Employee recognition is a key way to retain staff and is great for employee engagement – this is because it’s linked to one of the universal themes of a great employee experience – appreciation.
People value themselves as a commodity in an organisation, and an essential one at that. If an employer does not show appreciation – then people are likely to look for new opportunities where they will feel valued and receive the recognition that they deserve.
The creation of a reward and recognition programme starts with understanding what recognition is, and how it can be used to enable a great employee experience.
Today we are going to look at:
- What is employee recognition?
- Why it matters?
- How can HR create a winning recognition programme?
What is employee recognition?
In simple terms, employee recognition includes anything from a thank you (whether verbal or written), through to social recognition for a job well done (a shout out from the CEO for the team, or winning an award).
Being recognised shows us that the organisation we are working for values our hard work and appreciates the contributions and value that we add.
Employee recognition (even if not noted) are a reinforcement of the organisation’s values and culture. Recognising an employee, or team, leads to increased engagement and productivity too.
Recognition should often be spontaneous and in the moment, (you would not plan to say thank you to someone to show appreciation – it is something that happens organically). But making recognition part of the organisation’s culture does take more than the reliance of those water-cooler moments.
An employee recognition programme will let everyone show appreciation in whatever way they prefer. But, this can be easier said than done. Let us look deeper into why employee recognition matters, and what ways you can create a winning employee recognition programme, which will help you on your way to having a happier, motivated, and more engaged workforce.
Why does employee recognition matter?
When people are appreciated it ensures better outcomes for your organisation. Let’s take a look at why this is the case:
Higher employee engagement
Employee recognition can help to keep team members engaged and if it is the right reward for the right piece of work it will motivate them to work harder as it provides a sense of accomplishment. Here at people lab, we have conducted research over a decade which looks at all the environments needed to make a great employee experience – these are:
- Meaning
- Appreciation
- Growth
- Impact
- Challenge
- Connection
- Autonomy
When these universal themes are all present it will equal a good day at work and a great experience – which will all add up to engagement.
Where these themes are missing, the experience will be less positive and therefore so will the engagement. These themes also enable better wellbeing, and because they are linked to our intrinsic motivators, will increase productivity too.
Increased employee retention
This is a key issue at the moment as we continue to navigate ourselves out of the pandemic. If people feel valued and know that they matter, then they will be more likely to stay working as part of your organisation. Lack of recognition and feeling appreciated is often a reason cited as to why people want to, or actually do leave their organisation. With burnout from the pandemic in full force, it is a priority issue in most HR departments and will continue to be over the coming months.
Improved employer brand
Being an organisation with a reputation for valuing your employees will boost your organisations brand. Link that to engaged employees providing better customer service, and this will further boost your reputation as an employer of choice. It is important that your brand and employee value proposition are revisited to ensure that they are still fit for purpose. You need to include elements of flexible working, update the benefits available to your people, increase your community and social response, as well as tailor your employee experience to be more personalised, in order to maintain competitive advantage.
Better employee performance
It is well documented that when people are more engaged, increased performance will follow. David MacLeod and Nita Clarke in “Engaging for success” (2009) talk about engaged people going “the extra mile”. Engagement needs to be enabled for it to happen – in the report they set out four key enablers of engagement. Our research at People Lab in the years that have followed demonstrates a fifth enabler:
- Strategic narrative – the organisations story, where it has come from, where it is now and where it is going to. Its purpose
- Engaging Managers – People will thrive under managers who coach, stretch, and treat people as individuals
- Employee voice – listening to and understanding the value of the people in the organisation
- Organisational integrity – the values of the organisation are not just a poster on a wall – but are lived and breathers through every individual’s day to day behaviours.
- Employee involvement – the informed voice turns into opportunity to be pat of the change – not having change done to them
Creating a winning recognition programme
So, we have looked at what employee recognition is and set out the case as to why it is important.
Now we are going to look at the how – what elements need to be included to make a winning recognition programme that will elevate the people in your organisation and make them feel appreciated?
Provide both social recognition and meaningful rewards
As Daniel Pink sets out in his book “Drive” (2009) there are three components to intrinsic motivation – Autonomy, Mastery & Purpose
- Autonomy – According to Pink, to be fully motivated you must be able to have some level of control over what you do, when, where and how you do it. Autonomy enables us to think creatively without needing to conform to strict rules.
- Mastery – This is the desire to improve. If you are motivated by mastery, then you will likely see everything that happens as an opportunity to do it better – even rejection for a job or promotion will be seen as an opportunity to improve skills to try again.
- Purpose – People motivated by purpose are often the most hardworking, productive, and engaged. If people understand the why, and are able to connect with it, then they will find purpose/meaning in their work.
When you combine an extrinsic reward that links to the intrinsic value and social recognition, this will help create a modern employee recognition programme.
Make recognition specific to the actions
Reward actions which represent the values and ethics that you want people in your organisation to represent. Performance based recognition for when people contribute to business success, but also reflect your organisations core values. For example, if one of your values is about togetherness and community – reward efforts on collaboration and team work.
Give recognition frequently
Recognition and appreciation are not things which should be ‘once and done’ – people want to be recognised frequently and in real-time. The longer it takes for people to receive appreciation after a milestone – the less important it will be and will be forgotten twice as quickly.
Use an employee recognition platform
There are lots of employee recognition software options available. Choosing the right one will help to simply/automate the administration and boost the impact it has. When looking at various providers it is helpful to ask yourself:
- Will it integrate with existing HR tools
- Does it support monetary & social recognition
- Can it work in real time
- Opportunity to gamify the process i.e., a points-based system where people can choose the use all or some of the points or save towards a bigger/better reward at the appropriate time for them
- It is engaging
- Does it meet your organisations security protocols
- Measure the impact of your recognition programme
But also, what value do people get out of it? Does it enable you to celebrate your success? Is it fit for purpose?
And perhaps the most important question – is this the best solution for your people? And the only way to answer this one, is to ask them – what is it they need to feel appreciated and valued. As with all employee experiences, we can’t make assumptions.
Recognition is about the individuals in your organisation so make sure you gather feedback from them on the programme at regular intervals.
What about incentives?
In January 2022, CIPD published an article reviewing the evidence of incentives and recognition.
The overriding principles that they set out to follow are:
- Design rewards that reflect the reality of the individual jobs and teams in which they are given
- Link rewards clearly and consistently to performance
- Make sure the reward schemes and how they are administered are seen as fair
If you would like to hear more about appreciation as an enabler of great experience and driver of engagement, or more about the universal themes in the MAGIC-CA model, we would love to hear from you, so please drop us a hello!
@Karen
