You Better Recognize!

Think Macro and Micro

For recognition programs to be effective, leaders, from middle management to C-level, must view them as worthy of time and money. Maehling recommends coaching managers to acknowledge the good work of their employees. Wells Fargo and Park Nicollet have dedicated employees that administer their recognition programs. Cargill has even appointed Corporate Vice President Bill Buckner as chief recognition officer.

“At Cargill, there is a strong belief and understanding that recognition plays a significant role in increasing employee engagement, and that there is a link between that and a successful company,” Sachs says. “We have great senior leaders who really believe in recognition and see its connection to the business.”

Hutchinson agrees: “One of the biggest mistakes companies make is putting a recognition program in place and ignoring it. A recognition program requires nurturing, ongoing communications, and training of leaders. The organizations that are successful have recognition as part of someone’s job.”

Leadership buy-in is important, but successful programs are decentralized, focusing a majority of an organization’s recognition efforts at the business-unit or department level. Allowing managers to execute the recognition program in a variety of ways keeps the appreciation meaningful and direct.

“The single most important thing employees have identified as valuable is being acknowledged: not being invisible, having their manager affirm that they are contributing,” Hutchinson says.

Administering the program on a smaller level makes it easier to manage and more immediate. Online tools, too, allow instant action for peers and managers.

“It’s really important to recognize team members immediately when you see things that are positive,” Essma says. “Our research has shown that, for most people, getting that feedback from direct managers right when something is happening is really important, rather than waiting a month for a formal program or something similar.”

Once the foundational principles are in place—day-to-day and informal recognition—the formal programs should feed off of those. If a Wells Fargo technology information group employee is recognized a number of times, it could lead to an invitation to the company’s annual conference.

Experts admit that it can be difficult to measure the effectiveness of a company’s recognition efforts. “The most common way to measure recognition effectiveness is to ask employees through surveys and feedback,” Hutchinson says.

The technology information group team at Wells Fargo has seen a 7 percent improvement in employee satisfaction on the most recent survey, since the Take Five program was launched.

Park Nicollet has seen a huge jump in participation in the Ovations program, from 32,000 cards sent out in 2003 to 57,000 last year. And while that doesn’t necessarily correlate directly to employee engagement, it does mean that more people are saying thank you to their colleagues for a job well done.