According to the 2022 O.C. Tanner Culture report, only 17% of organizations have deeply embedded recognition. Too often, employees feel that recognition is stale, outdated, or disguised compensation. When that happens, employees are less likely to feel engaged.
Check out these shocking statistics:
45% of employees feel their employers’ recognition programs is stale and disconnected from what’s important at the organization
43% of employees feel the technology used for recognition is outdated
49% of employees use recognition as compensation, instead of recognition
As these findings show 4 out of 10 employees don’t view their employer’s recognition programs in a positive light. Employees who hold these views about their employer’s recognition programs have an almost 40% lower chance of feeling appreciated at work.
Clearly, a culture of recognition is essential. Let’s dive into 10 steps you can take to create a culture of recognition, instead of just implementing a recognition program.
1. Set the Example at the Top of the Organization
In order for recognition to be part of company culture, a strong example should be set by the top leadership. Management should make recognition a daily habit and strive to recognize both small and big impact activities.
Plus, leadership exemplifies how to create effective recognition. When managers express their daily gratitude for employee efforts, it creates an environment of appreciation. Upper managers who express gratitude to middle and lower managers inspire them to do the same.
While it’s easy to focus solely on improvements, its critical to recognize efforts, even amidst failure. According to the O.C. Tanner Institute’s survey of employees, 65% of organizations have leaders who recognize employees and 51% of leaders know the recognition preferences of individuals.
2. Incorporate Organizational Stories
Stories create a powerful, emotional connection to those who hear them. They create imagery that employees remember longer than static facts. Utilize the stories of your organization to create a cultural identity.
It’s the individual stories that make up culture. And, every group has stories. Some stories demonstrate excellence. Some stories represent humor or insider jokes. Other stories represent a difficult time and challenges overcome. Still others remind employees of relationships built.
Managers who utilize stories are better able to remind employees of great experiences. They use stories to demonstrate the impact employees have to others in the organization. This creates more effective recognition.
Peers use stories to relive powerful moments. In the family organization, children perform better at school when they know their family stories. When kids know how their parents met, understand challenges the family has faced, and understand good times, they do better.
The same works for employees. Tell your employees customer impact stories. Encourage employees to share stories of challenges and successes. Recognize employees who share how other employees impacted them.
- Encourage customers to share their stories to make sharing easier.
- The power of storytelling to get employees excited.
3. Involve All Your Employees
Your culture is a representation of the experiences shared by your employees. As more employees participate in recognition, it is woven into the tapestry of your culture.
Implement a system that encourages all of your employees to recognize. Recognize employees who participate. Create a place where employees can share stories. Provide technology and resources for employees to recognize each other.
The Thanks Platform allows all employees to recognize each other, share memories, and send ecards. According to research done by the O.C. Tanner institute, 53% of employees state that recognition is seen throughout the organization. And, roughly 65% of organizations have peer recognition that’s common and frequent.
That’s a great start to creating company culture because peer recognition fuels employee engagement.
4. Recognize Frequently
Regular and frequent recognition incorporates employee appreciation into the culture. Service anniversaries and annual recognition don’t count as frequent recognition. Instead, strive for daily recognition.
Employees feel greater levels of appreciation when they are recognized regularly and not just for the big accomplishments.. Recognizing employees daily for their efforts let’s them know they are appreciated for the efforts they exert, and not just for winning that big account.
Plus, regular and early recognition helps employees to know which efforts are more valuable to the organization. This has the added advantage of encouraging employees to improve and focus on those specific areas.
Gallup asks employees to rate if they have received meaningful feedback in the last week. They found that employees who agree that they receive meaningful feedback are 85% more likely to be engaged. Gallup recommends what they call “Fast Feedback” with a focus on meaningful feedback.
Recognition is more meaningful when it is given immediately. Gallup shows that employees at 3.6 times more likely to agree that they are motivated to do quality work when they get daily feedback from their manager.
The three benefits of fast feedback cited by Gallup include:
- Greater Agility: As teams can adjust quicker and in real-time
- Increased Excellence: As employees are more motivated to give quality work
- Retains Talent: Managers that are purpose-driven and acknowledge and accelerate performance are in high demand from potential employees.
5. Incorporate Technology that’s Integratable and Updated
It may seem like the technology-aspect of recognition isn’t as important as simply recognizing. But, technology often sets the stage for recognition inside an organization. When the recognition software is outdated, or worse, nonexistent, recognition often follows the lead.
An Excel spreadsheet is not sufficient to manage a recognition program. Although an extreme example, many organizations fail to update or utilize software that makes recognition easy. The O.C. Tanner Institute found that 42% of employees feel that the recognition software used at work is stale and outdated.
Recognition technology, like the Thanks Platform, should integrate with the software your employees use everyday. This makes it seamless for employees to recognize peers in the moment it occurs to them.
Integrated technology allows for recognition across platforms and provides seamless transactions.
Employers should implement technology that’s kept updated and uses the latest technology so that employees aren’t burdened with older processes. Imagine trying to pull up a program on the original dos screens of the 90s.
Every obstacle your employees face in recognizing each other will prevent some of them from participating.
Conclusion
Cultivating a culture of recognition in your organization requires constant commitment and effort. It’s not a one-stop event, but it is worthwhile. When an organization creates a culture of recognition, they build a relationship between employees and the company.
About Thanks
Thanks is a leading provider of a recognition-based platform that increases communication, builds teamwork, and makes recognition a part of company culture. Fast, easy and simple Thanks makes it easy to bring data-driven employee recognition to your entire organization. O.C. Tanner purchased the Thanks platform in 2019 to fulfill the recognition needs of smaller businesses.
Thanks customers benefit from the same decades of research in employee motivation and company culture that O.C. Tanner enterprise clients enjoy, but in a product that is geared for fast, easy and simple deployment. Whether you’re starting a recognition program or improving and expanding on what you already have, Thanks has everything you need to engage your people with effective, scalable recognition.