Only 50% Completely Satisfied with Recognition

In August 2009 Gallup conducted their annual survey of Worker Satisfaction with 13 Aspects of their Current Job. It seems some media channels picked up on the apparent negativity of only 50% of surveyed employees being “completely satisfied” with the recognition they received at work for their work accomplishments.

Truth be told, having only half of the folks at work feeling valued and appreciated for what they are doing is not exactly thrilling.

However, what is often missed in telling the story of facts and numbers is the comparison. Seems if you examined the 2008 survey results the level of complete satisfaction for being recognized on the job was lower than 2009 – in fact it was only 45%.

So even amidst a crazy financial meltdown, layoffs and cutbacks, somehow a small percentage of employees felt more appreciated during a very tough year.

To those managers and supervisors who had the courage and gumption to make a difference to these Gallup surveyed employees – THANK YOU! Please continue the trend and regularly express appreciation to those you work with. Let’s ensure this coming August, when these same people are asked again, there will be even more people who feel valued and respected for what they do each and every day.

I know you can do it.

Global Employee Recognition Survey

I am delighted to be able to introduce you to a colleague and friend, Christophe Laval, President of VPHR, based in Paris, France. He is conducting a global survey on employee recognition practices and learning the commonalities and differences across cultures.

Christophe’s survey will examine perceptions, types of recognition practices and the barriers that get in the way of giving meaningful recognition in the workplace.

I invite you to take this survey. If you have colleagues across the world who could participate and help widen the diversity of input that would be HUGE. It’ll be accessible until the 30th of May 2010 and is completely anonymous. Click here for the survey.

Christophe will then be sharing the results of the survey at the 13th World Human Resources Congress in Montreal this September.

Values: The Important Rewards

Peter Buffet, son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett has learned a powerful lesson from his father. His wisdom to pass on to other parents is shared in his latest book "Life is What You Make it: Finding Your Own Path to Fulfillment".
His message to other money-rich parents comes straight from his own father, Warren Buffet: teach your children values and do not give them everything they want.

There is a tendency to give children all the things we may not have received from the generation before us. However, “things” may have become too much of the focus of today’s generation.

If we are to instill true motivation we must work from the inside out. And that is where instilling and living intrinsic values counts most.

"Economic prosperity may come and go; that's just how it is," Peter Buffet writes in his book. "But values are the steady currency that earns us the all-important rewards."

ROI and Recognition

After attending a two day program of Dr. Jack Phillips’ “ROI Methodology”TM course it is easy to see how we have done a great disservice to the many clients utilizing recognition and reward programs.

The process developed by Dr. Phillips is “a balanced approach to measurement and includes a technique to isolate the effects of the program, project or solution”. What this process allows recognition practitioners to do is isolate the real effects and impact of recognition practices and programs on performance or upon other HR metrics and indicators.

Using the term “ROI” can be construed to mean one can always create a return on investment percentage. However, the “methodology” piece of the equation highlights a numerical and measured outcome can always be generated even for the intangible benefits so typically associated with recognition.

I am concerned we focus too much on recognition outputs with web-based delivered recognition programs. It is only when we focus on the effectiveness and perception of recognition in the eyes of the recipient as well as the business impact recognition makes that recognition programs and practices will be taken seriously.

Real Recognition

Click on the video below, to meet me, Roy Saunderson, and learn a little bit about Real Recognition along the way.

Performance or People Engagement

Academic and business financed research tends to focus more on performance engagement than on people engagement. What academia and business can forget is it is people which produce results. Perhaps more attention should be paid to “people engagement”.

That’s probably why I liked the recent findings I came across from the Kenexa Research Institute through People Matters. They’ve certainly found that rewards and recognition are important drivers of engagement over the last few years. However, a pattern has emerged which clearly differentiates the impact made between rewards and recognition.

On their survey Rewards are measured by questions like:

* “I am paid fairly for the work I do;”
* “If I left my current job, I would be able to find another job that paid me similarly or better than what I earn now;”
* “Overall I am satisfied with my pay.”

Recognition was addressed by questions such as:

* “I regularly receive the recognition I deserve;”
* “My Manager provides me with regular recognition for my work;”
* “Where I work, employees are recognized for delivering outstanding customer service.”

Note from the following table that since 2008 Rewards no longer appear in the Top 10 Engagement Driver list, whereas Recognition has maintained a strong foothold.

Rewards vs. Recognition

Year	Rewards	Recognition
2007	Top 10 Engagement Driver	Top 10 Engagement Driver
2008	Not on Top 10 List	Top 10 Engagement Driver
2009	Not on Top 10 List	Top 10 Engagement Driver

This could be a result of the economic downturn where rewards were unstable or completely unavailable. I am hopeful this is also a demonstration of the permanency of the power of Recognition even during tough times.

It only reinforces the fact that recognition practices need to be enhanced in the skill sets of our leaders and managers. When recognition programs are utilized they must be designed far more strategically and with a strong Recognition focus versus simply a Reward paradigm.

If you need assistance with a Recognition Discovery and creating a Recognition Roadmap, simply call us at 877-336-9601. We'd love to help you make Recognition a Top 10 Engagement Driver for you.

Defining Moments - Employee Engagement

Melcrum, the communications company for corporate communicators, recently conducted a poll to gauge people’s definition of what employee engagement really is.

They provided 5 definitions of employee engagement to choose from and asked participants which one they most agreed with. They had over 100 people respond and here are the results by highest ranked percentage of responses:

* "Intellectual understanding and emotional commitment" - 34%
* "Getting employees' hearts and minds orientated to the business" - 33%
* "Employees who say, stay and strive" - 13%
* "Employees who think and act as business people" - 9%
* "Employees who create a lasting difference to the customer" - 8%
* “Other” - 3%

This continues to support the Recognition Management Institute’s perspective with employee recognition as well – that recognition is an emotional and feeling experience as well as performance based.

Our definition of Real Recognition is simply, “any thought word or deed towards making someone feel appreciated for who they are and recognized for what they do.”

The variables for giving meaningful, effective, and “real” recognition is both performance focused and feelings driven.

Let’s ensure we get emotional commitment from our people by engaging their hearts and minds and by honoring them with Real Recognition.