Employee Recognition 2020 : Why Employee Recognition Programs Don't Work and What Leaders Should Do Instead?

Overview

Why is it that most leaders believe they are doing a great job demonstrating to their staff how much they value them but only a small percentage of those same staff members agree. In fact, many employees suggest that their manager's silence is "deafening!"

Do you have leaders who say, "I pay them well - that's how I show my appreciation" or "My job isn't to make them feel good about themselves. It's to get the work done" or "I don't have time for that touchy- feel stuff. They can go to Google if they want to play games all day" or even, "These young kids today need to grow up and live in reality - every day at work can't be MEANINGFUL!"

We know the enormous costs to organizations to replace employees. Research shows as little as 50% of an entry level staffer's annual salary up to 400% of a highly specialized employee. Losing and replacing staff is always expensive! And how about the resulting declines in productivity and devastation to morale during the process of recruiting and training someone new It makes sense then that retaining skilled, quality employees over the long term creates a competitive advantage for the organization so how can we best do it.

Building great workplaces where employees contributions are acknowledged and encouraged requires a foundation of trust and authenticity. The problem with a one size fits all approach to employee recognition such as the typical annual awards event where employees are recognized for years of service or a public announcement of cost reduction idea winner in the company newsletter is that employees don't believe it's authentic. In fact, these sometimes-well-meaning attempts to demonstrate appreciation have an adverse effect - increased cynicism, lack of trust and even resentment before employees have had enough.