By: Skott Schoonover, Strategy Analyst | 03/29/2021 |

According to a study by the Harvard Business Review, “There’s a strong statistical link between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction… A more satisfied workforce is clearly associated with companies’ ability to deliver better customer satisfaction — particularly in industries with the closest contact between workers and customers.” With the vast majority of our organization directly communicating with customers, the Strategic questions are: How can we create the greatest Impact with our employees? How do we recognize achievements?

Recognition comes in many forms. It can be a Spotlight on the company main page, it can be a promotion. It can even be a simple “Thank You”. Knowing what motivates someone is imperative to meaningful recognition, that’s where we have the ability to make the greatest Impact. Great leaders understand what motivates their employees and facilitate Rewards and Recognition accordingly. It has long been widely assumed that money is the greatest motivator- If you want someone to work harder, offer money as a reward for achieving output goals. In reality, there are three main motivators in the workplace: Money, Recognition / Status, and Free Time.

With Millennials now making up over 1/3 of the workplace, priorities have shifted and employers need to take notice. Gone are the days of wearing a 60-hour workweek as a badge of honor. Today’s employees value time, THEIR time, more than any generation in recent history. If you aren’t offering the option of PTO as a reward, you’re doing yourself, and your employees, a disservice. In that same vein, some employees are playing the Long Game, and know that by putting in hard work now, the money will inevitably come. They want their effort to be noticed and recognized by management. They want to build a name brand for themselves and want to feel that they are a vital contributing factor to the organization. It’s up to each of us to get to know our employees individually at a level where we know their motivating factors and to incent accordingly.

With recognition being such an important factor in employee experience, what will you do to Impact your coworkers?