The success and growth of an organization are closely linked to the level of motivation and commitment of its employees. Hence, organizations implement a wide range of HR Policies to enhance the overall satisfaction levels of their workforce. These range from providing more flexible work schedules to improving workplace culture, and rewarding and recognizing employees. In this context, organizations need to find an answer to the question: ‘Can lack of employee recognition program hurt an organization’?

Lack of recognition in the workplace is one of the leading causes of employees quitting at unprecedented rates. Yet 83% of organizational leaders believe that employee recognition is not one of their strategic priorities.

Everyone likes to be praised or appreciated for their contributions, and when organizations use formal and informal employee recognition programs, they see a substantial change in their productivity and efficiency.

Genuine, equitable, and authentic recognition affects numerous key business parameters. Employees who are recognized are 56% less likely to look for a new job, 73% less burned out, and 44% more likely to thrive in their overall life.

Impact of Rewards and Recognition on Employee Satisfaction

Among the HR various strategies used for improving employee engagement, employee rewards and recognition is deemed to be the most effective. Here’s why:

1. Timely rewards and recognition help in improving engagement, motivation, and commitment of the employees, and driving workforce productivity and efficiency.
2. It gives employees a sense of belonging and purpose and also strengthens their commitment and loyalty toward the organization.
3. A good rewards policy impacts the workplace culture besides promoting better cooperation and coordination between members of the workforce.

Can lack of Employee Recognition Program hurt an Organization?

Despite the growing awareness about the significance of rewarding and recognizing employees for their good work and behavior, several organizations might still not have such a program.

Such organizations stand to lose more than just the dedication and loyalty of their employees and can even risk suffering a significant dip in their business growth. The most significant disadvantages for organizations lacking a good rewards program are as follows:

1. Falling Employee Retention

The wide choice of job opportunities available to employees plus the increasing competition in the job market has already made the task of attracting and retaining talented professionals quite challenging for organizations. The lack of an appropriate recognition policy makes things even more difficult for an organization.

Best-performing employees most often want their employers to acknowledge their achievements and appreciate their contribution to business growth. The inability of organizations to fulfil this basic human desire makes it extremely difficult for them to retain their best employees for a long.

2. Drop in Employee Efficiency and Productivity

When organizations fail to recognize their employees, they make them feel unvalued. Such employees start developing serious doubts about their professional performance and this, in turn, impacts their self-confidence and motivation levels significantly.

Consequently, there might be a considerable decline in their performance and efficiency over time which can impact overall productivity and business growth. Such employees might be less committed to project deadlines or even the quality of deliverables.

3. Poor Collaboration among Employees

Employee recognition plays an important role in fostering better coordination and cooperation between the members of the workforce. As the employees are appreciated for their good work and achievements, they show a greater willingness to help and support their colleagues by sharing their knowledge and skills.

However, when the employees are not recognized for their efforts and contribution, they tend to become more withdrawn and uncooperative towards the other members of the workforce. Moreover, their reluctance to complete their work in time or to address performance issues also leads to poor workplace coordination.

4. Negativity and Discord at Workplace

In most cases, the frustration felt by employees about not being given due recognition by their employers is expressed in various forms.

Employees of such organizations tend to have frequent bouts of angry outbursts targeting their co-workers, develop a tendency to pick up fights, spread discord among team members or even indulge in badmouthing the organization. These negative behaviors lead to diminished trust levels and poor social interaction at the workplace which in turn impacts workforce efficiency.

5. Drop in the Employer Brand Value

The employer brand value of an organization helps prospective candidates to make an informed decision about taking up a job opportunity with the organization. Organizations lacking an efficient and effective rewards program for their employees tend to be perceived by prospective candidates to have lower employer brand value.

In fact, many experts believe the lack of an employee recognition program can be a significant reason for organizations not being able to hire good professionals.

Organizations often believe that rewards programs are quite expensive and can cause a major dent in business profitability. However, this is not correct as effective employee rewards and recognition programs can be designed with limited resources and budget.

The lack of an employee recognition program can hurt an organization as it is one of the key HR strategies for motivating and engaging employees.

Hence, HRavailable suggests organizations that haven’t set up such programs should necessarily step in to address the gap and implement a robust employee recognition program in line with their business needs and the expectations of their workforce.

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