The CGIUKI Awards and the Importance of Employee Recognition

It was great to see the wide array of talented goveance professionals at the 2021 CGIUKI Awards and there were likely a few sore heads the following moing as I have it on good authority that a few Company Secretaries were celebrating well into the early hours.

We are extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to share and celebrate the event and it’s obvious that everyone enjoyed a bit of positive recognition, but it got me thinking – just how important is INTEAL recognition to organisational success and employee retention? Research shows that one of the primary factors leading to people leaving their jobs is due to lack of recognition. Celebrating both team and individual accomplishments on a regular basis, both formally and informally, helps to increase morale and improve culture and cohesion and retention within the team.

On average, organisations with designated and specific recognition programmes had circa 31% lower staff tuover than those without. 53% of employees said that receiving recognition from their managers would instil loyalty and increase productivity.

Organisations with specific recognition processes are 12X more likely to experience positive business outcomes. Who would have thought that a happier team and workforce would lead to greater productivity and help drive success within teams and functions! A useful way to contextualise your recognition processes is to highlight how your team have celebrated achieving previous business goals or outcomes. Ask yourself, how did we reward/recognise each completed goal? How would I like to be recognised?

These processes often come at little cost to a business and can be as simple as sending a company-wide email recognising the efforts of someone within your team. Anecdotal evidence suggests that spending as little as 1% of payroll on employee recognition can lead to a 10-15% increase in productivity in the quarter following that recognition.

Engendering a culture of recognition will also have a positive impact when it comes to recruiting into your team. 70% of candidates will gravitate towards offers from companies where there is a positive reward and recognition culture. In a market where the top talent is being fought over, these are the important details that will influence decisions, especially from those holding multiple job offers.

Some proven rewards and recognition process include:

• A Face-to-face thank you and pat on the back (It’s free!)
• A company-wide email outlining individual or team accomplishments
• Social rewards including team drinks or a meal out
• A series of inteal company awards recognising individual accomplishments. e.g. Employee of the Quarter
• Financial rewards – Bonuses or pay rises

Looking after your staff should be a top priority with the current state of the goveance market. In a candidate driven market where companies are wrestling for top talent, the importance of retaining your current talent cannot be understated.