Last week WorldatWork released their latest “Trends in
Employee Recognition Report,” which comes out every two to three years. Since
the last report, I’m seeing many encouraging trends as organizations leaders
are growing in their understanding of the power of strategic recognition to
drive business results, yet there also remains many areas for improvement.
I see four clear themes emerging in this research.
Theme 1: Companies are moving away from traditional approaches to recognition to new forms that drive business results.
“What we may be seeing are organizations moving away from legacy recognition programs and toward those programs that can drive results… Organizations continue to leverage newer programs that can have a more direct impact on business results such as above-and-beyond performance, peer-to-peer and programs to motivate specific behaviors. In fact, many of these programs in use today were first implemented within the past five years. Programs to motivate specific behaviors, in particular, continue to grow every year.”
The “Top 5 Recognition Goals” don’t vary often in these reports, yet this year, “motivate specific behaviors” jumped into the list. The research shows the programs that have been around the longest as least effective at driving results, in particular Years of Service, Retirement, Employee of the Year/Month, Family Event and Attendance. None of these traditional approaches to recognition drive the strategic business goals and objectives deep into the daily work of employees.
Theme 2: Strategy is still lacking in many programs, limiting the real results that can be achieved.
“Regarding strategy, even though formal recognition programs have structure to them, 49% of respondents indicated there is not a written strategy behind their organization’s recognition program. Furthermore 97% of those that have a strategy align recognition programs with their organizational strategies.”
This finding is even more disturbing when correlated to the result that companies, on average, invest 2% of payroll in their recognition programs. Without a strategy behind it, that 2% is largely being thrown away. Before launching any strategic employee recognition initiative, it is imperative to outline the strategy for the program and, critically, the metrics that will be used to measure the success of the program in delivering against that strategy.
The most successful programs do, indeed, align their program strategy with that of their organization overall, as truly strategic recognition programs are designed to reinforce organization strategy in the daily work of every employee.
Theme 3: Global recognition programs are making strides, but too many companies still treat international employees as second-class citizens.
“46% of participating organizations with employees outside of North America indicated that international/global employees participate in all or most of the same recognition programs as North American employees.”
This figure has grown from 39% in June 2011, yet that’s still far too many employees who are not fully integrated in the company’s approach motivating desired behaviors in alignment with the company strategy. All employees should be pulling together towards the same goal.
Theme 4: Just as senior management buys into the importance of strategic recognition, training efforts for managers are falling.
“Most respondents believe their workforces would say that the effect of recognition programs on employee engagement, motivation and satisfaction are positive or extremely positive… Additionally, correlations demonstrated a positive relationship between senior management support for recognition and the perceived effect on employee engagement, satisfaction and motivation.”
Senior managers are increasingly seeing the value of strategic recognition (with 46% seeing recognition as an investment rather than an expense), yet little training is provided to managers on effective recognition (only 12% or organizations provide some level of training for managers). Investing in strategic recognition approaches will fall short of achieving desired results unless all employees – managers and individual contributors alike – are trained on the importance of recognition to achieving desired results and how to appropriate reinforce desired behaviors in others.
What kind of employee recognition programs does your company offer? Are they strategic in nature, motivating employees to deliver on strategic company objectives, or are they primarily traditional approaches? What would you like to see happen in recognition in your organization?
As Globoforce’s Head of Strategic Consulting, Derek Irvine is an internationally minded management professional with over 20 years of experience helping global companies set a higher ambition for global strategic employee recognition, leading workshops, strategy meetings and industry sessions around the world. His articles on fostering and managing a culture of appreciation through strategic recognition have been published in Businessweek, Workspan and HR Management. Derek splits his time between Dublin and Boston. Follow Derek on Twitter at @DerekIrvine.
I agree 100% with the new approaches.
Posted by: Keanna McCracken | 07/16/2013 at 03:28 PM