Why employees need both recognition and appreciation
Appreciation. Recognition. Recognition. Appreciation. Two words, same thing, right? Wrong!
That’s why in this article we outline why employees need both recognition and appreciation and why it’s important to recognize the benefits of both and appreciate the differences! See what we did there?
Although it’s fair to say that recognition and appreciation are generally considered interchangeable when talking about motivating employees, not only are they not, but the lack of understanding around the distinction between the two could be reducing the impact of your employee engagement program.
The importance of employee recognition and employee appreciation
Motivation
People love personal recognition and rewards. It’s a great way to boost teamwork and productivity. Recognition and rewards solutions are uniquely suited to drive commitment, effort, and inspiration. Through our data we know that employees who have been told they make a difference at work in the past month are 2.4 times more likely to feel inspired, 2.3 times more likely to feel renewed commitment, and 2.2 times more likely to increase effort.
Culture
Workplace culture makes the difference between thriving and surviving. Having a robust and innovative recognition and appreciation strategy will create a supportive work environment and improve your workplace culture.
Retention
Providing ways to help your team stand out and reward when it matters helps retain top talent, reduces staff turnover, and attracts the best new talent. According to Gallup, teams with lower engagement experience turnover rates 18 – 43% higher than those of highly engaged teams.
Purpose
Visibly recognizing and appreciating employees by linking desirable behaviours to your company values demonstrates a sense of purpose and meaning that every employee can engage with. Make recognition and appreciation not only about results but crucially around values and behaviours too.
To reiterate the importance of values, it works both ways.
Engagement
Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit.
To avoid ‘quiet quitting’, disengaged employees quitting work on a psychological level, the importance of maintaining regular recognition, reward, and appreciation strategies is paramount to refreshing and retaining engagement. We know people love to be appreciated and recognized in a timely and appropriate way.
Those who received regular recognition with or without rewards were more likely to agree with these statements:
- Encouraged to try new and better ways of working
- Actively look for ways to improve work every day
- Feel their manager supports them in taking smart risks
- Feel their manager leverages and accepts our differences as a strength
BI WORLDWIDE Canada has annually studied the best predictors of employee engagement and consistently established that The New Rules of Engagement® are what best predicts and creates commitment, effort, and inspiration.
Momentum
Witnessing others achieve success and receive great rewards instills friendly competition and can create momentum that drives personal and business objectives. We know through our research that those who receive multiple types of recognition and appreciation are happier, more engaged, committed, and perform with greater intensity.
What’s the difference between employee recognition and employee appreciation?
So, we understand why both recognition and appreciation are important, but what’s the difference and why do employees need both?
Mike Robbins, speaker and author who focuses on workplace culture and emotional intelligence, simplifies it nicely:
Recognition is about what people do; appreciation is about who they are.
Whether formally or informally, in recognition we’re acknowledging the past — a moment, an achievement, a task complete — whereas appreciation has no bounds. Whether they complete the task or not, appreciation is about calling out ‘their worth as a colleague and a human being’ (Harvard Business Review). It’s about their value.
Understanding the impact of appreciation and recognition, if we solely focus on one or the other, we miss an opportunity to appreciate the person behind the ‘big win’ or overlook the colleagues who keep the business ticking outside of the ‘big projects.’
Employee appreciation ideas
Outwardly and consistently showing appreciation creates a supportive culture where individual employee contributions are valued.
Receiving appreciation, acknowledgement, or thanks makes an individual feel confident, noticed, and respected, and builds a true sense that they’re in the right place. The real joy of appreciation is that we can all appreciate a colleague, be it peers, managers, teams, associates, or contractors, because appreciation focuses on the individual and their unique qualities. There’s no deadline to wait for, no major project to complete, and no product that needs a launch – appreciation makes the everyday meaningful and can be delivered every day, any day. It’s the little things that count.
Leverage awareness days
Awareness days like Employee Appreciation Day are the perfect opportunity to celebrate all employees, pay it forward, and create a special environment of appreciation. Food, a team day out, packing up early, sending eCards and peer-to-peer thank yous, can all add to the message that you appreciate their loyalty and contribution.
Support and acknowledge personal development efforts
Follow up often with your team members and review their development plans and personal aspirations. Support ongoing projects, including giving help and encouragement during challenges and, importantly, any failures, as failure will always lead to success when it’s seen as part of a natural development phase.
Encourage and share customer satisfaction surveys, taking appreciation beyond peer-to-peer
It’s easy for customer satisfaction surveys to come and go with little focus unless there’s negative feedback that jumps out and needs immediate attention. Most likely, many surveys will generate positive comments and scores that get a tick from an audit. However, ensuring all feedback is shared with customer teams can validate hard work as well as steer conversations for continued improvements. Employees need a boost from good feedback and to build real relationships with their customers, which is proactive, not reactive.
Include service milestones
Service milestones from Day 1 cement appreciation without waiting for the dreaded passing of time. Acknowledge the first month, first three months, first year, and so on. Trends in employment show that new work generations will be moving jobs more frequently than we’ve been in the past. Retention is more imperative than ever for employers, so start the service appreciation early and stand out amongst traditional employers.
Celebrate life events
The icing on the cake really is appreciating personal milestones. Birthdays, new homes, new jobs, marriages, partnerships, and new families fall into the myriad of life events we all experience while ticking off work hours. If you make it your business to know the important events coming up for your team members, you’ll be seen as a trusted and respected business with real values that see past the simple tasks of the job.
Choice and flexibility
Build an appreciation program that allows peers and managers to appreciate all colleagues, everywhere.
- Peer-to-peer: Colleagues everywhere should have the ability to thank their workmates locally and globally.
- Appreciate up: When you create the best workplace culture, your employees will want to send appreciation to their managers and leadership teams.
- Manager: Of course, any manager worth their salt will want to regularly show their appreciation to their team, colleagues, and stakeholders across the business.
Need further help? We’ve identified 10 employee types who deserve appreciation, including:
- The day brighteners: A cheerful, always-positive attitude helps build morale and energizes your entire workforce.
- The recognizers: Those who regularly take time to praise others should be recognized for it.
- The accountables: There’s nothing like being able to rely on someone. Recognize those who always do what they say they’re going to do.
- The adaptable: Times and circumstances change (deadlines, budgets, the marketplace), and the greatest employees are those who take change in stride and remain positive.
- The goal-setters: Recognize those who set personal goals and work toward them – the ones who are never satisfied with the status quo.
Check out our blog, 10 employees who deserve recognition for more ideas.
How to recognize with impact
Written and verbal recognition
Maybe it’s obvious; however, if you want to create the best impact by recognizing employees, then specific, timely, and appropriate recognition is the proven way to go. Written recognition via a dedicated recognition platform, email or 1:1 catch-up shows you’re genuine and you mean it! Recognize for a good job, well done, and recognize for what’s been achieved; the delivery, the learnings, meeting objectives, and the success.
Above and beyond rewards
There are going to be occasions that require recognition to be taken to the next level; where achievements go above and beyond the expected role or responsibilities. Examples of this include what we at BI WORLDWIDE Canada refer to as ‘Manager Discretionary’ and ‘Nomination’ programs.
- Manager Discretionary program: A manager uses their discretion to assess achievements and initiative, then delivers recognition with an appropriate reward that acknowledges the exceptional performance of a team or individuals.
- Nomination program: For full inclusivity, colleagues can also nominate others, be that an individual or a team, to receive high reward value recognition for approval by leadership and managers.
Performance league tables and employee incentive rewards
‘Personalized’ incentives drive performance and results. Magnify success by giving quality recognition with reward and drive momentum to repeat quality work, increasing effort and the willingness to go that extra mile for the organization and clients.
Training: ‘The importance of recognition’
BI WORLDWIDE Canada has developed supporting tools for managers to ensure recognition is inclusive and equitable. Our Recognition Advisor and Equity & Inclusion plugins advise and nudge managers, much like a personal assistant, to be aware of who, when, why, and where they could be recognizing individuals and team performance.
The importance of integrating both recognition and appreciation into an employee engagement strategy
Ensuring your employee engagement strategy combines both appreciation and recognition will deliver more than happiness and performance results.
Done well, the synergy of both creates a foundation within the workplace of a high-performing culture. The key differences between appreciation and recognition allow for multiple opportunities to support your team.