HR professionals know the benefits of workplace appreciation, from stronger collaboration and higher employee retention to better customer experience and product.
However, many organizations adopt new employee engagement technology or add recognition to their programs but don’t see these business outcomes.
The uncomfortable truth is most recognition programs aren’t failing because employees don’t value appreciation. Recurring recognition motivates 40% of employees and drives morale.
The issue is that recognition programs are designed to make employees feel appreciated, not shape employee behavior.
The next era of workplace appreciation is about using employee recognition to reinforce the behaviors that matter.
Behavior change is the goal of employee recognition
Most organizations focus on recognition adoption and don’t spend enough time measuring recognition’s impact.
Yes, high participation, frequent redemptions and peer-to-peer recognition can make a program look successful. But these metrics don’t show how recognition is changing employee behaviors that move the business.
If we focus on these activity metrics, we miss the more important question: Did employee recognition make the right behavior more likely to happen again?
The highest-performing organizations understand that employee recognition serves a much larger purpose by recognizing employees for what they’ve done and intentionally reinforcing the behaviors they want to repeat.
Related: How to improve HR technology adoption through behavior change
The future of employee recognition is reinforcement
The most effective employee recognition influences behavior and helps achieve key business metrics.
That starts with going beyond a generic recognition like, “Great job!”
Instead, business leaders can recognize team members with greater detail:
“Great job collaborating with the customer service team to resolve the client issue the same day. Your quick response strengthened our relationship with the client.”
Both messages thank the employee’s efforts, but the second recognition:
- Offers more specifics
- Tells the employee what they did
- Shows why it mattered and why it’s worth repeating.
That’s reinforcement. That drives behavior change which drives business results.
Crafting a detailed recognition
When recognition is specific, timely and connected to impact, employees can see the relationship between their actions and the outcomes their organization cares about.
That’s where recognition becomes a tool for shaping behavior.
Related: Personalize employee recognition for business impact
Implementing manager recognition training
Reinforcement starts with manager training and communication.
- Train leaders on what to reinforce and which goals recognition supports
- Offer resources on how to craft meaningful recognition that’s explicit and timely
By training leaders to use recognition as a managerial tool, they’re more likely to motivate team members and encourage peers to follow their example.
As employees see what appropriate recognition looks like, they’ll also craft more detailed peer recognition, along with identifying and repeating ideal behaviors.
Building a recognition program unique to your organization
Like detailed recognitions, your overall program needs to be specific to your organization.
Meet with team members from different departments to understand what matters to them and what would resonate. Your team might want to focus on sales or safety culture or they might want to infuse social communities and clubs that create team connections.
How you deliberately develop your recognition program depends on the goals you want to achieve.
For example, an organization looking to engage employees across three demographics (younger generations, women and vets) saw a unique opportunity to create a Bird Watching Club. The group meets weekly and continues to engage across their key demographics.
Refocus your employee recognition strategy
An employee recognition program can have thousands of participants, high point redemption and strong adoption but still fall short.
The best employee recognition programs are more precise, more measurable and focused on what goal your organization wants to achieve.
When organizations shift from recognition to reinforcement, you create a strategic advantage.
Reinforcement creates a more dynamic workforce that’s engaged and powerful. And with great power comes…well you know the rest.
Ready to rethink your approach to recognition? Download ITA Group’s A.R.T. framework report for best practices to create more meaningful employee recognition.