The role of recognition and recognizing employees has been significantly under-appreciated as an important driver of business success, profitability, and performance in most organizations.
According to most of the research, 99.4 percent of today’s employees expect to be recognized when they do good work, while other research has found that only 12 percent of employees strongly agree that they are consistently recognized in ways that are important to them and nearly three times as many (34 percent) disagree or strongly disagree that they are recognized in ways that are meaningful to them.
Additional findings on employees that DO receive employee recognition in their workplace:
– 5 times more likely to feel valued
– 6 times more likely to invest in the company
– 7 times more likely to stay with the company
– 11 times more likely to feel completely committed
Towers Perrin conducted some research that showed committed employees deliver 57 percent more effort than uncommitted ones. It has also become clear in recent years that there is a definite link between employee recognition and employee engagement, satisfaction and loyalty. Employee Recognition is a hugely significant driver in the employee engagement, customer satisfaction, profitability equation. The end result is enhanced bottom-line success for the organization.
In a study conducted by the Corporate Executive Board , it was clear that recognition was one of the top methods for increasing employee retention. And in a study by Towers Perrin, in 2008, “…companies with high employee engagement had a 19% increase in operating income and a 28% increase in earnings per share. In contrast, companies with poor employee engagement scores had declining operating incomes and an 11% drop in earnings per share.”
Based on all these research findings, it is obvious that internal employee engagement directly impacts the external customer experience and their relationships. Without true employee engagement, satisfaction and loyalty, much of what is invested in the customer experience is wasted.
The numbers cited in these studies have only become bigger and more important today!
The most common recognition areas are:
- Years of service – 58 percent
- Going above and beyond with an unexpected work project – 48 percent
- Successful performance relating to the organizational financial bottom-line -43 percent
- Exemplary behavior that represents organizational values – 37 percent
- Completion of regular work projects with high-quality results – 9 percent
- Completion of regular work projects at a pace faster than usual – 2 percent
HOW to recognize these events, accomplishments and positive results???? Go to the internet! Check it out! There are tons of ways to do this. Or call, write, text me with questions and interest in this area. I can guarantee you that some keys to success are 1) make the recognition time sensitive whenever possible 2) words and handshake come first, followed by e-mails as a backup plan not the lead action 3) old-fashioned, hand written thank you’s, “attaboys/girls”…in other words one minute praisings in writing that are real, genuine, specific and earned. There’s waaay more. Go find all the ideas available to you!
Here is Exhibit A of what I am talking about, just received by me, the new external customer for a dentist office here in CO. Who does this anymore?? Not many! And, why can’t you do this for your employees and co-workers? Just think what would happen if there was a little of this injected into the workplace!
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I hope you enjoyed this issue and found something you can put to use to boost your employee engagement and organizational success. The best employee recognition programs cost your company nothing to practically nothing in real dollars. But if done consistently, you’ll be reaping MUCH in increased productivity, employee retention, customer satisfaction and better bottom line results!