To increase retention, improve morale, and boost your bottom line, start taking employee recognition programs seriously.
Sometimes employees don’t feel valued. And free pizza won’t cut it. Surveys indicate more than two-thirds of employees don’t feel engaged in the workplace (Gallup). Lack of employee appreciation is regularly in the top three reasons for not feeling engaged.
In addition to compensation and benefits, employees want to feel valued and appreciated. Financial incentives and benefits are great, but purpose, achievement, and relationships are arguably often as important.
To remain upbeat, confident, and focused, employees want to feel that their hard work is noticed and appreciated. The human resources experts at Resourcing Edge, a Professional Employer Organization (PEO), can help your business develop winning employee recognition programs.
Why Employee Appreciation and Recognition is Important
1. Retains Top Talent
If you recruit and hire great employees who are in sync with your business goals and vision, you probably want to keep them.
Consider all of the time and expense involved in recruiting, hiring, and training a brand-new employee:
- For entry-level employees, it costs between 30-50 percent of their annual salary to replace them.
- For mid-level employees, it costs upwards of 150 percent of their annual salary to replace them.
- For high-level or highly specialized employees, you’re looking at 400 percent of their annual salary.
Source: ERE Media
Replacement expenses are in addition to all the hidden costs associated with employee turnover: loss of knowledge, loss of skills, drop in productivity, and added strain on remaining employees.
Many people continue to work for a company, not solely for financial reasons, but because they feel valued. Work provides a sense of purpose and achievement and an opportunity to work with people you like and trust.
Employees who are consistently recognized as valuable are more likely to spend their careers with the company. Especially in times of low unemployment, employee retention is essential to profitability, stability, morale, and keeping institutional talent and knowledge.
2. Boosts Engagement and Morale
Happy and fulfilled employees create an infectious atmosphere of positivity. When you make people feel good about what they do, the good vibes stay with them everywhere they go — not just in the office or with clients, but at home and with their families.
When you fail to recognize a job well done, not only do you miss the opportunity to reinforce exceptional performance, you also bring down the engagement and enthusiasm of the entire team.
With genuine employee recognition and opportunities to grow and develop, team members feel respected. This enriches employees’ work and personal lives.
3. Improves Sales and Business Results
Employee recognition programs are a win-win — employees are happier and more satisfied at work, and the organization gets a more engaged and productive workforce. Resourcing Edge can help develop better employees, which leads to better bottom lines.
According to one study, happy employees are up to 20 percent more productive than unhappy workers, and content salespeople raised sales by 37 percent.
By taking employee recognition programs seriously, you will boost engagement, foster loyalty, solidify relationships, reduce turnover, and increase sales and productivity.
Consequences of Not Demonstrating Employee Appreciation
To put energy and passion into their work, employees have to feel a genuine connection. Engaged and appreciated employees will work to drive innovation and push your business forward.
Disengaged employees will do just the opposite — they’ll cause problems for managers and coworkers, drive away customers, and damage company morale.
Employee appreciation and recognition should be a regular habit, not just something you save for Employee Appreciation Day or annual reviews.
Your company should actively recognize and value employee contributions to help build a culture of respect and gratitude.
Ways to Recognize Employees
There are many no-cost and low-cost ways to show appreciation, including saying “Thank you” (with specifics), paying for lunch, giving extra paid time off, and awarding gift cards. Some companies invest in office services such as chair massages or dry-cleaning pickup and delivery.
Employee recognition can include tangible rewards, but the main thing is to provide sincere feedback. Specific, reinforcing feedback helps strengthen behaviors that are important to your team and organization.
Keep in mind that what works for one employee may not work for another. The best approach is always tailored to the specific time, place, and person.
How a PEO Can Help
Owners and managers may not know the best way to provide effective employee recognition. Employee recognition programs can easily backfire and cause more problems than they solve.
Working with hundreds of companies and thousands of employees, we know what works. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, we can work with you to develop a Rewards and Recognition program that makes sense for your business.
Another reason why employee recognition may be neglected or mishandled is because HR and management are often swamped with recruiting, payroll, PTO, and other administrative duties. But by partnering with Resourcing Edge to handle those matters, you can free up time to focus on growing your business.
- A PEO has experts and resources to aid clients in creating, executing, and maintaining employee appreciation and recognition programs.
- A PEO can advise clients on compliance matters so programs don’t run afoul of laws and regulations.
- Less time on administrative tasks means more time for other strategic initiatives that focus on increasing profit.
Learn more about our comprehensive HR solutions.
If you want to improve your workplace culture, attract and retain top talent, and show your employees some appreciation, contact Resourcing Edge.
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