.
Younger employees approach work—and life—differently than many of their colleagues. What they value personally, their expectations for their career paths, and even how they want to be treated on a daily basis reflect a new generational perspective.
Remote and hybrid workplaces are here to stay, and navigating those changes in work relationships seem difficult. Learn more about how appreciation can help you stay connected with your remote team members in this week's blog.
February 24, 2025 10:27 am
Love languages in the workplace? Yes! While it may seem like an odd concept, research shows that learning to appreciate your coworkers is a key component in healthy workplaces. But are your appreciation language and love language the same?
February 10, 2025 9:39 am
Help Us Answer an Ongoing Question about Appreciation To date, more than 425,000 people have taken the Motivating By Appreciation Inventory (MBAI) to discover their language of appreciation! Our goal in creating the MBAI has always been to provide relevant, practical and easily applied resources to help team members communicate appreciation effectively to one another. But over time, some relevant questions have come up. What if my supervisor changes? Or team roles and responsibilities have changed? Or if I work for a different organization? How stable are our desired ways of being shown appreciation over life stages and other changes... Continue reading...
January 13, 2025 11:06 am
Sometimes (maybe lots of times) we don’t actually do what we intend to do – even when we know the action would be good for us and for those around us. Despite our good intentions, communicating appreciation to others often falls into to this pattern: Let’s agree that behavior change is difficult. (Otherwise, we would all be in good shape and have no bad habits!) This premise is true at work, as well. Our lack of good habits is not usually due a lack of intent or desire, but rather, not fully understanding the power of habits and utilizing the... Continue reading...
The new school year is starting and, being honest, a lot of people are not real excited about that prospect (even if we exclude those students who want summer to extend a bit longer). If you work in a school (preschool, K-12, public or private) or have a family member or friend who does, there is a high likelihood that some feelings of dread are present. Why am I predicting negative expectations? Because, currently, schools are one of the most difficult workplaces in our culture to be employed. Consider the following factors: Low prestige. In past decades, teachers and... Continue reading...
When I started speaking about the 5 languages of appreciation in the workplace, an interesting pattern developed. During breaks, people would frequently relay stories about how nasty their workplace was or what a jerk their boss was. This happened so frequently that I became curious and concerned enough to start researching toxic workplaces (which resulted in our book, Rising Above a Toxic Workplace, and our associated video series). I started keeping track of the types of workplaces that were most frequently referred to as toxic, and five categories rose to the top: colleges and universities, hospitals, government social service agencies,... Continue reading...
“Don’t tell me you care; show me.” This is a phrase often said by those whose preferred language of appreciation is Acts of Service. For them, actions will always speak louder than words and they feel appreciated when others reach out to help. More than 1 in 5 employees (22%) have Acts of Service as their primary language of appreciation (with another 15% having it as their secondary language). So over one-third of your coworkers value appreciation shown through practical actions that will help them do their work more effectively. How you help out a colleague really is situation specific.... Continue reading...
As a larger proportion of the workforce has moved to remote and hybrid work, it is reasonable to ask whether employees who work remotely have different preferences for being shown appreciation than those who work onsite. To find out, we conducted a research study with almost 90,000 individuals who had taken our online assessment, the Motivating By Appreciation Inventory. We found that Words of Affirmation continues to be the most desired appreciation language, but remote employees chose Quality Time as their primary language of appreciation more frequently (35% of employees) than workers on-site (25%). This finding seems logical – those off-site desire more... Continue reading...
When we first launched our online assessment tool, the Motivating By Appreciation Inventory, it was geared toward a general workplace setting. Since then, we have created an expanded version, translated it into 8 different languages and have created 11 different industry-specific versions for Remote/ Long Distance, Medical, Military, School, Non-Profit/ Ministry, Government, Senior Care, Trades, Veterinary, and Dentistry. We are frequently asked, “Why do we create industry-specific versions of our MBAI assessment?” Here are a few of the factors that lead to their creation: *Our goal is always to provide relevant, practical and easily applied resources to help team members... Continue reading...
Take a step back from what “needs to get done” for a moment and reflect: What is a core aspect of human life that permeates our life experience and which isn’t going well for many adults today? One answer is – living life with others. From the moment of our birth and until we die – we are connected to others. The same is true for our work lives – we work in the context of relationships which includes some combination of an employer, supervisor, customers or clients, colleagues, suppliers, and the general milieu of daily life (dealing with... Continue reading...
A question I am asked fairly frequently is whether a person’s preferred language of appreciation changes over time. We don’t currently have a definitive answer for that but we are in the midst of researching it. However, there are some helpful data points which provide some direction. As we work with companies and organizations across the world, we have the privilege to discuss a variety of specific issues with our clients, hear their questions, and receive feedback from them. Let’s explore some factors we have observed that affect the primary ways individuals like to be appreciated. Life Circumstances First, one’s... Continue reading...
Over the past several years, much attention has been given to differences across generations, including in the workplace. Why has this been such a focus? Because of the huge sociological shift in our culture, moving from one very large generation (Boomers), who have had significant influence on cultural values and norms, to the next generations (Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z) who have now become the primary cultural influencers. Do Generational Differences Really Exist? And, if so, why? As has been demonstrated by thousands of research studies, many differences exist across generations – in preferences, values, lifestyle choices, beliefs, spending habits,... Continue reading...
The importance of communicating appreciation in the workplace has become a common topic in the past few years – both in relation to combining personalized appreciation with traditional recognition activities, and sometimes as an alternative model of increasing employee engagement. As the world of work has become significantly more globalized, the question has been raised whether employees in various cultures desire appreciation differently. In our work over the past decade in applying the concepts of the five love languages to work-based relationships, we have primarily focused on English-speaking countries: the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. In prior... Continue reading...
Since its initial release in 1992, Dr. Gary Chapman’s The 5 Love Languages has become a cultural phenomenon. In addition to having sold over 20 million copies and being translated into 50 languages, the 5 love languages are frequently referred to in casual conversations – especially those related to romantic, marital, and family relationships. What is interesting to me is that many people are still intrigued by the concept of applying the 5 languages to relationships at work. True, the concept of love at work can seem a bit weird (especially if your definition of love is based on the... Continue reading...
February 12, 2024 9:53 am
For more than a decade, research with hundreds of thousands of employees has consistently found that giving tangible rewards to employees to show appreciation and increase employee engagement is a huge waste of money. Fact #1: In spite of companies and organizations, spending billions of dollars annually over the past decades ($16 billion in 2022 alone), Gallup reports employee engagement has actually decreased during the same time period to its lowest level in nine years. Fact #2: Research with hundreds of thousands of employees has repeatedly and consistently shown that receiving tangible gifts is the least desired way employees say... Continue reading...
How to Keep Appreciation Growing Most people have good intentions. We want to help improve our workplace culture, become more positive and supportive. And many of us have tried – by starting to apply the languages of appreciation with our team members — but have gotten stuck in our endeavors. For some, your efforts in introducing the 5 languages of appreciation to leaders and colleagues have been met with a lukewarm response, while for others the process started out well, but fizzled before getting off the ground very far. Let me encourage you: Take heart! Steps can be taken to... Continue reading...
January 29, 2024 10:28 am
Our best-selling book, The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, has been revised and updated. Originally published as a hardback version in 2011, it was revised and released as a paperback in 2014. We then updated the content and research in 2019. Obviously, a lot has changed in the workplace since 2019. And new research, including our own, continues to be done in the areas of workplace culture, recognition and rewards, employee engagement – and appreciation. As a result, we worked this past year to update the book to reflect current trends and issues, and to cite the most... Continue reading...
While the primary focus of our work with the 5 languages of appreciation has been to help individuals learn how to communicate authentic appreciation in the ways meaningful to one another, we’ve learned that the flip side is also important. That is, how do you avoid inadvertently using actions to show appreciation that your coworker clearly doesn’t want? The goal is to communicate positively with one’s colleagues, so making them uncomfortable or even offending them is not what anyone really wants. Because we are committed to learning, growing, and improving, we began to explore the issue of avoiding unwanted acts... Continue reading...
In December 2023 we passed a milestone: over 400,000 individuals have taken our Motivating By Appreciation (MBA) Inventory to identify how they prefer to be shown appreciation at work. (This total includes individuals from over the past 12 years, including pre-COVID-19, during quarantine, and post-COVID-19.) In addition to celebrating this accomplishment (and offering a special discount – see below), we thought we’d also share some of the things we’ve learned over the years from the results of the inventory. Lessons Learned 1. The need for being appreciated hasn’t diminished and continues to be an ongoing desire. The number of people... Continue reading...
Yes, we are still in the midst of the end-of-year holiday season and all of the busyness that entails. But many leaders are also reflecting on this past year and asking themselves: “How can we make this next year better? What can we do to improve our culture – connecting people, making them feel valued?” The issues and challenges we encountered in this last year are not going away anytime soon. Helping people stay connected while working fully or partially remote. Less interaction with colleagues. Feeling alone and out there on your own. And it is clear – both from... Continue reading...
December 18, 2023 10:06 am
I have had the privilege of traveling internationally to numerous countries to introduce the concept of authentic appreciation in the workplace. And from these experiences I’ve learned that appreciation and vibrant workplaces aren’t limited to certain cultures. And, more importantly, the need for appreciation in the workplace is deeply felt by the leaders and employees who work in these countries. Lessons from a Multinational Training Experience A few years ago, I had the opportunity to train the management and supervisors of an elite international organization in how to communicate authentic appreciation to their staff. Functioning within the tourism and hospitality industries,... Continue reading...
At Appreciation at Work, one of our goals is to make it easy to apply the concept of communicating authentic appreciation to your daily work life. We have worked hard to provide a wide range of resources to meet the needs of various types of organizations – from small non-profit organizations and family-owned businesses, to schools, medical offices, government agencies, and multinational organizations. Sometimes it can be confusing to know: a) what resources are available; b) how they differ; and c) which one best fits the needs and culture of your organization. So, we thought it would be good to... Continue reading...
