Award celebrations are big in the entertainment industry. We celebrate the Emmys, Oscars, Tonys and Grammys to honor the exceptional contributions of entertainers. Yet, as a business leader, while you might reward your star performers, how often do you recognize other employees’ achievements? According to Workhuman, employees report that their best contributions are often overlooked or ignored by their managers.
While we were pondering the impact of employee recognition, the Washington Post ran a 7-part series on the Sammies, recognition for extraordinary deeds inside the federal government. Launched in 2002 by the Partnership for Public Service (PPS), the author Michael Lewis describes the PPS as: “The most interesting organization that no one’s ever heard of collects nominations for the most important awards that most people will never know were handed out.”
This year, an entire Sunday section was devoted to Chris Mark, “The Canary,” the 2024 Career Achievement winner of the Department of Labor for his life’s work improving mine safety across the globe. The computer software packages he developed to evaluate mining safety plans of underground coal mines are credited with saving hundreds of miners’ lives. Yet, few people knew about his contributions before the article was published.
Similarly, there are countless employees who are hungry to be recognized or celebrated in your organization. Think about employees who have increased customer satisfaction, volunteered to enhance your brand reputation, reduced expenses, offered new ideas, etc. While recognition is free, leaders, who rarely receive recognition themselves, don’t consider the difference it can make. Yet, according to “A Great Place to Work,” workplace recognition:
• boosts individual employee engagement,
• is twelve times more likely to increase productivity and positive business outcomes,
• leads to 31% less voluntary turnover and
• is ten times more likely to lead to employee feelings of belonging.
Some leaders fail to recognize others because they might fear employees will expect a promotion, huge raise or be embarrassed if singled out for their efforts. And a few might even gruffly proclaim, “That’s what we pay them for. They get a check for doing their job.”
But if it costs nothing more than a few moments of your time, why not reach out to those employees who go above and beyond to meet a deadline under budget? Or acknowledge the service rep who treated a disgruntled customer with dignity, respect and empathy—and turned around a challenging situation that retained a customer for life? Or applaud the employee who stayed late to support a harried colleague who was struggling to complete a major deliverable?
Understanding the benefits of employee recognition, we encourage you to “catch people doing things right.” Especially during this season of Thanksgiving, show your gratitude and appreciation by acknowledging your team members for their efforts. Beyond the season, continuously seek opportunities to thank employees for positively representing your organization, values and goals.
To learn more about creating a culture of inclusion, engagement, appreciation and respect, contact Innolect today.