Recognition

An Experts Guide to
Building Culture & Engagement
through Recognition

by the idea of creating

a true culture of recognition?
This guide offers a primer on the best practices
for employee recognition, with practical tips for
getting maximum results in culture management
and employee engagement.

The deepest principal in

human nature is the

craving to be appreciated.
William James, Psychologist & Philosopher

Recognition Blueprint // 3

Create one universal program.

The first building block of successful recognition is simplicity of design. To be
successful, you must create a single, centrally-managed, global program that is
accessible to all employees, in all departments, everywhere in your organization
and everywhere in the world. Make sure giving recognition is easy, intuitive and
fast for people who want to nominate and congratulate coworkers. And make
sure approvals are streamlined and include automatic notifications. It must be
universalwith a unified focus and one brand, no matter how many locations
or languages you support. This connects your entire workforce around common
values and business objectives. It should reward equity and compliance with tax
laws. This will cut costs by letting you streamline your recognition programs.
And it allows you easily measure both your programand your culturearound
the world.

Level the recognition field.

Theres nothing
greater in the world
than when somebody
on the team does
something good, and
everybody gathers
around to pat him on
the back.
Billy Martin

A common and costly mistake some companies have made in their approach to
recognition is constraining it to hierarchy and departmental silos. If managers
are the only distributors of recognitionand can thank only their direct reports,
you miss huge opportunities to measure and manage your culture. A great
recognition program empowers and inspires all employees to recognize peers,
managers and subordinatesacross departments and geographieswherever
appreciation is deserved. When you give employees permission to recognize
anyone in the organization, you make everyone keepers of the company culture,
and you foster a true culture of recognition.

Recognition Blueprint // 4

Offer a broad winners circle.

Frequent Recognition =
Better Engagement

To create positive change, your program must actually touch your employees.
Gone are the days of the uninspiring employee-of-the-month award with its
reserved parking spot the one winner in your company. Your superstars are
already performing well for yourecognition should also cover the biggest
part of your bell curve. Those employees are the engine of your companys
success and when the winners circle is an exclusive party, they are all
made to feel like losers. The best practice for recognition is to reach
80%+ of your employees annually. Many frequent, lower value
awards touch a greater number of people across your organization
and motivate everyone to make contributions worthy of praise.
Last recognized
within six months
Last recognized more
than 6 months ago

Employee Engagement
Source: Globoforce Mood Tracker Fall 2012

Give timely, specific recognition.

People often say that
motivation doesnt
last. Well, neither
does bathing thats
why we recommend
it daily. Zig Ziglar

Stale recognition is ineffective recognition. Recognition shouldnt be a once-ayear or even once-a-quarter activity. To positively affect behavior and reinforce
values, workers need consistent, ongoing feedback. Gallups Q12 survey,
which is designed to measure employee engagement, found that companies
whose employees had received recognition or praise for doing good work in
the last seven days had 10% to 20% higher productivity results1. Frequency
of recognition also helps keep workers satisfied in their jobs: a recent Mood
Tracker survey showed that employees who were not recognized within the last
six months were 74% more likely to be job searching than those who were2. How
often should you recognize? A study by Stanfords business school of effective
recognition programs found that recognizing of 5-8% of employees per week
was a good benchmark for success3.

Profitable Companies
Prioritize Values
and Culture

4.42
Stated
Importance
of Values

4.23

Most Profitable
Companies

Last recognized
A recognition
program that is not linked to core values is like a ship with no
within six months
navigationaimless. Its a wasted opportunity, because recognition imbued with
Last recognized more
company
valuesagois a vehicle to get your values off the plaque in the hallway and
than 6 months
injected into actual employee behavior. In fact, research from Deloitte has shown
Employee Engagement
that managers of higher profitability companies were 12% more likely to have a
strong focus on core values and corporate culture4. And a recent report from
Bersin & Associates found that those organizations that recognize employees
for demonstrating company values, displaying certain identified behaviors and
achieving company goals are more effective at enabling recognition than those
that do not incorporate these attributes.5

Least Profitable
Companies

Companies Rated Importance

on a Scale of 1 (Not Important)
to 5 (Extremely Important)

Source: Deloitte

Gain support of senior

level executive champions.
Research firm Blessing White has found that workers who trust senior leaders
are more engaged in their work6. Because senior leaders should be the architects
and caretakers of your corporate values, mission and objectives, they should
be evangelists for your strategic recognition efforts. Executives should lead by
example, not be passive witnesses to cultural change. To drive the adoption
The great leaders are
and effectiveness of your program, senior leaders must champion it behind the
like the best conductors
scenes, and embrace and evangelize it publicly.

they reach beyond

the notes to reach the
magic in the players.
Blaine Lee

Engaged Executives Have Engaged Workers

Engagement Level of Workers
Who Trust Their Execs
Engagement Level
of All Employees

50%
33%
Engagement Levels

Source: Blessing White (North America)

Recognition Blueprint // 5

Link to company
core values & objectives.

One of the most common questions that comes once a company has decided
to build a recognition culture is what should we be investing? 2.0%+ of payroll
is the mean average for recognition spend, according to a World at Work survey,
and that is a benchmark for top performing companies7. But experts agree
that you should dedicate at least 1.0% of your payroll for recognition. That is
supported by SHRM/Globoforce research, which has shown that companies who
spend at least 1% on payroll have higher engagement and better overall business
results8. Moreover, the money allocated to a new recognition program can often
be found in legacy programs that
are not nearly as effective or impactful as a
Last recognized
within six months
unified strategic recognition program.
Last recognized more
than 6 months ago

Higher Engagement Levels

Companies spending 1% or more
of payroll on recognition
Companies spending less than
1% of payroll on recognition

Employee Engagement

85%
74%
Recognition Program Has a Positive Impact
on Employee Engagement

Source: SHRM/Globoforce Employee Recognition Survey

Put the recognition in

the palms of their hands.
Workforces are more mobile than ever before. People are busier than ever before.
Making your recognition program portable, simple and easily available will make
your recognition program more successful. In fact, a great recognition solution
allows people to access the program from their desktops, their laptops or from
their cell phones. Make sure they can do any of the core activitiesnominate,
approve, receive, congratulatefrom all of those places. But also be sure all of
these activities are captured on one consistent platform so that you have all the
data at your fingertips.

Recognition Blueprint // 6

Invest 1% or more of payroll.

U.S.

$1.75

$1.00

$.90

$.75

2X

4X

4X

5X

BRAZIL

INDIA

MEXICO

CHINA

Source: pintprice.com

Source: pintprice.com

Provide proportionate,
local awards for all regions.
There are many horror stories about global merchandise awards backfiring
choices made in one country clashing with anothers local customs, awards in
different countries being wildly erratic in value, or even gifts that have no value
at all because they are locally irrelevant. The best practice for award giving is
that the rewards be local, proportionate, and appropriate. That means an award
should have equal value all around the world and properly adjust for local
standards of living. It should also be locally relevant no matter where in the
world an employee resides, so that an employee who lives in China can have an
equitable reward and the same lasting emotional impact from his award as one
who lives in Canada.

Brand your culture.

A top recognition program is going to transform your culture for the better. So
own it. Brand it. Create a recognition program that your people identify with
emotionally. Make sure it accentuates your companys brand promise and
corporate values. At some companies, the names of recognition programs
become verbs. Roam the halls of Amgen, whose recognition program is called
Bravo! and you may well hear an employee say I just Bravod my coworker.
Talk to an employee of JetBlue and hear her say I got Lifted today.

Recognition Blueprint // 7

$3.75

Recognition Blueprint // 8

Leave cash off the table.

Everyone enjoys cash, but when it comes to recognition, cash is not king.
Studies show that cash awards tend to be lumped in employees minds with
compensation and become quickly forgotten. Cash rewards tend to be spent
on everyday bills or disappear into household accounts. More tangible noncash rewards offer a more emotionally powerful and memorable experience.
Employees actually find alternatives to cash more meaningful. The shopping
experience provided by gifts and merchandise offers a more lasting reminder
of achievement. Plus, cash is less motivatingin fact, a University of Chicago
study in 2004 found that when compared to cash, non-cash incentives doubled
performance improvement levels.9
What is Most Meaningful?
Catalog Gifts
Logo Items
Companies spending less than
1% of payroll on recognition

7%

Companies spending 1% or more

of payroll on recognition

74%

3%

85%

Last recognized more

than 6 months ago

Recognition
Program Has a Positive Impact
Catalog Gifts
on Employee Engagement

Employee Engagement

Logo Items

50%

Gift Cards
50%
Gift Cards

7%

3%

How did you spend your cash reward?

41%
Cash in Paycheck

41%

Cash in Paycheck

28% 17%

15%

SPENT ON BILLS

DIDNT GET ONE

DONT REMEMBER

Source: 1999 Wirthlin Worldwide Survey

Recognition Program Has a

on Employee Engagement
Q. Imagine you are given a $25 value reward by your manager.
Which would you find most meaningful?

Source: Globoforce Mood Tracker Fall 2012

Q. Imagine you are
given a $25 value reward by your manager.
Which would you find most meaningful?

Recognition Blueprint // 9

Communicate and train your people.

You can build the greatest recognition platform in the world, but if people dont
know about it, its all for nothing. Build a solid communications plan around
your recognition programfor pre-launch, launch and post-launch. Make sure
that employees understand the companys recognition philosophy, and get new
employees excited about the program by making sure recognition training is part
of your standard on-boarding process.

Make it social.
Make it peer-to-peer.
Employees who dont
feel significant rarely
make significant
contributions.
Mark Sanborn

Like most things in life, recognition is more fun and more contagious when its
not limited to an elite few. When you encourage employees to recognize one
anothers achievements and contributions, regardless of role or department, not
only is it more fun, but you get more people on the lookout for behaviors that
demonstrate corporate values, which will serve to reinforce them across your
organization. And by making recognition socialallowing people to easily see
their coworkers awards and add their own congratulationsyou amplify the
experience, and directly impact business results. But a warning note on this one:
unless youre a big fan of allowing outsiders seeing company information, keep
it social within the walls of your organization.
Peer-to-Peer Recognition Gets Results
Yes we use peer-to-peer

57%

No we dont use peer-to-peer

46%

41%

32%
27%

31%

28%

32%
30%

28%

21%
18%

Engagement

Productivity

Employee
Retention

Profitability

Source: Fall 2012 Globoforce Workforce Mood Tracker

Customer
Retention

Customer
Satisfaction

Recognition Blueprint // 10

Monitor and measure.

What gets measured
gets managed.
Peter Drucker

When you have a unified recognition program, and your corporate values are
woven into that program, you can easily monitor and measure all facets of
the program. You can quickly see where recognition is happening, what your
program spend is on a weekly basis, in which divisions recognition is strong
and in which divisions its anemic, which values are being recognized most in
different geographic areas, and the list goes on. Be sure youre easily able to keep
tabs on the metrics that matter most to your organization.
Stock Value % Change Last 12 Months

+4.6%

Data Proficient
Organizations

Data Deficient
Organizations

-3.0%
H

al
/T
CI

eo

Leverage your crowdsourced data.

Recognition is an essential motivational tool. Great managers and leaders get that
intuitively. But heres what many managers havent figured out about recognition:
strategic recognition collects a treasure trove of powerful information and data
about your talent and about your culture. This crowdsourced information about
your organization can be used to gain deep insights into which values are thriving
and which employees are excelling. Be sure that your recognition program is not
letting that data slip through your fingers. Offer it to managers to facilitate better
talent and performance management, and use it to better measure and manage
your corporate culture.

Recognition Blueprint // 11

Appreciation is a wonderful thing:

It makes what is excellent in others
belong to us as well.
Voltaire

SOURCES
http://strengths.gallup.com/private/Resources/Q12Meta-Analysis_Flyer_GEN_08%2008_BP.pdf

1
2

http://www.globoforce.com/mood-tracker-fall-2012

https://gsbapps.stanford.edu/cases/detail1.asp?Document_ID=3073
https://www.deloitte.com/view/en_US/us/Insights/Browse-by-Content-Type/deloitte-review/2472dacb2bea9210Vg
nVCM100000ba42f00aRCRD.htm

4

http://www.bersin.com/practice/Detail.aspx?id=15539&p=Talent-Management

http://www.blessingwhite.com/eee__report.asp

http://www.worldatwork.org/waw/adimLink?id=51194

http://www.globoforce.com/fall-2012-the-business-impact-of-employee-recognition
http://bfi.uchicago.edu/events/20111028_experiments/papers/Levitt_List_Neckermann_Sadoff_Short-Term_Incentives_September2011.pdf

9

How does your recognition program

compare to best practices?

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