Workers demand more recognition

A recent survey by training company Upskilled identified key areas for increasing levels of employee satisfaction in the workplace.

Key ingredients in the recipe for a happier career are receiving more recognition (30 per cent), being able to work from home (27 per cent) and getting more support from the boss (20 per cent). In addition, 18 per cent of respondents said they would value massages more highly than access to a gym or bar - presumably for Friday afternoon drinks - saying it would help lift workplace morale.

Upskilled director Mark Sexty said the research showed employers needed to sit up and take notice of issues that made valued members of staff miserable.

“Employers may not control every single aspect of the working environment, but they can make sure they are offering adequate training and providing acknowledgement for achievements within the workplace, in order to keep staff happy and motivated,” he said.

At RedBalloon we hear these insights echoed time and time again from our clients, and these new findings provide more proof that reward and recognition is a crucial tool in unlocking the discretionary effort of employees across the board.

At RedBalloon we conducted our own research, which illustrated both the importance of recognition but also the vital role that managers play in delivering it. We found 52 per cent of employees site receiving no recognition as a contributing factor to them leaving a company, and that recognition has the greatest meaning when it comes from their manager. However, 62 per cent of managers were rated as “poor” or just “satisfactory” at delivering specific and timely praise, and one in five employees do not receive any praise at all.

General manager for corporate at RedBalloon Matt Geraghty, says “the first step in the process is to educate managers on the role that recognition can play and the positive impact it can have on their people and productivity. The next step is to make sure individual managers have the tools to be able to provide rewards and recognition in a timely, consistent and personal manner."
 
Reward and recognition and creating a positive culture of appreciation is one of the major leavers that employers need to be across, so if this article is resonating with you and your organisation’s situation, why not get in touch with our team of consultants to see if we can help.

We have a wide range of services from strategic consulting, meaningful non-monetary reward programs and our Big RED Toolkit for Managers which is used by organisations such as St George Bank (view case study) and Erickson to improve the delivery of recognition across their organisations.

If this resonates with you and you'd like to hear more please get in touch with one of our consultants.

Author: Matt Geraghty, RedBalloon

Date: 01/11/2011