The importance of recognition

Recognition of UK workers is a crucial part of a business, this helps in increasing staff morale, as well as making employees in general feel happier about going into work. A whitepaper by O.C. Tanner Institute revealed that on average, employees who have high levels of wellbeing plan to stay at their company for 2 additional years compared to those with low levels of wellbeing. Staff being thanked for the hard work that they do is such an important aspect of general wellbeing.

In 2016 it was reported that workplaces in the UK lost 27 days of productive time per employee, due to high stress and other wellbeing related problems. This loss in productivity was predicted to have cost the economy £57bn per year. So it is apparent that an employees wellbeing shouldn’t be an aspect of a business that should be overlooked.

A report by O.C. Tanner Institute looked into the impact of employee wellbeing. They found that employees who rated their wellbeing as “excellent” had a 19% better personal work output when compared with those who said rated wellbeing as “poor”. In the healthcare industry, this has proven to have room for improvement in terms of recognition, with the NHS staff survey revealing that only 42% of employees feel they are valued by their employer, with a total of 33,000 nurses (equivalent to 1 in 10) left the NHS in 2017.

It is reported that being thanked by a manager can increase the staff morale by 21% of UK workers. Especially in the run-up to Christmas, doing this can have a significant impact on productivity and overall staff happiness. There have been many companies that have acknowledged the significance of this, and have reacted to this through perks, and rewards that come along with the job if they do perform well, these include Extra Holidays, Gift Cards, Flexible Holidays, and early finishes to name a few.

By being rewarded regularly for working hard on a project can be a great feeling. The Christmas period is even more crucial at this time is typically when staff morale can be at its lowest. With 30% of UK staff considering a new job in the new year according to an analysis by Indeed. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Staff Retention Report found that 16% of UK staff left a job due to not feeling fully appreciated in their role.

However, the CIPD’s comprehensive guide of the UK workforce revealed that 80% of employees rate their relationship with their managers positively, so it is positive to see that staff think highly of their managers and that this is going in the right direction. 

One4all Rewards carried out independent research that revealed that 20% of employees never receive any form of thanks from their employer. This means that one in five businesses are missing out on boosting their businesses profitability by simply failing to show their staff some form of gratitude*.

It’s no major surprise that people who feel appreciated by their employer are more motivated and have higher morale in the workplace, however, it’s easy to get carried away with everyday tasks and forget the power of the two words, ‘thank you’. CIPD’s viewpoint on this was successfully fostering employee engagement and motivation requires working with all areas of the organisation. HR can lead initiatives, but employee engagement needs action from leaders at all levels.