The link between employee recognition and employee retention

What employee retention strategies do you have in place?

In almost all companies, it’s the staff that add value — beyond adding to company culture and contributing to the business’ bottom line, when they leave, you can face issues such as performance disruption, replacement costs (estimated in some surveys to be up to 20 percent of the employee's salary) and the time it takes to find and train someone new.

In fact, 45% of employees reported that they would be likely or very likely to look for other jobs outside their current organization within the next year, according to a report from SHRM.

While developing a compelling Employee Value Proposition is a critical part of any recruitment and employee retention strategy, the link between employee recognition and retention cannot be ignored.

One of the primary benefits of employee recognition is to make an employee feel appreciated, accomplished and also important to the success of the organization. And one of the pieces of the puzzle that makes employees stay longer? Feeling as though they are contributing to the business, seeing their accomplishments recognized and understanding their career progression.

The numbers don’t lie: More than 50% of employees believe that recognition is not only effective, but the most effective way to engage them, and companies with a recognition culture have 31% lower employee turnover than those that don’t put any recognition initiatives in place (Psychometrics).

But recognition isn’t just a once a year, or even once a month, tactic. To put in place a successful employee recognition program, your business should consider the benefits of recognition when it comes to a culture of continuous recognition.