82% of world employees say its better to give recognition than give a gift!

I have just been reading the results of a comprehensive survey into the Top 10 things a business needs to deliver to achieve sustained improvement in employee engagement.

Its a global survey, taken in 150 countries, across 1000 companies, and #1 on the list is... RECOGNITION!

65% of the employees do not feel recognised, with 72% getting recognition less than once a week. In my role, I don't expect recognition once a week, and there may be others that agree - but more than half, aren't recognised in a quarter, and 1 in 10 receive no recognition whatsoever?

Why wouldn't organisations recognise employees, when staff retention rates are 31% higher in companies that recognise their employees frequently.

Maybe there is an automatic connection in the corporate world between RECOGNITION and REWARD, and perhaps those two words should be disconnected. 82% of employees believe it better to recognise someone than to give a gift or reward.

Perhaps we should start from here. Recognising people for doing the right things, when they do them. Look at this first, and measure the benefit, then introduce reward for long term cultural change.

To be #1 on the list of 10, and yet in comparison with the other things on the list, to be so simple, there must be a way to improve these numbers.