Thought Leadership in Action

Employees like to be recognized for their work, but some organizations just don’t take the time to show their workers appreciation regularly or effectively. Social recognition — using apps or platforms within the company to tout achievements and wins — makes it easy and effective.

Recognizing employees has plenty of advantages when employers practice it — for example, a 2015 Harvard study found that people perform better and with less stress after being reminded of something they’ve done well in the past. “Recognition can be highly motivating, but in many organizational cultures it’s rare,” says Kim Turnage, senior co-leader at Talent Plus, a talent assessment company. “At the same time, over 80 percent of people say they would work harder for a more grateful manager. Recognition definitely increases engagement.”

Here’s how to best use social recognition at your company.

Be Specific

Employers too often provide recognition that is vague or that applies to everyone in an effort to make everyone feel good. But to make social recognition effective, it needs to go beyond a generic “good job!” or “great teamwork, everybody!” As with all feedback, social recognition has to be sincere, specific and personalized, Turnage says.

Identify who did the work and what they did to get results, and express gratitude for their effort. “For example, ‘Rachelle, the graphics you made for my recent presentation made a big difference for our client and helped us win the deal. Thank you for your great work!’ is much more impactful than simply ‘Thanks for helping with my recent presentation,’ ” Turnage says.

Get the Word Out

No matter the platform or frequency, the key to social recognition is that the display is observed by the employee’s peer group, management consultant David Kopp says. The social aspect is what makes it so valuable, he says; using apps or platforms makes it similar to other forms of social media where people “like” or “share” information about each other.

Social recognition should be used to inform a large number of people simultaneously about a person’s or team’s work, Turnage says, and platforms and apps make it easy for these messages to reach people on phones, tablets and computers. Using apps for social recognition also creates a record, which can help managers track achievements and employee performance.

Use It to Build a Culture of Recognition

The visibility of social recognition increases the effect of recognition for the individual receiving it, and helps build a culture centered around recognition, says Morgan Chaney, head of marketing at Blueboard, an experiential rewards company. Social recognition reinforces positive behaviors worthy of recognition across the company as a whole. And the more you use it, the more it strengthens recognition and performance.

"While cash bonuses, a raise in salary and other forms of external motivators can stimulate employee productivity in the short term, studies confirm that, in the longer term, employees have a stronger reaction to those aspects of intrinsic motivators found in social recognition,” Kopp says. “Because social recognition can help strengthen engagement and satisfaction, it can play a large role in any organization’s efforts to build a larger culture of recognition across the company.”