7 Key Reasons Why Employee Recognition is Important

Did you know that lack of appreciation at the workplace can prompt 2 in 3 employees to quit? It’s even higher among Millennials — 76% say they’ll pack up and leave if they feel unappreciated!

That should already tell us why employee recognition is important. Without it, you could lose up to three-quarters of your valuable people.

But that’s not the only reason to recognize employees for their superb work. Lack of it may also be the reason your team members are turning in their projects late. Or that their productivity levels drop on a consistent basis.

Ready to learn more about how crucial employee recognition is to company success? Then let’s get right into it!

1. Why Employee Recognition is Important: It Prevents Feeling of Under Appreciation

Almost eight in ten employees — that’s how many employees in the U.S. quit their job due to lack of appreciation. Unfortunately, 65% of surveyed employees said they didn’t receive any recognition in 2018. If this continues, they risk losing five out of 10 employees due to lack of recognition!

That should be enough reason to give recognition to those who deserve it. But that’s not all — recognizing someone for their efforts can raise one’s self-esteem. It can make a huge difference in lifting their self-confidence and prompt them to keep doing a good job.

2. Employee Recognition is Key to Boosting Company Morale

The importance of employee recognition extends to the whole company morale. With recognition, employees have a reason to believe they’re making positive contributions. They’ll take it as a sign that they’re sharing what they can for the good and the betterment of the company.

When you give recognition to those who deserve it, it doesn’t only benefit the recipients. The rest of your people will also feel positive since they know that their boss cares about what they do. The “good vibes” will spread to the entire office floor, which can then raise company morale.

3. It Can Raise Levels of Engagement in the Workplace

Not feeling appreciated can lead to your employees feeling disengaged. In fact, Gallup found that “actively disengaged” employees make up 16.5% of today’s workforce.

Now, that seems like a small percentage compared to 34% of engaged workers. The thing is, disengaged employees are expensive, and not only because they’re unhappy. They also display their unhappiness at work, which can then affect their peers’ morale.

So, keep your employees engaged by showing them appreciation! It can be something as simple as telling them in person that they did a great job on the last project. Better yet, award them with custom plaques during events or meetings.

4. Engaged Employees Perform Better than Their Disengaged Peers

Throughout the years, studies have found a link between high engagement and productivity. For instance, in 2016, highly-engaged teams reported being 21% more productive.

An earlier study also found that high engagement rates boost a company’s rate of success. It found that highly-engaged companies are twice as likely to be successful.

These confirm that engaged workers are critical to productivity, and ultimately, success. And a great way to jump-start engagement is to recognize your people’s hard work.

What’s more, recognition helps motivate everyone to perform even better. Even a compliment is a scientifically-proven performance booster. As such, compliments can make people strive further to outperform their previous performance.

Recognition also encourages others to improve their skills and hone their talents. They would also want to experience the joy of recognition for themselves. Hearing you compliment their coworkers can give them that push to do better too.

5. Higher Productivity Levels Translate to Happy Customers Too

Since staff recognition makes for more productive workers, then it also benefits customers. Higher productivity levels, after all, means projects get completed on time. It’s also key to delivering mistake-free work.

So, the more productive your people are, the higher your customer satisfaction rate may be. Also, since you get to finish projects on time (or even earlier), then you can accept more work. This, in turn, benefits the entire company — including your employees.

6. It Helps Lower Turnover Rates

Did you know that U.S. companies lose a whopping $160 billion a year due to employee turnover? Or that high-performing talents are 400% more valuable than their poor performing peers?

With that kind of money and skills on the line, a high turnover rate could be the downfall of any company.

As we mentioned above, feeling underappreciated has become a top reason employees quit. Meaning, lack of recognition could cost you your best talents and drive the bottom line down.

So, get those recognition and appreciation plaques out! Tell your people that what they do contributes to the company’s success. Make them feel that they belong and that they have a great place to go back to in the many years to come.

7. It’s a Simple Yet Sincere Way to Show You Care

According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, self-esteem is one of the five basic human needs. People need to accomplish things and have other people recognize their efforts. They also need to feel that others value them and that they indeed make contributions to the world.

Now, keep in mind that self-esteem shares a deep tie with mental health. With workplace stress and anxiety at an all-time high in the U.S., a simple “Great job!” or “Awesome work!” can already do wonders.

Such simple statements can already make a difference in someone feeling stressed. Especially if that someone is actually stressing out over whether they did a great job or not. By affirming them of a job well done, you’re already showing them that you care.

Recognize and Treasure Your Valuable Team Players

There you have it, all the top reasons why employee recognition is important. Remember, appreciation is a vital element of any relationship, even in professional settings. That’s why you should always show appreciation when your team deserves it.

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