Editor's Note: In this Classic post, first published on July 15, 2010, Cafe recognition guru Derek Irvine shares stories that demonstrate the value of the lessons gleaned from doing it wrong (sometimes excruciatingly and embarrassingly so). Enjoy - and feel free to share any horror stories of your own (and what we ought to learn from them)!
Compensation abounds with strong advice on employee recognition. But sometimes, the best lessons are learned from the failures, from the atrocities, from the "I cannot BELIEVE he just did that" stories.
Marissa Keegan over at Fistful of Talent has written a couple of great posts along these lines - the deaf guy given an iPod, the boss giving himself the first ever Employee of the Month award.
My personal latest favorite - a beautiful, very expensive, and personally engraved espresso machine given to a Mormon (who eschew caffeine).
And then there's this story from a recent Dear Prudence column:
"At my company, when a colleague does something great - secures a new account, exceeds a goal, etc. - everyone is called into the lobby. The person's supervisor announces what she did and she has to dance in front of everyone. I've heard that public speaking is the most common fear, and public dancing has to be up there, especially when you're the only one dancing and everyone is watching you. I've been with the company for three months, and I have been forced to dance three times. How can I let the company know that public humiliation is not a valid form of employee recognition? Let me take an afternoon off, get me a Starbucks gift card, or just give me a handwritten note. This forced dancing is encouraging me to fly under the radar and aim for mediocrity."
Or how about this story from the news:
"A 'motivation day' organized by one of Italy's biggest real estate agencies ended in tears and scars when nine staff had to be treated in hospital after walking barefoot on a bed of hot coals."
While my emotions ranged from amused to horrified reading these stories, the lessons are real and they should be transparent. In order of the horror stories mentioned above:
- Don't be lazy and assume everyone wants the same reward. You'll end up insulting (and driving out of your organization) at least a few of the people you're trying to recognize.
- Don't set up a recognition program just to prove to employees how great you are and then use it as a weapon to get them to "perform better."
- Don't mortify employees so that they would rather under-perform than be recognized.
- Don't put your employees in the hospital!
So what do you do? First and foremost, ask your employees. Talk with them. Have an open conversation. Start with these questions:
- I appreciate the work you do very much. I'd like to honor you for that. What would be a meaningful form of recognition for you?
- What would you particularly not welcome as a sign of our appreciation? (Many people cringe at any form of public recognition, even being mentioned in a team meeting.)
Even more importantly, take them at their word. Never assume that something you find rewarding would be received the same way by anyone else.
What are your stories of recognition gone wrong? What's your advice on how to recognize right?
As Globoforce’s Vice President of Client Strategy and 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. He is the co-author of "The Power of Thanks" and 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.
One example of a toxic "recognition" reward comes courtesy of a nameless government agency whose enforcement officers/inspectors would continually face bribery attempts. The rule was that every such incident must be promptly reported. The consequence of compliance was onerous. The agent was immediately relieved of duty and reassigned to DC HQ where they were grilled as suspects. They were accused of having solicited the bribe that was offered, rejected and reported. Despite eventual clearance from potential charges, their career trajectory was inevitably permanently disrupted. The numbers of reported bribery attempts dropped to virtually nil.
The policy was certainly successful in reducing the number of bribes reported. Some doubt still remains about how motivationally effective the morale-destroying rule was.
Posted by: E. James (Jim) Brennna | 03/19/2016 at 05:35 PM
My goodness, Jim. You make my Saturday complete.
I was just 'looking in' before watching Donald and Hilary shows on TV. There is an industry called 'rewards and recognition' where they tell you that giving the workforce stuff like pens and watches and trips to Nebraska is the way to get work done by people who are 'happy in their work'.
But nothing like your story my friend.
Posted by: Jay Schuster | 03/19/2016 at 09:54 PM
Also interesting, Jay, to note how many of the outfits promoting pens and watches just happen to manufacture such goods. And the biggest R&R vendor who loves to promote trips has a massive travel agency. The world of business is full of such surprises.
Posted by: E. James (Jim) Brennan | 03/20/2016 at 02:12 AM
AND Worldatwork gives these 'folks' elaborate booths at the conventions and takes big bucks for this sort of nonsense. The 'other' big silliness is the 'business of 'work-life'. This has created a business bigger than the 'R&R' business and created an entirely new 'career' of HR folks implementing all sorts of programs that have absolutely no foundation in credible research of any kind. The people selling 'work-life' are those who provide the 'poll results' suggesting how super it is.
Perhaps a merger between the 'R&R' folks and the 'Work-Life' folks is in the offing? Then you can get a free pencil and a shoe shine at the same time???
Your 'story' is much better, however!!!!!
Posted by: Jay Schuster | 03/20/2016 at 11:31 AM
I just learned that Shinola makes watches now. An investment group bought the name for its new company making luxury wristwatches, fancy bicycles and expensive leather goods. Fits well, too.
Posted by: E. James (Jim) Brennan | 03/20/2016 at 02:32 PM
A former employer began providing employee of the year awards in the form of an all expense paid trip to a place of the employee's choice up to a certain dollar limit of course. The winner of these awards generally were meant to be the employees who provided services directly to our residents - those on the front lines daily. They were also among the lowest paid so while the intention was good - to provide an opportunity to travel for a family that might otherwise not be able to afford it- the company immediately had to come up with the equivalent offering "or cash of $xxx" in order to give the employee what they really needed and/or wanted. The luxury of a trip was not what some of our employees needed most.
Posted by: Karen Kervick | 03/21/2016 at 07:37 AM
A foreign executive who was an excellent family man called his wife every day when travelling. Treated to a prized week-long fishing trip adventure up the Inland Passage of British Columbia, he freaked out when he discovered the lack of cell phone service. The ship had to reverse course for eight hours to reach a remote First Native village with land phone lines. Rather embarrassing (and expensive) for the sponsor.
Posted by: E. James (Jim) Brennna | 03/30/2016 at 05:12 PM