Most business leaders know the importance of recognition by now: it improves employee engagement, which ultimately drives business success. But many still rely too much on spontaneous recognition. More often than not, CEOs, leaders and even people managers think recognition is going well, but HR and employees know better. Time and again, data shows that most employees don't feel recognised, with 40% in a recent survey by Gallup & Workhuman only receiving recognition a few times a year or less from leaders and managers.

Following the Great Resignation and the rise of 'quiet quitting,' employees everywhere feel underpaid, undervalued and seek to find roles that give them a better experience. Our findings from the State of the Digital Workplace 2023 follow these trends, which are perfectly summarised by a quote from Dr. Bob Nelson: "People may take a job for more money but often leave it for more recognition." If you want to keep your talent and reach business goals, it starts with sewing recognition into the fabric of your culture. 

Understanding the Importance of Culture and Recognition

Culture's importance in driving business success is becoming increasingly apparent. For many, culture has just happened, but savvier employees proactively search for places with better culture. Half of the survey respondents in a Glassdoor survey said culture was more important than salary for job satisfaction (2).

Therefore, in today’s marketplace, you must ensure that your culture is actively built and improved over time so that 'the way we do things here' doesn't simply grow from chaos and stress, unconnected to your core values and beliefs. Workhuman perfectly sums this up; "when a workplace culture is broken, people feel it. They talk about it, too."

A culture of recognition is an environment where employee contributions, achievements, anniversaries, and fundamental aspects of who they are are seen and positively acknowledged. These cultures are ultimately employee-centric, based on the idea that treating employees well and making them happy drives overall business growth. By recognising and celebrating accomplishments, big or small, employees are more motivated to succeed, more likely to engage with the organisation and create better relationships with their peers.

What are the benefits of a recognition culture?

• Motivates more productive and innovative employees: Great Place to Work's 2023 study found that when employees stand an equal chance of recognition, they are 2.2 times more likely to propose new ideas, and 37% of their respondents said more personal recognition would motivate them to produce better work more often (3).
• Creates a fairer perception of promotions: When employees can see what they or their colleagues have achieved, they're able to understand why promotions have happened, with employees who feel recognised at work being 2.6 times more likely to think promotions are fair (3) and 68% thinking that public recognition has at least some impact on their ability to get a raise or promotion (4).​​​​​​​
• Increases employee engagement and positive sentiment: When recognition is done well, employees are 4 times as likely to be engaged and recommend working at an organization to their friends and family. (1)​​​​​​​
• Reduces burnout: Not only are employees able to give more at work, but recognition also protects many from frustration and burnout over the long term, with recognized employees 73% less likely to “always” or “very often” feel burned out (1). If you can tie recognition to your culture and values even better, as Harvard Business Review found, a strong sense of belonging can reduce sick days by 75%. (5)​​​​​​​
• Retains employee talent: One study by the Aberdeen Group found that companies with employee recognition programs had a 31% lower turnover rate than companies without. (6)

Creating a Culture of Recognition: Practical Tips for Internal Comms & HR

So now you understand all the benefits a culture of recognition can bring, but a strategy for creating a culture of recognition is not one-size-fits-all. Remember that culture is one of the hardest things to change in your organisation, and you must consider carefully how your organization works and what could be improved.
Recognition should be aligned with your mission, values, vision and business objectives. Leaders greatly impact recognition, as do peers and supportive colleagues. The average business is missing a formal system to facilitate recognition, with only 35% of those surveyed by Gallup & Workhuman having one and only 23% with a system to recognise milestones (1). But what these are, and what elements within them you need most depend on your business’ needs.
Let's dive into some tips for HR or other business professionals to introduce a culture of recognition into your workplace:

1. Integrate Recognition with Company Values

Employees should know intrinsically what your business stands for. Equally, as a business, you expect employees to conduct themselves in a way that accurately expresses who you are to each other and third parties that they interact with. When harnessing recognition to build culture, begin by pinpointing the cultural goals you want to achieve. Recognition bridges these ideals and the tangible behaviours, rituals and routines that support this.

Wherever you want to start, ensure that employees are recognised for embodying your company's values (e.g. the most innovative, always helping others) to promote these behaviours across your organization. A culture of recognition provides a way for leaders to communicate cultural expectations to employees, for employees to learn them through positive reinforcement and modelling, and for you to monitor how well these values are being embodied throughout your organization.

2. Lead by Example

A recent survey by Nectar found that 40% of employees rank managers as those whose recognition impacts them the most, with CEOs and executives also ranking highly at 33% (7), so top-down recognition is hugely valuable. Leaders and managers must practice what they preach for culture by living business values and showing they see and value them in others.

If you need to implement a recognition program or platform, you must get leaders and managers to buy in, test it with them, and get their feedback. Leaders should be encouraged, if not incentivized, to recognize employees publicly and regularly show gratitude for different teams and departments that work for the business. Having recognition champions in leaders who can talk about recognition in big audiences and get excited about employees who deliver great work or embody company values sends a strong message on the importance of recognition within your culture. Managers, too, should be supported in integrating recognition into their and their team's everyday behaviour, so consider running training sessions and creating resources to help them.

3. Personalize Recognition

To ensure recognition resonates with each employee, it's essential to tailor and personalize how recognition is provided. Some individuals thrive on publicly acknowledging their efforts, while others prefer a private, authentic message. Equally, bonuses, holidays, and expensive rewards might motivate some, while others prefer words from managers and don’t want to be in the spotlight.

For a genuine culture of recognition, you need to show appreciation for employees in the ways that matter most to them. If you're unsure how to balance different kinds of recognition across your organization, you can always send surveys and ask for feedback before starting initiatives. You can also overcome difficulties in selecting rewards by implementing a point-based rewards system so employees can select the rewards that resonate the most with them after a certain amount of recognition.

4. Vary Your Recognition Methods

To meet all your employee's recognition needs and keep things fresh, consider working across various formal and informal recognition methods, from awards to bonuses, public praise to private messages. Beyond monetary value, consider customized gifts and how to support managers for more personal and social recognition, like taking teams out for dinner or a social. Handwritten notes can be great recognition for certain employees, but they're almost impossible to do at scale and in a digital-first landscape. While it's not the same, shout-outs on a digital recognition platform can help you achieve the same feelings from employees.

If you're struggling with implementing strategic recognition, consider reading more on Gallup's 5 Pillars of Strategic Recognition for inspiration.

5. Spotlight Unique Accomplishments and Milestones

Additionally, considering employee's unique accomplishments and values allows for more meaningful and heartfelt recognition. Ensuring recognition can be personalized and available in various ways and relating recognition to company values should naturally support celebrating the diverse ways employees contribute to success. For example, you want to ensure employees are recognised for achieving a great sales quarter, five or ten-year work anniversaries or organising the latest team social to improve everyone's environment.

From Gallup & Workhuman's 2023 survey, many employees who don't feel recognized often cite 'favouritism' and 'popularity contests' as damaging workplace culture (1). Recognition culture only works if all employees feel included and appreciated despite what they do to reach business goals being very different. For example, sales teams who manage or win sales from a profitable account will likely be rewarded financially. At the same time, employees who worked behind the scenes to contribute may not be recognised at all. Recognition programs should be broadened to ensure all teams can be eligible, or some form of recognition should be broadened to the entire team involved.

6. Make Recognition Specific and Timely

To maximize the impact of recognition, it must be delivered promptly—waiting only reduces its impact and authenticity. This is an issue for many employees today, with 1 in 3 feeling recognition isn’t given promptly enough (8). It's another instance where structured recognition supported by a digital platform helps improve quality and quantity, as it can be provided quickly, publicly and tied to a specific instance in time, for example, on a call with a customer yesterday.

7. Encourage Peer-to-Peer Recognition

Empowering employees to recognize their peers fosters a positive and supportive work environment. While manager and leadership recognition is important, 28% of respondents to Nectar's survey said peer recognition also significantly impacts them (7).

By encouraging peer-to-peer recognition, organizations naturally strengthen relationships, improving collaboration, employee engagement and general well-being. Providing opportunities for employees to celebrate each other's achievements, whether through informal gestures or more formal spotlights, creates a culture where everyone feels valued and appreciated. In the same style as leadership or manager recognition, peer-to-peer recognition examples include personalised notes or messages, public shoutouts or posting colleagues on a recognition wall (whether this is physically in the office or virtual). 

Creating a Culture of Recognition: Practical Tips for Managers

Recognition may also be on your agenda if you're a people manager.
If you feel your team deserves more recognition, or this topic continuously comes up in your team feedback, speak to HR. They can provide ideas to help improve or help you link up with people managers in the rest of your business for real examples of how they have created or improved a culture of recognition. All the ideas above for leadership and peer recognition also apply to you, so get sending messages and speaking up for your team in bigger forums. Often, what employees need to be recognised more is more visibility within the rest of the business, and as a manager, it's on you to get them out there.

To improve recognition as part of team culture, you could also consider having more team socials, leaving time in your team meetings to recognise one another, or having a team trophy. This could be something (really anything) that expresses your team's personality. In team meetings, you could vote on who gets awarded it every month, biweekly, or every week (whatever frequency works for you).

Depending on how you feel, the lucky or unlucky element of recognition for managers is that there is much in your hands to improve employee's experiences. According to SurveyMonkey, the most popular way for employees to receive positive feedback is in 1:1 meetings with managers (38%), followed by team meetings (25%), annual reviews (16%) and lastly, public messaging channels (11%) (4). So, whatever you start with, you can start impacting your team’s recognition today.

Keep Improving: Creating a Culture of Continuous Recognition

Evaluation and refinement are essential to maintaining a sustainable culture of continuous recognition. By regularly assessing the effectiveness of recognition programs, organizations can ensure they remain aligned with evolving business goals and employee expectations. Gathering feedback through surveys, focus groups, or one-on-one conversations can provide valuable insights into how recognition is perceived and experienced by employees.

Moreover, a culture of continuous recognition requires a long-term commitment from leadership. Leaders can reinforce the importance of appreciation and acknowledgement by consistently modelling recognition behaviours and prioritizing them in decision-making. As recognition practices evolve, it's crucial to adapt to changing needs and preferences. This may involve introducing new recognition channels, experimenting with different formats, or adjusting the frequency and timing of recognition.
 

Leveraging Your Intranet for a Stronger Recognition Culture

An intranet and digital workplace can be powerful tools for fostering a culture of recognition. By utilising recognition features within your intranet, you can celebrate achievements and share positivity in a place your employees use every day.

Some ways to use your intranet to create your recognition culture:

• Real-Time Recognition Tools: Use real-time recognition tools to allow employees to send instant messages of thanks and appreciation that they are notified about.
• Recognition Walls: Create virtual recognition walls where employees can post messages of appreciation for their colleagues and where everything is naturally collated.
• Employee Spotlights: Highlight the achievements of individual employees through employee spotlights, delivered on the channels you specify, like in your employee newsletter.

Akumina is committed to helping business improve their employee recognition. We believe that recognizing and rewarding employees, and improving employee engagement, is essential to business success. Book a demo to speak to our expert team about how our capabilities can help support your new recognition culture strategy. 

References

1. https://www.workhuman.com/blog/new-gallup-research-on-how-to-design-recognition-programs-that-drive-business-impact/

2. https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/blog/mission-culture-survey/

3. https://www.greatplacetowork.com/resources/blog/creating-a-culture-of-recognition

4. https://www.surveymonkey.com/curiosity/employee-recognition-and-retention/ 

5. https://hbr.org/2019/12/the-value-of-belonging-at-work

6. https://www.selectsoftwarereviews.com/blog/employee-recognition-statistics

7. https://nectarhr.com/blog/employee-recognition-statistics

8. https://workleap.com/blog/employee-recognition-infographic/ 

9. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/397058/increasing-importance-best-friend-work.aspx