Creating a Culture of Recognition in a Recession

Next Steps

Creating a Culture of Recognition in a Recession

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

Subscribe to RSS

Top eight takeaways from Razor Suleman’s presentation at the 2009 HRPA conference.

Toronto, ON

January 28-30, 2009

With the economy top of mind, we want to share eight key recognition best practices to help you lead your organization in building a strong, engaged workforce that can tackle the changes and challenges of a down economy. As Jack Welch, former Chairman and CEO of General Electric says, “If the change inside your organization is slower than the change outside your company the end is in sight.”

1. Recognition is free

- “Low cost, high impact” is this year’s theme so take advantage of the value of recognition. It’s cost-effective and when implemented with #2 through #7, it’s guaranteed to drive motivation and engagement.

2. Follow the PIC/NIC approach

- PICs stand for Positive, Immediate and Certain and NICs stand for Negative, Immediate and Certain. Recognition should always be a PIC, especially when employee morale and motivation is low because it triggers repeat behaviour and accelerates the performance success cycle. Stop spending money on NIC rewards and recognition. It’s a waste of time and resources!

Razor on PIC/NICS:

3. Managers should recognize their employees at least once a week

- It’s been studied, tested and proven. In “First, Break All the Rules” authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman of the Gallup Organization show that a key variable in employee productivity and engagement is whether or not employees are recognized or praised for doing great work by their direct managers every seven days.

4. Combine on-the-spot recognition with rhythm recognition

- Establish both types of recognition to ensure the seven day recognition rule.

- On-the-spot recognition provides praise for contributions when they occur. This type of recognition encourages employees to continuously work towards the organization’s overall goals by acknowledging their initiative, creativity and willingness to go above and beyond. Examples of on-the-spot recognition include: recognition cards, e-cards, points cards and SMS texts.

- Rhythm recognition is consistent, formal and entrenched in the organization. These forms of recognition are rhythmic, occurring every year, month or week like clockwork.

Razor on combining on-the-spot and rhythm recognition

5. Be specific!

- Recognition is pointless if the recipient is unaware of the reason behind it. Get the most value from your recognition practices by establishing ways employees and their leaders can communicate and personalize their praise.

6. Incent cost-saving

- Your employees make decisions every day that can save money – whether it is asking for better pricing, saving on courier costs or sourcing more cost-effective services and vendors. Motivate them to look for cost-saving opportunities.

7. Pinpoint the different ways employees want to receive recognition

- Rule of thumb: provide recognition the way the recipient wants to receive it not the way the sender wants to send it.

- Peer-to-peer recognition and feedback is important to Generation Y so incorporate organic, bottom-up recognition opportunities into your overall strategy.

Bonus takeaway: Re-evaluate current recognition methods and ask yourself if they are results-oriented and cost-effective. For example:

- Lotteries do not inspire repeat behaviour because by creating one winner, you create many losers. This defeats the purpose of being recognized and rewarded in a meaningful way.

- Years of service gold watches and crystal vases are costly and not considered PICs. During turbulent times, instant recognition is the best vehicle to driving employee performance and boosting morale.

Get the best ROI from recognition during a recession

Recognition is integral to not only creating a great place to work but also contributing to the bottom line. According to Gurnek Bains, author of Meaning Inc., the S&P 500 companies produced a 250% return from 2001 to 2006. Now consider this: the list of best companies to work for produced a 600% return within the same time period. To get ROI, focus on results-based recognition. Recognize and reward employees that exceed expectations and continuously demonstrate their value as employees.

For additional resources on this topic and to view Razor Suleman’s complete HRPA presentation, please click here.

Video clip of Razor’s presentation at the HRPA Conference January 30, 2009