Thank you is a powerful phrase, and research shows these two simple words can go a long way.

According to Forbes, showing authentic gratitude to your employees changes workplace culture. Thanking people increases productivity, improves overall employee well-being and decreases turnover. And experts agree: if you want to make a real impact, show gratitude from the ground up.

BSCAI wants to help its members with how they show their appreciation, specifically around thanking cleaners. These hardworking individuals are the backbone of the industry, but do we go out of our way enough to show them just how much we care?

That’s where BSCAI Project: Recognition steps in. It’s a partnership between BSCAI, Kärcher and GP PRO that recognizes and honors the hard work of cleaners, and focuses on the power of showing gratitude. BSCAI Project: Recognition shares resources from its partners’ programs: GP Pro’s Take Notice Program and Thank Your Cleaner Day.

The Take Notice Program is a year-round project through GP PRO which provides several different types of resources for recognition, including personalized certificates and prizes for janitorial staff. The company’s mission is to reverse the roughly 200 percent annual turnover among custodians, and create reward systems with cleaners in mind.

Thank Your Cleaner Day takes place on Wednesday, Oct. 17, and is the brainchild of Kärcher. The initiative is an annual event that encourages companies to celebrate their cleaners through acts of kindness and words of affirmation. Whether it’s sending a cleaner a handwritten card or catering a lunch, Thank Your Cleaner Day helps put a spotlight on some of the hardest working individuals in the building service contract industry.

Whether you go all out with an annual celebration or do little things throughout the year to show you care, be sure to tell your cleaners thank you. Both your employees and your business will benefit.