Employee Recognition Programs Impact Corporate Culture, Says SHRM

A joint survey between the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and Globoforce revealed that about 70 percent of organizations use employee recognition programs to enhance corporate culture. The survey found that 72 percent of HR pros feel their company’s employee recognition programs helps to reinforce corporate values within their employees. More than 80 percent said recognition programs impact employee engagement in a positive way. A further 54 percent of respondents said recognition programs are beneficial for employee retention.

However, when it comes to performance reviews, only 61 percent of HR professionals said employees are adequately awarded based on their performance. Just 56 percent reported that annual performance reviews are accurate in gauging an employee’s quality of work. Just over half of respondents said managers effectively acknowledge high performance by their employees.

Additionally, 50 percent of HR professionals think that their company’s recognition program is tied to corporate values, 27 percent said their recognition program is not tied to company values, 18 percent reported that their company has no recognition program in place, and 6 percent said their company plans to implement a program at some point during the next 12 months.

Given these clashing statistics, it is easy to see how 75 percent of respondents said employees are dissatisfied with the recognition they receive for their accomplishments. Just 16 percent of HR professionals feel that their companies adequately use recognition programs to identify top and bottom-level performance, and only 12 percent said their programs help identify the most influential employees.

“Employee recognition programs are especially powerful when the design allows managers and employees to report successes throughout the year and reward, and recognize individual performance accordingly,” said Mark Schmit, vice president of research at SHRM.

“Highly engaged employees can boost a company’s profitability,” said Eric Mosley, CEO of Globoforce. “Our research finds that when organizations invest one percent or more of payroll into recognition programs, they experience a positive impact on both employee engagement and financial results.”