Dive Brief:
- Most employees — 93% — in a new Globoforce study said their work has meaning and purpose when employers have value-based recognition programs, managers frequently check in on them and manager-employee relationships are strong.
- The study, conducted by Globoforce’s WorkHuman Research Institute, found that highest return on investment (ROI) for employers is values-based recognition, whereby employees are recognized for exhibiting their organization's values in their work.
- Other research results show that 88% of respondents said their work experience was positive because their recognition program is connected to their employer's core values; 56% of respondents said work performance is more likely to improve when feedback is crowdsourced from both managers and peers; and 58% said monetary rewards for recognition were more motivating when given at the moment rather than as an annual bonus.
Dive Insight:
Employee feedback can offer employers an invaluable insight into how they might improve their engagement strategies. As other studies have shown, employees favor recognition for work well done, especially if it's values-based.
As important as recognition is to employees, it's one of the least expensive benefit employers can offer. According to the 2016 SHRM/Globoforce Employee Recognition Survey, recognition amounts to about 1% of employers' payroll and should be view as an investment rather than a cost.
The study also touches on the importance of managers in the recognition process. Since a manager is often responsible for noticing a hard-working employee, as well as monitoring their direct reports' performance, HR must ensure that managers are bought in to the recognition process early — and keep in mind the impact of managers on retention, generally.
