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Employee engagement

10 Employee Recognition Statistics Your Leaders Can't Ignore

Elle Mason
September 11, 2019
0min

Here on the Bonusly blog, we talk so much about employee recognition that we forget that not everybody spends their working hours obsessively thinking about recognition. 😅

We cite a lot of data and research in our posts, so we thought we’d compile together an article with the best and most enlightening of these statistics in the hopes that it’d be helpful to you—because honestly, it’s helpful for us to have everything in one place, too! 😂

So: would employees rather get gifts or receive praise? Does recognition from peers mean as much as when it comes from a leader? What happens exactly when an employee isn’t recognized over the course of a year?

These are questions you and your leadership team are probably asking, and we’re here to help you find the answers. With this list of the most significant recognition statistics, this article aims to demystify recognition using data from modern workplaces.

1. Research shows that happiness raises business productivity by 31%.

five-star-engagement-rating

Let’s start with this one: according to positive psychology research by Shawn Anchor, the single greatest advantage in the modern economy is a happy and engaged workforce. A decade of research proves that employee happiness raises nearly every business and educational outcome: raising sales by 37%, productivity by 31%, and accuracy on tasks by 19%, as well as a myriad of health and quality of life improvements.

Given what we know about recognition’s ability to tap into our desires for connection, belonging, and esteem, showing appreciation (and not just on employee appreciation day) is an easy way to boost happiness. And it works both ways—improving the mood of both the giver and the recipient.

2. 65% of employees haven’t received any form of recognition for good work in the last year.

Despite that last statistic showing how impactful employee recognition can be to an organization, the reality is that, well, not too many people feel very appreciated!

And when people aren’t appreciated for their great work, they’re less likely to continue their efforts.

... Relationships are crucial in business. Data from the U.S. Department of Labor show that the main reason people leave their jobs is because they don't feel appreciated.”
–Tom Rath, author of “How Full Is Your Bucket?”

It only takes a few seconds to respond to an email with praise, or tell someone that you enjoyed their presentation—but those few seconds add up over time, and can make all the difference.

3. Employees want to appreciate each other. When offered a simple tool to do so, 44% of all workers will provide peer recognition on an ongoing basis.

team-members-putting-puzzle-pieces-together

After reading those last few statistics, you’re probably feeling like you should recognize your employees. Which you should! 😉

But you don’t have to shoulder all of that weight, because you can easily benefit from employee recognition by opening up opportunities for peer-to-peer recognition.

Relying solely on supervisors to offer recognition to subordinates is outdated. In today’s increasingly global business environments, there is a growing need to enable and encourage peer-to-peer recognition tools. This decentralizes recognition and empowers all employees to recognize great work and effort.
–TINYpulse

Peer relationships in the workplace are important, and any opportunity you give your team members to recognize each other only contributes to a more positive company culture and bottom line.

4. Peer-to-peer recognition is powerful—it’s nearly 36% more likely to have a positive impact on financial results than manager-only recognition.

In fact, you should be creating these opportunities for your team members to appreciate one another, because peer-to-peer employee relationships have a significant positive impact on an organization’s success.

Many people tend to think of leader-to-employee recognition as the only valid form, as we tend to link it to future rewards and advancement. As it turns out, recognition from our peers is just as validating—if not even more powerful!

Peer-to-peer recognition is a more authentic approach to recognizing an employee’s achievement. It not only motivates employees, but it also builds a culture of support, collaboration, and achievement.

When peer recognition is encouraged, employee engagement levels rise—which then lead to increased employee retention, productivity, and quality of customer service. These are all factors that positively influence a company’s financials.

5. "Receiving gifts" and "words of affirmation" are modern employees' favorite ways to be recognized.

If you’re familiar with “The Five Love Languages,” then you already know that people have different preferences for how they best receive love, affirmation, and appreciation.

Bonusly applied that same idea to how people prefer to be appreciated in the workplace in the Bridging the Appreciation Gap study to see exactly what people want! As it turns out, it’s mostly receiving gifts and words of affirmation, but there are definitely other methods as well—be sure to check out this article for the full details! The good news is, if you’ve been waiting to start recognizing people until it’s in the budget, you don’t have to delay any longer—there are other forms of recognition that are just as well-received.

6. 70% of employees say that motivation and morale would improve “massively” with managers saying thank you more.

mega-phone-saying-wow

There’s a disconnect here between employees and supervisors—34% of senior decision-makers report that they don’t think regular recognition and thanking employees at work has a big influence on staff retention. This flies in the face of the 70% of employees who say that motivation and morale would improve with appreciation from managers.

🙈

Plus, the same survey revealed that 85% of employees think managers and leaders should spot good work and give praise in the moment, and 81% think this should happen on a continuous, year-round basis.

This is a great opportunity to start a new habit! 😉

7. Employees who don’t feel recognized are twice as likely to quit in a year.

This one doesn’t need much explanation. If an employee isn’t being appreciated for the hard work they do, they’ll probably leave the company. 😬

As Gallup points out, “this element of engagement and performance might be one of the greatest missed opportunities for leaders and managers.”

Now scroll back up to #5, and remember that simply saying “thanks!” can make a big difference at your organization.

8. 86% of Highly Engaged employees were recognized the last time they went above and beyond at work compared to only 31% of Actively Disengaged employees.

man-on-ladder-placing-star

Failing to be appreciated for the day-to-day movements we all make to keep things running can be frustrating enough, so, imagine how much worse it feels to exert more effort than usual, only to have it be ignored!

With only 29% of workers feeling engaged, as surveyed in Bonusly Employee Engagement and Modern Workplace Report, leaders should be certain to recognize people going above and beyond the call of duty—particularly if they’d like to encourage similar and sustained performance.

9. In a survey about dream rewards for reaching a milestone, respondents strongly preferred a gift card (44%) followed by a paid trip with teammates (41%).

You’ve worked hard, now you get to pick out a dream reward. Here are your options:

  1. An all expenses paid trip somewhere tropical with your teammates
  2. A $600 gift card to the store or company of your choice
  3. Dinner at a Michelin Star restaurant with the CEO of your company
  4. A dedicated intern for 2 months

Which would you pick? More importantly, which one would your employees pick? In Bonusly's Bridging the Appreciation Gap report, most workers preferred a gift card, closely followed by a paid trip with team members.

Here’s the more important question: Which one would your employees pick?

This just goes to show that preferences really matter when you’re showing appreciation. Make sure you know what your team likes, and make your rewards unique to each person. With Bonusly, recognized recipients can redeem their points for gift cards of their choice—and if they want a gift card to take that trip with their team members? They can do that too, with hotel, flight, and experiential gift cards. 🌴😎

10. While 71% of highly engaged organizations recognize employees for a job well done, the same is true for only 41% of less engaged organizations.

happy-team-members

Clearly, employee recognition and employee engagement go hand-in-hand.

There are clear distinctions between the climate and performance at highly-engaged organizations compared to their low-engaged peers—and the State of Employee Engagement from Bonusly and HR.com shows that recognition is one of the behaviors that makes a big difference.

How can you recognize someone today?

Given what we know about recognition in the workplace and its impact on a company’s bottom-line and wellbeing, it’s crucial to build the habit of appreciating others. For a turn-key recognition platform, we invite you to take a tour of Bonusly.

If you want to take action now, you have the tools to start, whether it’s picking one idea from a list each month to try or launching a new company-wide intervention. Here's a good place to start:

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Here on the Bonusly blog, we talk so much about employee recognition that we forget that not everybody spends their working hours obsessively thinking about recognition. 😅

We cite a lot of data and research in our posts, so we thought we’d compile together an article with the best and most enlightening of these statistics in the hopes that it’d be helpful to you—because honestly, it’s helpful for us to have everything in one place, too! 😂

So: would employees rather get gifts or receive praise? Does recognition from peers mean as much as when it comes from a leader? What happens exactly when an employee isn’t recognized over the course of a year?

These are questions you and your leadership team are probably asking, and we’re here to help you find the answers. With this list of the most significant recognition statistics, this article aims to demystify recognition using data from modern workplaces.

1. Research shows that happiness raises business productivity by 31%.

five-star-engagement-rating

Let’s start with this one: according to positive psychology research by Shawn Anchor, the single greatest advantage in the modern economy is a happy and engaged workforce. A decade of research proves that employee happiness raises nearly every business and educational outcome: raising sales by 37%, productivity by 31%, and accuracy on tasks by 19%, as well as a myriad of health and quality of life improvements.

Given what we know about recognition’s ability to tap into our desires for connection, belonging, and esteem, showing appreciation (and not just on employee appreciation day) is an easy way to boost happiness. And it works both ways—improving the mood of both the giver and the recipient.

2. 65% of employees haven’t received any form of recognition for good work in the last year.

Despite that last statistic showing how impactful employee recognition can be to an organization, the reality is that, well, not too many people feel very appreciated!

And when people aren’t appreciated for their great work, they’re less likely to continue their efforts.

... Relationships are crucial in business. Data from the U.S. Department of Labor show that the main reason people leave their jobs is because they don't feel appreciated.”
–Tom Rath, author of “How Full Is Your Bucket?”

It only takes a few seconds to respond to an email with praise, or tell someone that you enjoyed their presentation—but those few seconds add up over time, and can make all the difference.

3. Employees want to appreciate each other. When offered a simple tool to do so, 44% of all workers will provide peer recognition on an ongoing basis.

team-members-putting-puzzle-pieces-together

After reading those last few statistics, you’re probably feeling like you should recognize your employees. Which you should! 😉

But you don’t have to shoulder all of that weight, because you can easily benefit from employee recognition by opening up opportunities for peer-to-peer recognition.

Relying solely on supervisors to offer recognition to subordinates is outdated. In today’s increasingly global business environments, there is a growing need to enable and encourage peer-to-peer recognition tools. This decentralizes recognition and empowers all employees to recognize great work and effort.
–TINYpulse

Peer relationships in the workplace are important, and any opportunity you give your team members to recognize each other only contributes to a more positive company culture and bottom line.

4. Peer-to-peer recognition is powerful—it’s nearly 36% more likely to have a positive impact on financial results than manager-only recognition.

In fact, you should be creating these opportunities for your team members to appreciate one another, because peer-to-peer employee relationships have a significant positive impact on an organization’s success.

Many people tend to think of leader-to-employee recognition as the only valid form, as we tend to link it to future rewards and advancement. As it turns out, recognition from our peers is just as validating—if not even more powerful!

Peer-to-peer recognition is a more authentic approach to recognizing an employee’s achievement. It not only motivates employees, but it also builds a culture of support, collaboration, and achievement.

When peer recognition is encouraged, employee engagement levels rise—which then lead to increased employee retention, productivity, and quality of customer service. These are all factors that positively influence a company’s financials.

5. "Receiving gifts" and "words of affirmation" are modern employees' favorite ways to be recognized.

If you’re familiar with “The Five Love Languages,” then you already know that people have different preferences for how they best receive love, affirmation, and appreciation.

Bonusly applied that same idea to how people prefer to be appreciated in the workplace in the Bridging the Appreciation Gap study to see exactly what people want! As it turns out, it’s mostly receiving gifts and words of affirmation, but there are definitely other methods as well—be sure to check out this article for the full details! The good news is, if you’ve been waiting to start recognizing people until it’s in the budget, you don’t have to delay any longer—there are other forms of recognition that are just as well-received.

6. 70% of employees say that motivation and morale would improve “massively” with managers saying thank you more.

mega-phone-saying-wow

There’s a disconnect here between employees and supervisors—34% of senior decision-makers report that they don’t think regular recognition and thanking employees at work has a big influence on staff retention. This flies in the face of the 70% of employees who say that motivation and morale would improve with appreciation from managers.

🙈

Plus, the same survey revealed that 85% of employees think managers and leaders should spot good work and give praise in the moment, and 81% think this should happen on a continuous, year-round basis.

This is a great opportunity to start a new habit! 😉

7. Employees who don’t feel recognized are twice as likely to quit in a year.

This one doesn’t need much explanation. If an employee isn’t being appreciated for the hard work they do, they’ll probably leave the company. 😬

As Gallup points out, “this element of engagement and performance might be one of the greatest missed opportunities for leaders and managers.”

Now scroll back up to #5, and remember that simply saying “thanks!” can make a big difference at your organization.

8. 86% of Highly Engaged employees were recognized the last time they went above and beyond at work compared to only 31% of Actively Disengaged employees.

man-on-ladder-placing-star

Failing to be appreciated for the day-to-day movements we all make to keep things running can be frustrating enough, so, imagine how much worse it feels to exert more effort than usual, only to have it be ignored!

With only 29% of workers feeling engaged, as surveyed in Bonusly Employee Engagement and Modern Workplace Report, leaders should be certain to recognize people going above and beyond the call of duty—particularly if they’d like to encourage similar and sustained performance.

9. In a survey about dream rewards for reaching a milestone, respondents strongly preferred a gift card (44%) followed by a paid trip with teammates (41%).

You’ve worked hard, now you get to pick out a dream reward. Here are your options:

  1. An all expenses paid trip somewhere tropical with your teammates
  2. A $600 gift card to the store or company of your choice
  3. Dinner at a Michelin Star restaurant with the CEO of your company
  4. A dedicated intern for 2 months

Which would you pick? More importantly, which one would your employees pick? In Bonusly's Bridging the Appreciation Gap report, most workers preferred a gift card, closely followed by a paid trip with team members.

Here’s the more important question: Which one would your employees pick?

This just goes to show that preferences really matter when you’re showing appreciation. Make sure you know what your team likes, and make your rewards unique to each person. With Bonusly, recognized recipients can redeem their points for gift cards of their choice—and if they want a gift card to take that trip with their team members? They can do that too, with hotel, flight, and experiential gift cards. 🌴😎

10. While 71% of highly engaged organizations recognize employees for a job well done, the same is true for only 41% of less engaged organizations.

happy-team-members

Clearly, employee recognition and employee engagement go hand-in-hand.

There are clear distinctions between the climate and performance at highly-engaged organizations compared to their low-engaged peers—and the State of Employee Engagement from Bonusly and HR.com shows that recognition is one of the behaviors that makes a big difference.

How can you recognize someone today?

Given what we know about recognition in the workplace and its impact on a company’s bottom-line and wellbeing, it’s crucial to build the habit of appreciating others. For a turn-key recognition platform, we invite you to take a tour of Bonusly.

If you want to take action now, you have the tools to start, whether it’s picking one idea from a list each month to try or launching a new company-wide intervention. Here's a good place to start:

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The new and improved Rewards page allows companies to highlight their company culture and users to express their unique personalities through a customized reward experience. Bonsuly’s robust reward catalog meets employees wherever they work with 1,200+ rewards in 200+ countries. With reward information at their fingertips, and a WCAG AA accessibility supported  interface, employees can spend less time redeeming rewards and more time enjoying them. 

Let’s take a look at what’s on the menu!

Streamlined shopping experience

The new rewards experience matches familiar online shopping patterns and pages load faster than ever before for a stellar shopping experience. Redeeming a reward is as simple as 1, 2, 3:

  1. When a user navigates to the rewards page, they’ll immediately see how many points they have available to spend with a prominent redeemable point balance. 
  1. With their balance in mind, they can browse the updated reward categories to easily find the right reward for them. 
  1. Once they select their desired reward, they’ll be met with a brand detail page highlighting key information they need to confidently claim their reward. After claiming the reward, it’s ready to be redeemed with the selected brand.

Rewards for everyone

Bonusly’s reward experience is WCAG AA approved and meets the needs of global customers with robust translation capabilities and rewards in 200+ countries. We’re meeting our customers wherever they work with additional content translations supported and purchasing power parity abilities. It’s the rewarding experience heard around the world. 🌎

Built with your employees in mind

Every employee has a unique reward personality. There are the repeat redeemers; employees redeeming from the same reward month after month. The situational shoppers; employees cashing out rewards to line up with life events. The spontaneous purchasers; employees who like to try a new reward every time.

Lucky for our users, Bonusly’s reward refresh is customized to meet the unique needs of employees and companies alike. Now, everyone can quickly find rewards they might like or re-order their favorites. At the company level, admins have the ability to add custom rewards or donations central to their culture. We’ve also made it much easier to represent your company in style with automated swag fulfillment through AXOMO. Last, but not least, we highlighted "Points Boost" on the rewards page to increase peer-to-peer recognition while keeping recognition budgets in check. 

The bottom line: employers reward the way they want, and employees are rewarded the way they want. 

As if this update wasn’t enough, we’re just getting started! Keep an eye on this blog post to be the first to find out about additional reward enhancements. We hope you and your employees enjoy a more seamless, fun, and accessible rewards experience. Ready to share the news? Our one pager can help. Happy rewarding!

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Are employee engagement surveys the be-all and end-all to understanding employee sentiment? 🤔

Though surveys can be a good first step to assess the state of the organization, they need to be supplemented with rich, real-time people analytics in order to be meaningful, trustworthy, and actionable. Let's take a look at the challenges with traditional engagement surveys and how rich people analytics can help fill in the gaps. 📈

The issue with traditional engagement surveys

Surveys without action can create mistrust among employees. If you're willing to ask employees questions, you should be ready to respond to feedback, and quickly. When survey data is mishandled, mistrust among employees increases. Additionally, employees don’t trust that survey results are truly anonymous and fear retribution for unfavorable opinions about the company. That’s why surveys should be supplemented with reliable, real-time people analytics.  

Beyond mistrust, surveys often offer temporary solutions to long term problems. HR teams frequently scramble to offer quick fixes to the issues they see in their survey results, when what they need to focus on is implementing permanent solutions. That’s the problem with receiving engagement data all at once instead of regularly, in real-time. Enter Bonusly analytics! Bonusly allows you to understand and react to employee sentiment in real time with powerful people analytics. 

How to use Bonusly to supplement survey data

As Walden University puts it, “Surveys provide a snapshot of the moment that’s already passed.” By the time you collect, analyze and take action on survey results it can be too late to move the needle on employee engagement and retention. In addition to employee surveys, it’s essential to monitor real-time people analytics to act on important peoples decisions quickly. 


Zero in on problem areas

Identify engagement issues in real-time and quickly understand which parts of your organization need your attention. With Compare Rates analytics, you can consistently compare recognition rates across teams and identify teams that are giving and receiving recognition at a rate below your company’s average. You can make recommendations to boost recognition rates by implementing award programs, encouraging managers to recognize their direct reports, and connecting your Bonusly instance to your preferred chat tool to boost visibility of recognition and encourage add-ons. 

Establish benchmarks

Before and after you take action based on survey results, benchmark your company’s current level of engagement with Bonusly. Having quantitative data to improve upon can be a great way to set tangible goals for long term improvement. 

Measure adoption of core values

You can use hashtag analytics to regularly measure the adoption of your company values. Understand if there are values that have trended down that may need programming support from the HR team. Were there key events that can be tied to those declines? Regularly reviewing changes in hashtag analytics allows Bonusly customers to proactively implement changes instead of reacting to survey results. 

Incentivize survey responses

A key issue with employee engagement surveys is that they’re hard to get employees to respond to given the time commitment. Low response rates lead to inadequate sample sizes which makes meaningful organizational change a challenge. Using Bonusly’s awards, HR teams can incentivize participation in the engagement survey to ensure they have sufficient results to work with. 

Next up, let's look at how you can use Bonusly data to make employee survey results actionable. 

How to use Bonusly to take action on survey results

Bonusly’s robust people analytics are essential to supplementing survey data.  Here are four ways you can use Bonusly analytics to ensure survey results don't collect dust on your HR team's desk:

Survey says: low engagement scores

Bonusly helps build a culture of appreciation and many of our customers have seen their eNPS scores go up as a result of implementing Bonusly. Both Andiamo and Nexthink were able to increase their eNPS scores significantly after implementing Bonusly. 👏

Survey says: lack of DEI education

If you get feedback about a lack of DEI education in the company, start to incentivize educational behaviors like training, courses, and focus groups happening at your organization. Using Bonusly’s award functionality helps increase employees' personal initiative to take part in important learning opportunities and empowers everyone to influence company culture in a meaningfully positive way. 

Survey says: retention is an issue

Often, employees flag retention as an improvement area in engagement surveys. Implementing an employee recognition program has a powerful impact on retention. In fact, 48% of Bonusly customers saw an improvement in employee retention after implementing Bonusly. With Bonusly's help, our customers at Pender Veterinary saw their attrition rate stay flat during the Great Resignation.

Survey says: employees are disconnected

Often, HR teams get survey feedback about a lack of connection between employees, teams, and departments. Bonusly can help! Over ⅔ of Bonusly customers reported an improvement in employee connection after implementing Bonusly.  

We've only scratched the surface on what Bonusly's powerful people analytics can do for your company. Want to learn more? Schedule an employee recognition demo. 

 

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Too much employee  appreciation is a good problem to have, but it can be overwhelming to keep track of every piece of recognition flowing through your organization.

To help you and your team stay up to date on recognition that matters most to you, we’ve launched Custom Feeds. Custom Feeds allow Bonusly users to save feeds to their homepage for specific locations, teams, or departments. Everyone has the freedom to decide which feeds they want to see and the flexibility to quickly change them at any time. With easily adjustable views, users can zoom in on relevant recognition without losing sight of the organization as a whole. 

What can the update do? 

With Custom Feeds, you can view only the recognition you need to see, when you need to see it. Then, when you’re done looking at a specific slice of your organization, you can quickly toggle back to seeing organization-wide recognition. With Custom Feeds you can: 

  • Create and save new feeds based on teams, departments, and locations
  • Keep tabs on several streams of recognition at once
  • Add and remove feeds easily and as often as needed

What can the update do for you? 

Teams aren’t static, Bonusly’s new Custom Feeds aren’t either. New Custom Feeds support large, international teams like never before all while saving managers and leaders valuable time. 

Support companies with multiple office locations

For companies with multiple offices and locations, Custom Feeds allow you to easily follow recognition posts from your location, helping you keep tabs on the team you interact with most throughout your workday, without losing sight of what’s happening company-wide. 

Support large and scaling businesses

If you’re working at a large or scaling business,  you can use Custom Feeds to create visible feeds of the most relevant teams, departments, and locations. Then, when you’re done zooming in on specific teams, you can quickly return to viewing the organization as a whole. 

Keep track of the team’s key milestones

Gone are the days of missing important work milestones like birthdays and anniversaries. With Custom Feeds, you can view recognition by teams or departments to keep track of recognition and interactions flowing between the people you work with most. 

Quickly change your perspective

Custom Feeds saves you time and makes catching up on and engaging with relevant recognition simple. Need to switch up your feed view to get some new perspective? You can change your recognition view in a matter of seconds by adding feeds to your homepage. You can set them and forget them, or make changes as often as you’d like. 

What’s next? 

Custom Feeds are now available to all new and existing Bonusly customers.  🎉 If you’re new to Bonusly and want to see Custom Feeds in action, request a product demo or take an interactive tour of Bonusly. 

Employee engagement