It is often said that politeness costs nothing. In fact，it seems that a little more politeness could save businesses ￡5 billion every year. Frequently hearing the phrase“thank you”or“well done”means the same to staff as a modest pay rise. Praise and encouragement also makes employees more likely to work hard and stay in their jobs. In this way the business companies can save the cost of finding new employees. A third of 1,000 workers surveyed by a consulting firm said they did not get thanked at all when they did well-and a further third said they were not thanked enough. In both cases. staff said they felt undervalued，meaning they were less likely to exert themselves and were more likely to look for employment elsewhere. The result of the survey shows that there would be around ￡5.2 billion loss in productivity if the employees felt less appreciated. According to the firm，praising staff has the same positive effect as a 1 per cent pay rise-and works out much cheaper for bosses. Three out of four employees said that regular acknowledgement by their bosses was important to them，but only a quarter said they were actually given as much praise as they felt they needed. The survey found that those in blue-collar and manual jobs were less likely to be given any recognition for doing well. But it seems that they most need such praise. In regional terms，Scottish staff felt most undervalued. Four out of ten workers said they were never thanked and eight out of ten said they would like more praise. However. workers in the North-East are less impressed by being praised by the boss，as only 69 per cent said they felt the need to be told“well done”regularly. Older employees and women need the most reassurance，according to psychologist Averil Leimon. She said that words of praise did more than creating a pleasant place to work-they could even promote profits. The survey indicates that politeness could save businesses a huge amount of money every year because______.