Interesting study that was emailed to me by some PR folks. Do you agree with the findings?
A new global study commissioned by employee appreciation firm O.C. Tanner shows that appreciating employees can boost engagement by 20-30 percent. And during this time of economic uncertainty, increasing productivity with something as simple as “thanks” is a message all managers can use.
The 2008 Global Recognition Study conducted for O.C. Tanner by Towers Perrin took place in 13 countries, surveying more than 10,000 employees on topics such as company communication, trust, opportunity and well-being.
“While employees in China and Russia value team recognition more highly than individual acclaim, the more modest British prefer private recognition from their boss,” says Gostick. “It is clear that every country places a high value on the power of recognition."
Employee engagement is a significant predictor of business success and an indicator of organizational profitability, customer satisfaction and employee longevity. According to the study, this level of dedication is driven by feelings of pride, trust, and an overriding sense of opportunity and well-being. While it might take years to rebuild these feelings if they are lost, implementing a program of appreciation brings direct and immediate bottom line results, boosting engagement in low-trust companies up to 63 percent—nearly level with companies where trust is already high. This same dynamic proves true for other factors of engagement, like accountability and goal setting.
“Many companies in our industry would say that in dark times you have to cut programs like recognition to the bone, but they are dead wrong,” says Linda Ross, Senior Analyst of El Paso Corporation, a client of O.C. Tanner. “When people feel unappreciated they are unwilling to bring their best to the table. And if you want to grow as an organization, you need everyone to be willing to give their best.”
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I believe that, study or no, it's important for organizations to create an environment where people feel important because of what they contribute. The trick for supervisors is figuring out what that means on an individual, group, and organizational level.
ReplyDeleteRight now, many employers are in the mindset that their employees should just be happy that they still have a job. Unfortunately, that's usually not enough to get workers moving. I believe that showing employees appreciation, even with something as small as a thank you note, can do wonders for productivity and morale.
ReplyDeleteI think that this does make a big difference in how employees feel and whether or not they put valiant efforts into their work. Sure many people may be happy to still have a job but if they are feeling "stuck" and unappreciated they will find a way to put in the minimum effort and still get by. It's possible to be appreciative without spending a lot of money too. Sending email notes or even having a weekly/monthly team meeting can be really important steps in engaging a group. Of course, the meetings work best if there is a good rapport within the team. Other things can be helpful in bringing that about.
ReplyDeleteone good way of keeping employyes engaged is to make them undesratnd how critical their role is to the organisation/project.
ReplyDeleteeg: In IT some consider Application support as mundane work but if we put it this way that proactiveness in their monitoring and alertness in resolving issues on production environments can save the client millions and therby help the org .. it would lend some sense of purpose in the employees..