Organizations risk losing employees by failing to provide recognition at work

• 90% of HR workers agreed that an effective recognition and reward program helps drive business results, and 91% agreed it has a positive effect on employee retention
• Only 22% of managers strongly agree that their company provides them with the tools and understanding on how to recognize colleagues effectively
• Almost half of employees agreed that they would leave a company that didn’t praise or thank them enough for the work they did

A new study of HR workers, employees and managers in the US, UK and Australia from global employee engagement company, Reward Gateway, found that nearly three in five of employees would rather work for a company that had a culture where people were praised and thanked regularly for doing good work, than for a company that paid 10% more but offered no praise or thanks.

While the survey provides overwhelming evidence that HR leaders believe recognition and reward programs make a positive impact on business outcomes, 38% of HR workers don’t agree that their current recognition and reward programs are as effective as they could be.

The top frustrations HR leaders have with their recognition and reward programs are that 1) moments of recognition aren’t seen or celebrated by other people, 2) it doesn’t allow for continuous or immediate recognition and 3) employees aren’t motivated by the rewards they are given. To overcome these challenges and improve their programs, 80% of HR employees surveyed said they would be likely to invest in recognition and reward programs within the next year.

Another barrier to successful recognition programs is that managers are ill-equipped to give effective recognition. Only 22% of managers strongly agreed that their company provides them with the tools and understanding on how to recognize their colleagues effectively.

Finally, many managers are failing to recognize their employees effectively, as only 26% of managers strongly agreed that their company praises or thanks employees for the good work they do based on their company’s values, and almost a third agreed that they struggle to find the time to give out thanks and praise.

Commenting on the research, Doug Butler, CEO at Reward Gateway said: “While it’s great to see so many HR leaders understanding the positive impact of employee engagement on business, traditional methods and manual processes to achieve current workforce employee engagement goals are no longer an option. What employees want is continuous, instant and impactful recognition which reflects the ‘always-on’ workplace culture and the 'always connected' personal life many now have.

“To address the employee engagement challenges companies are facing worldwide, Reward Gateway continues to innovate a timely, visible, and social recognition solution that shines a spotlight on employees, reinforces the mission, purpose and values of their company and delivers valuable recognition and rewards that employees appreciate.”