Dive Brief:
- 80% of organizations responding to a new Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey said they recognize their employees through formal programs, and those that tied programs to their organization’s values were more likely to report a positive impact on employees.
- SHRM’s "Employee Recognition Programs—2015 Survey," produced in collaboration with and commissioned by Globoforce, showed that 58% of employers with employee recognition programs tied them to organizational goals.
- Of these organizations, 78% of HR professionals rated their programs as excellent or good, compared with 41% of organizations where programs were not tied to values.
Dive Insight:
Employee recognition — which can range from celebrations and gifts to personal acknowledgement — rewards top-performing employees and reinforces organizational goals. The survey also showed that employee retention/turnover and employee engagement were cited as the most important organizational challenges being faced by HR professionals.
"A company’s culture and values are a competitive differentiator,” said Evren Esen, director of SHRM’s survey programs. “Based on the survey results, we now know companies that not only have a recognition program in place, but have a recognition program that incorporates its core values, are more likely to report greater benefits overall.”
Recognition by senior leaders can be one way to strengthen employees’ feelings that they are respected and increase the trust between employees and senior management — two factors that SHRM research shows are critical to employee job satisfaction, Esen said. HR leaders in particular should track the effectiveness of their employee recognition efforts.
