Employee recognition programs have become one of the most effective means of motivating and engaging the workforce. Measuring their success is essential for justifying their time, effort, and money investment.
An old saying states that if we cannot measure something, we cannot manage it. This saying sums up the need to measure the performance of employee recognition programs.
When done in the right manner, an employee recognition program can ensure a wide range of benefits for an organization.
These benefits include improvement in employee productivity and their commitment and dedication to the organization.
However, organizations must ensure that the program performs as expected to derive these benefits.
Organizations fail to measure the success of employee recognition programs because they are unsure of how to go about it.
So, let’s examine the most effective ways to measure the performance and success of these programs.
1. Seek Direct Feedback from Employees
2. Measure Employee Satisfaction
3. Analyze Change in Retention Rates
4. Assess Behavioral Changes
It is perhaps one of the simplest yet most effective ways to measure employee recognition performance.
Feedback from employees can help organizations gain better insights into their perception of the employee rewards and recognition program.
It also helps the organization understand what they are doing right and what needs improvement.
The organization can get feedback through employee surveys.
Another way of measuring the performance of recognition programs is to measure the before and after employee satisfaction levels.
It can happen through employee surveys.
An increase in employee satisfaction may indicate that the employee recognition program is doing well.
However, a dip or no change in satisfaction levels might reflect that the program might need changes.
Even specific questions related to employee recognition in an employee satisfaction survey can help pinpoint the areas of improvement.
These inputs can be valuable in modifying the program design and implementation to make it more effective.
A significant benefit of a successful employee recognition program is that it helps organizations improve their talent retention rates.
Thus, analyzing the changes in retention rates can also help organizations measure the success of their recognition program.
Organizations understand that there are many other factors at play when it comes to employee retention.
However, the organization must corroborate the data with input from exit interviews and other sources.
Although an intangible way of measuring the performance of an employee recognition program, it is no less compelling.
Careful assessment of behavioral changes can help organizations better understand the effectiveness of their recognition programs than most surveys.
If employees are more satisfied and happier at the workplace, it can indicate the success of recognition programs.
If the changes are negative, management should take timely action to modify the program and achieve better results.
Measuring the success of employee recognition programs is critical to assess the return on investment in them made by organizations. It also helps in taking timely action to maximize the benefits of such programs.
Lead author: Sagar Chaudhuri, the Co-Founder and CEO of HiFives. He is an HR Tech Evangelist with over 25 years of corporate and entrepreneurship experience. In the past, Sagar has worked in leadership roles with companies such as Genpact, Infosys, and ICICI Bank. He has an engineering degree from IIT Kharagpur and an MBA from IIM Lucknow. Connect on LinkedIn
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