Though it may seem fairly obvious that receiving praise and recognition from one

Question

Though it may seem fairly obvious that receiving praise and recognition from one’s company is a motivating experience, sadly many companies are failing miserably when it comes to saying “thanks” to their employees. According to Curt Coffman, global practice leader at Gallup, 71 percent of U.S. workers are “disengaged,” essentially meaning that they could care less about their organization. Coffman states, “We’re operating at one-quarter of the capacity in terms of managing human capital. It’s alarming.”

Employee recognition programs, which became more popular as the U.S. economy shifted from industrial to knowledge-based, can be an effective way to motivate employees and make them feel valued. In many cases, however, recognition programs are doing “more harm than good” according to Coffman. Take Ko, a 50-year-old former employee of a dot-com in California. Her company proudly instituted a rewards program designed to motivate employees. What were the rewards for a job well-done? Employees would receive a badge which read “U Done Good” and, each year, would receive a T-shirt as a means of annual recognition. Once an employee received 10 “U Done Good” badges, he or she could trade them in for something bigger and better—a paperweight. Ko states that she would have preferred a raise. “It was patronizing. There wasn’t any deep thought involved in any of this.” To make matters worse, she says, the badges were handed out arbitrarily and were not tied to performance. And what about those T-shirts? Ko states that the company instilled a strict dress code, so employees couldn’t even wear the shirts if they wanted to. Needless to say, the employee recognition program seemed like an empty gesture rather than a motivator.

Even programs that provide employees with more expensive rewards can backfire, especially if the rewards are given insincerely. Eric Lange, an employee of a trucking company, recalls the time when one of the company’s vice presidents achieved a major financial goal for the company. The vice president, who worked in an office next to Lange, received a Cadillac Seville as his company car and a new Rolex wristwatch that cost the company $10,000. Both were lavish gifts, but the way they were distributed left a sour taste in the vice president’s mouth. He entered his office to find the Rolex in a cheap cardboard box sitting on his desk, along with a brief letter explaining that he would be receiving a 1099 tax form in order to pay taxes on the watch. Lange states of the vice president, “He came into my office, which was right next door, and said, ‘Can you believe this?”’ A mere 2 months later, the vice president pawned the watch. Lange explains, “It had absolutely no meaning for him.”

Such experiences resonate with employees who may find more value in a sincere pat on the back than gifts from management that either are meaningless or aren’t conveyed with respect or sincerity. However, sincere pats on the back may be hard to come by. Gallup’s poll found that 61 percent of employees stated that they haven’t received a sincere “thank you” from management in the past year. Findings such as these are troubling, as verbal rewards are not only inexpensive for companies to hand out but also are quick and easy to distribute. Of course, verbal rewards do need to be paired sometimes with tangible benefits that employees value—after all, money talks. In addition, when praising employees for a job well-done, managers need to ensure that the praise is given in conjunction with the specific accomplishment. In this way, employees may not only feel valued by their organization but will also know what actions to take to be rewarded in the future.

Questions
1. If praising employees for doing a good job seems to be a fairly easy and obvious motivational tool, why do you think companies and managers don’t often do it?

2. As a manager, what steps would you take to motivate your employees after observing them perform well?

3. Are there any downsides to giving employees too much verbal praise? What might these downsides be and how could you alleviate them as a manager?

4. As a manager, how would you ensure that recognition given to employees is distributed fairly and justly?

Explanation / Answer

1.   If praising employees for doing a good job seems to be a fairly easy and obvious motivational tool, why do you think companies and managers don’t often do it?

Praising is a fairly easy and obvious motivational tool, essentially in today’s knowledge-based economy, when employees expect to be rewarded and recognized for their commendable efforts. But companies and managers are often not too generous in responding with proportionate amount of praises and recognition. There are several reasons. Many companies lack formal rewards and recognition program, or such programs are not institutionalized as per of organizational culture.

The other reasons are managers are most often busy in pushing the employees to deliver their best. Their expectations are practically undefined and unclear to themselves. They are caught in a never ending quest for productivity and performance improvement, which translates into “reward of good work is more work”. Managers feel threatened with the idea of praising employees for the fear of employees becoming complacent and therefore make less efforts going forward.

On many occasions, managers are insecure about their own performance and they like to create an atmosphere of stress. They believe more in theory X. Praising an employee does not come naturally to them.

So a lot depends upon the organizational culture, ethos, and leadership attributes of the managers which define how companies and managers respond to the good performance by employees, by praising or by being indifferent.

2.   As a manager, what steps would you take to motivate your employees after observing them perform well?

As a manager, one should use praise as a reinforcing tool to emphasize and replicate the desire behavior in employees, which lead to desired results. A manager can take various steps to motivate employees for their performance. A note of “well done and thanks” by email or message is a very powerful tool to communicate that the work done by the employees is valuable and that his contribution is very well recognized. Manager should use powerful positive words of encouragement frequently to keep the morale of the employees high. He should recommend the high performance employees for formal rewards & recognition. The manager could take employees out for lunch or dinner or handout passes for movies or concerts or amusement parks as gestures to say thanks to the employees who are consistently performing well.

These are some of the measures apart from the merchandise, travel packages, and expensive gifts that are part of the corporate R&R programs.

3.   Are there any downsides to giving employees too much verbal praise? What might these downsides be and how could you alleviate them as a manager?

Giving too much verbal praise can have downsides, if the verbal praise is given too often and for trivial issues. It loses its relevance and value in the eyes of the employees, if the praise is given at the drop of a hat for not so significant contribution. It might as well lead to a sense of “taken for granted” among the employees, who get so accustomed to praise for even the smallest of their efforts, that the focus on real performance improvement is lost.

The managers need to use praise as a motivational tool, with prudence, so that it retains its value and effect. Verbal praise should be used only for significant performance.

4.   As a manager, how would you ensure that recognition given to employees is distributed fairly and justly?

As a manager, I would use objective criteria as much as possible to ensure that distribution of recognition given to employees is fair and just. Assessing the performance with a perspective of employees on relative scale is essential to identify the deserving employees. Employees’ performance should be assessed relative to their own past performance and relative to the team’s performance to ensure equitable fair distribution of rewards and recognition and same yardstick should be used for all the employees, without any bias or personal favoritism.

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