Benefits of Employee Recognition in the Workplace: Reduced Risk & Raised Revenues

When you have offices, departments and teams of loyal, committed, trained and qualified staff, you are reducing your risk. Give everyone an annual raise, make sure the air conditioning runs in the summer and the heat in the winter and voila… resignations will stop and retention is achieved. Right?

Wrong! Having an efficiently run work environment with comfortable temperatures and scheduled pay raises won't be enough to retain your staff. It will be enough to get them to show up every morning — but to take initiative, meet schedules and deadlines, operate with a seriousness of purpose and drive — that requires relationship-building and employee recognition programs that work.

INVESTMENT VS. EXPENDITURE

How to get started. First, you need to make your employee recognition and appreciation program an investment and not an expense. It shouldn't be a line item like new equipment or the sales retreat, but rather part of your operating costs that can't be cut. Recognition programs that do not align with overall corporate strategies are impossible to defend and inevitably end up being considered an expense instead of an investment. In hard times, these aimless programs are among the first things to be cut. In order to get recognition programs embraced by management to avoid vulnerability, remember that recognition strategies and programs that tie into your corporation's business objectives or mission, vision and values are more readily defensible because senior management can see the link between your strategy and their business objectives.

Although corporations try and cut expenses, most will do their utmost to defend investments they believe will help grow the business and deliver profits to shareholders.

If your recognition strategy is linked to senior management's business strategies, it makes it much more likely that someone in the C-Suite will act as your recognition champion.

Take a hard look at your proposed recognition programs. Do you have a written recognition strategy? Does this strategy align and link up with your senior leadership's business objectives? Do your leaders understand the strategy and its links? Do your leaders actively support your recognition programs?

RECOGNITION VS. REWARDS

It takes lots of fuel to keep a professional sales team charged, which is why so many companies have reward programs that stand out. To retain top performers and keep them energized often requires a terrific reward unattainable any other way, from a fancy sports car to an all-paid luxury vacation. Companies that can offer these rewards should continue to do so because commission-based work is unique and requires another set of rules.

But what about the hundreds of other jobs and occupations that aren't eligible for the Cadillac payoff? How can we keep those employees engaged, committed, loyal and focused? Reward them with respect.

Recognition programs demonstrate respect for your employees. A meaningful, thoughtful employee appreciation program is about valuing employees' efforts and having respect for who they are and what they do. Teach your leaders that just because they give employees awards or prizes, it doesn't mean they have been recognized! All too often, senior management equates the “reward” with “recognition” when in fact, they are very different things.

Recognition starts with a person's name. Meaningful words can be much more powerful than the proverbial gold watch. Real recognition doesn't need to cost a lot; it just needs to be specific, sincere and timely.

You may have a hard time justifying your “rewards” budget, but you absolutely need to justify the concept of “recognition.” Challenge your senior leaders to practice recognition every single day. If they engage in this practice, it will become your company's silver lining.