Recognition: Vital for Employee Engagement, Retention
Employee recognition isn’t a passing fad, and it provides more than a simple “pat on the back” for employees.
Rather, it offers employees an opportunity to keep dialogue open with colleagues and managers — whether reaching goals, sending thanks for the small things, going above and beyond, or identifying personal development in one’s role. And from a much broader perspective, it can keep employees tuned into and a part of their organization’s culture and mission.
Recognition is indeed no passing fad; it’s a solid component of successful HR and engagement programs and has been shown to effectively increase engagement and reduce turnover.
In Gallup’s 2016 report, “Employee Recognition: Low Cost, High Impact,” the importance of receiving regular recognition at work is explored. Employees who don’t feel they receive adequate recognition are found to be two times more likely to say they’ll quit in the next year.
Gallup recommends that feedback not only come from different voices in the workplace, but that it should also be frequent — every seven days, to be specific.
Yet only one out of three employees in the U.S. strongly agrees that they have personally received recognition or praise for good work within the last week, the report finds.
You may wonder: Does this mean that a manager should directly give their reports recognition every week? Maybe, but not necessarily.
Recognition can come from any and all in the organization — peers, managers, high-level leaders and beyond. Gallup asked employees: Who had given them their most memorable recognition at work? Responses ranged from an employee’s direct manager to their manager’s manager, a high-level leader, peers, customers, even “other.” In other words, workers seem to value recognition coming from all directions.
And when there are strong recognition programs in place, Officevibe finds, it helps to retain employees, increase customer satisfaction and increase engagement levels.
According to Officevibe, voluntary turnover rates are almost a third lower (31 percent) in organizations with effective recognition programs in place than those whose programs are ineffective. And for companies which utilize peer-to-peer recognition in particular, they see an increase in 41 percent of positive markers for customer satisfaction. When managers directly give their employees recognition, it can result in a 60 percent increase in engagement.
On the flip side, a lack of recognition can lead to employees leaving. Officevibe reports that the most common reason workers quit their jobs in the U.S. is because they don’t feel appreciated.