More Than Metrics: Why Meaningful Recognition Matters Most

Employee recognition is a pivotal element to your reward strategy. If done right, a recognition scheme has been shown to increase employee motivation and engagement, to reduce workplace stress and improve wellbeing, and to strengthen psychological commitment to your organisation, which in turn increases productivity.

So how do we do it right? Should it be formal or informal, led by management or peers, should it be financial or non-financial, should we be investing in a platform provider and if so, which one? Reward Heads can help you navigate through all of these options to discover what is right for your organisation, because ultimately there is no one size fits all. To answer those questions, we must first understand both what you want to recognise, i.e what behaviour you want to reinforce that is aligned to your organisations goals and values; and then how to recognise in a way that is meaningful and valued by your employees.

We need to understand differences, remembering that whilst one employee may thrive on a formal recognition in a public form, others may favour more subtle ways of receiving praise. We need to find out what matters to employees, across your whole organisation, to ensure that a recognition scheme is going to be meaningful and personally relevant; be aware of personal differences, and cultural differences, without making stereotypes or assumptions. This is particularly true of gifts or money, where there could be ethical, religious, or personal reasons that this is inappropriate and therefore demotivating. Or indeed it can end up being demotivating when organisations aren’t in a position to spend meaningful amounts.

In a climate where budgets are tight, and organisations are coming to us for support with more creative approaches to reward, it will be a comfort to hear that money, although important, isn’t the biggest motivator for employees. Bonuses and monetary rewards of course have their place in recognising achievements and will help to support financial wellbeing, but they lack the personal touch that spontaneous appreciation will have.

Gallup’s Global Workplace Report 2024 found that only 1 in 3 employees agreed that recognition was authentic.

If two thirds of employees are feeling like recognition is forced or insincere then this will undoubtedly have a negative impact, potentially leading to employees feeling disengaged and undervalued, which is certainly not your end goal.

For recognition to feel genuine it is needs to be regular, and it needs to be relevant and meaningful. It is important to recognise progress and improvement and not just exceptional performance, to take the time to show appreciation in busy and stressful times, and to involve employees and recognise their ideas. This will build esteem and go further to help employees genuinely feel valued and appreciated. If we think of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and motivation theory, this states that esteem is a psychological and longer-term need for people to feel valued, and to gain a sense of contribution.

Gallup found that 74% of employees have greater sense of meaning and purpose when they receive consistent praise.

This reinforces the power of appreciation, and the importance of fostering opportunities for continuous learning. Appreciation and recognition need to be embedded in the culture, role modelled, and supported with a clear strategic joined up approach that is fair, inclusive, and aligned to the overall organisational strategy.  

Reward Heads work with clients of varied sizes, sectors and budgets, and can help you in the design or review of your recognition strategy to ensure it works for your organisation. We also discuss this in more detail with examples in our recognition coaching module.