Too many UK employee recognition programmes are stale and out of touch

Too many UK companies aren’t making staff recognition part of their organisation’s everyday culture, leading to programmes that are stale and out of touch. These are the findings of O.C. Tanner’s 2021 Global Culture Report which surveyed 40,000 employees and leaders across the world including over 1,600 from the UK.

45 per cent of UK employees view their recognition programmes as tired and detached from what is important to the organisation. In fact, just 44 per cent feel that employee recognition is a part of their organisation’s everyday culture.

“Leaders must get better at making appreciation part and parcel of the everyday employee experience”, says Robert Ordever, Managing Director of workplace culture expert, O.C. Tanner Europe. “Disappointedly employee recognition is often poorly thought through and badly executed. Although workforces and workplaces have evolved, many recognition programmes have not, remaining stagnant, disconnected and lacking personalisation.”

The report does, however, highlight that more UK companies are recognising the value of recognition. In fact, just 30 per cent of workers say that their organisation fails to consistently reward high performers. This is a considerable improvement on 2018 figures when an incredible 68 per cent of workers stated that their company was consistently poor at rewarding high performers. In addition, 72 per cent of workers admit to regularly giving recognition to colleagues suggesting that recognising others is becoming more commonplace in the UK workplace.

The report recommends the integration of recognition into the fabric of the organisation. This requires commitment from all levels of leadership, time to develop strategic recognition practices, and patience to nurture recognition across all areas of the business. The impact of doing this are significant as organisations with integrated recognition are four times’ more likely to have highly engaged employees and twice as likely to have increased revenue within the last year. Employees suffering burnout also reduces by 44 per cent.

Ordever adds, “The main issue is that some organisations view recognition as ‘a HR thing’ rather than an integrated part of the company culture. While it remains a standalone initiative, it will quickly become outdated, impersonal and out of touch. By making recognition a living and breathing part of company culture, leaders will see a powerful impact on both their people and business results.”