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Employers think workers do a good job for money, but a survey of 200,000 employees says it’s really recognition that counts! Here’s how to use it most effectively.  “Well done!” Would you consider hearing those two simple words a significant reward for putting your life on the line? Military personnel do. They consider this seemingly ordinary compliment, when it comes from a superior officer, one of the highest forms of recognition for their service.

Anyone willing to debate the power of recognition on the job may want to read the book, The Carrot Principle, by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton. The book reports on a study of more than 200,000 workers over 10 years, asking them and their employers about the power of recognition.

The results, as reported were striking. Among these data:
• 73 percent of employees say they “feel engaged” when their employers offer “high recognition.” That number drops to under 17 percent when recognition is low.
• 70 percent of employees in a high-recognition environment say they intend to stay with their organizations, a point to consider when the entire job world is talking “retention” as a basic and growing issue.
• The converse is also true, according to the study. Some 79 percent of employees say they leave their jobs due to a lack of appreciation.

What the word “recognition” means, however, is open to wide interpretation. And the study showed a wide disconnect between what managers and their employees think. “Managers rank salary and job satisfaction as top concerns of their employees,” said the report, “while employees reported appreciation for their work as their top concern”.  How do you show that appreciation? Experts suggest two forms—informal and formal.

Informal can be as simple as a smile and a thank you, free movie tickets, a letter of praise in the employee’s file, and perhaps posted on the bulletin board as well, and that long-time favorite, the “Employee of the Month” parking space, right up next to that of the CEO.

Formal recognition programs can include bonuses or other high-value awards, publicly presented at companywide meetings.
What type of recognition to bestow should be decided by the act involved. “Informal recognition should be used to praise employee efforts, Formal recognition should be used to recognize results”.

Whatever recognition is granted, it should be specific, timely, sincere, and frequent. (One manager we know uses a formula of “five positive statements to employees for every one negative.”) And it should come from the employee’s manager, who in fact, may not want to do it, citing lack of time, the excuse that “other managers aren’t doing it,” or that old saw of “whatever you give them, they’ll just ask for more.”

Such attitudes should be discouraged. “When employers recognize good performance by their employees, chances are that they will see that good performance again”.

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