A new study of HR workers, employees and managers in the UK has found that over 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 per cent more but offered no praise or thanks. The findings came from a survey by Reward Gateway. The study also suggested that while HR leaders believe recognition and reward programs make a positive impact on business outcomes, 45 per cent of HR workers don’t agree that their current recognition and reward program is as effective as it could be.
The top frustrations HR leaders have with their recognition and reward programs are that 1)employees aren’t motivated by the rewards 2) moments of recognition aren’t seen or celebrated by other people and 3) it doesn’t allow for continuous or immediate recognition. To overcome these challenges and improve their programmes, almost three quarters of HR employees surveyed said they would be likely to invest in recognition and reward within the next year.
Another barrier to successful recognition programmes is that managers are ill-equipped to give effective recognition. Only 16 per cent of managers strongly agreed that their company provides them with the tools and understanding on how to recognise their colleagues effectively.
Finally, many managers are failing to recognise their employees effectively, as just 20 per cent of managers strongly agreed that their company praises or thanks employees for the good work they do based on their company’s values, and over a quarter agreed that they struggle to find the time to give out thanks and praise.
“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,” says Doug Butler, CEO at Reward Gateway. “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,” he said.
