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Summary: Thanking and recognizing employees can generate better results.
Key Take Aways:
- Employee recognition is not just a 'nice' thing to do, it is probably essential to an organization's success.
- The regular practice of gratitude is linked to happiness, and happy employees are generally more productive.
The practice of recognizing employees for their contributions can be good for a company's business results. An Oakland, California human resources organization conducted a research study showing that companies with a focus on employee recognition were twelve times more likely to create positive business outcomes. In their report they wrote that only 20% of organizations are using an effective employee recognition program.
Some of their guidelines in creating and maintaining such a program are:
- Using recognition criterion that are easy to understand and are communicated well, with buy-in from senior management.
- Employing technology for employee recognition can be effective, but face-to-face recognition is necessary as well.
(There are other related entries on their website.)
So how could expressing gratitude work for increasing business results? Some research studies have linked gratitude to happiness, and happy employees tend to be more productive.
As Tony Hsieh wrote on the Zappos blog, "In my research into the science of happiness, many studies have shown that gratitude activities (such as keeping a gratitude journal) helps people increase their overall happiness level in life. There are many ways to be thankful, and many things to be thankful for, but one technique is to make a more conscious effort to notice and appreciate the little things in life."
One research study found practicing gratitude could have an anti-depressant effect.
Image Credit: Infrogmation
