Happy Employee, Happy Work Life. That’s how the saying goes right?
During 2020’s Covid pandemic, workers have realized that they can work from home, are more willing to request time-off for mental health days, and they are demanding better pay. Employees aren’t afraid to leave a job in order to feel validated, recognized and appreciated in a friendly work environment.
This has caused a major problem for American businesses during the past year in the United States. Businesses are struggling to figure out how to get employees to stay or even how to incentivize the unemployed to work at their business.
While there have been a myriad of studies, surveys, and company meetings to discuss employee grudges, the question remains: How important is it to recognize employees for more than just tenureship?
Here are the facts:
- Show some gratitude towards employees for their hard work. 69% of employees would work harder if they felt their efforts were better appreciated(Proofhub)
- Employee turnover is something that most businesses have to deal with on a daily basis. Oftentimes employees leave when they feel underappreciated. However, companies with employee recognition programs have a 31% lower voluntary turnover rate.(Deloitte.com)
- When employees were asked what their leaders could do to improve employer-employee relationships, 58% of respondents said, “Give recognition”(Psychometrics)
- Did you know the most common form of employee recognition is length of tenureship? While in some cases this is enough, employees aged 25 to 34 will stay with an employer on average 3 years before moving on. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)So if the average tenureship recognition awards are celebrated after five years of employment, then a majority of younger employees in your workforce are going unrecognized for their contributions.
- 96% of employees indicated that a thank you that comes with an associated gift or reward as a powerful form of recognition that left a lasting impression.(Globoforce)
- Only one out of three employees in the United States have received recognition for a well done job in the past week(GoRemotely)
7. 83% of companies or organizations suffer from a lack of employee recognition(GoRemotely)
Knowing what you know now, what can Business CEOS, managers, human resources, and other employees in supervisory positions do to improve their current work practices to create an authentic work environment?
What You Can Do:
- Be Genuine in Recognitions
Employees want an authentic form of recognition at work. Being able to recognize an employee for specific instances that are original and genuine help employees feel appreciated with an individual complement. It makes each employee feel like they are making a noticeable difference in their workplace.
2. Frequently Express Gratitude
Studies showing that when employees are recognized for their work efforts they were more willing to go the extra mile at their jobs with faster task completions and were more likely to stay with a company for longer than the three year average. Improving frequency of recognition also correlated to a higher frequency of dopamine release in the workplace.
3. Limit Gamification Reward Systems
While having a gamification reward system does work in getting employees incentivized to do tasks or improve numbers in a competitive atmosphere, however this isn’t conducive as a year-round work environment. Employees with a point reward program in place at their workplace expressed feeling high levels of stress and competitiveness with co-workers that made the atmosphere at work less than desirable.
4. Encourage Peer-to-Peer recognition
Managerial recognition is a positive form of recognition in the workplace, however, by encouraging employees to recognize each other consistently can lead to team bonding opportunities that can increase work flow because co-worker relationships are strengthened.
5. Create Individual Relationships
It might seem as if putting this much effort into employee recognition is a bit overkill but the payoff is tremendous when factored into business success. Employees don’t stay at jobs just for the money, they stay with a company that they’re connected to. This means having a good relationship with co-workers, managers, supervisors, and customers. When managers are willing to maintain a good relationship individually with their employees, employees feel needed and wanted.
Building relationships with employees is essential in business success, so yes, go buy that $15 gift with a customized note. Tell that co-worker how much you appreciate their help, celebrate a success, or share a moment that an employee helped you at your next meeting. The little things add up to more than what a spreadsheet can tell you (although I’m sure there’s some that can).
With these ideas in mind, feel free to reach out toBrightbox’s business team to order customized boxes for those recognition occasions or just because. Fill out our contact form and we’ll be sure to reach out to you within 24 hours to assist you with all your company needs.
Statistics provided by GloboForce