read the full article from Journal of Compensation and ... - Hay Group

REWARDS STRATEGY AND PRACTICE 

High Value, Low Cost and Often 

Forgotten: 

Why Recognition Deserves a Fresh 

Look 

Rachel O'Connor, Joe Schmidt, Tracy Bosch, Mark Royal * 

It is the CEO's dream, and 

HR's dream too—a low-cost 

tool that increases alignment, 

engagement, and performance, 

all of which are proven to drive 

business results. The tool in 

question is recognition, and 

most of us are not giving it its 

due. 

Recognition is about seeing 

and acknowledging the contributions 

of employees and 

teams, in ways that best suit 

the situation and the person. It 

is in eect a form of positive 

feedback. Done right, it sends a 

loud and clear message to employees 

that they are valued, 

that the organization notices 

when they go beyond what is 

expected, and that work is most 

meaningful when there is alignment 

between individual behaviors, 

business priorities, and 

organizational values. 

But how often do we do it 

right? Recognition is commonly 

put in functional silos in organi- 

* RACHEL O'CONNOR is a Senior Consultant at Hay Group, specializing in reward strategies, performance management, 

strategic talent management, leadership and engagement. She works with organizations to create alignment and motivation at all 

levels through effective organizational design, rewards and leadership practices. She is based in our Vancouver office. Rachel 

holds an MEng in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Carleton University and an MBA from the University of Washington. 

JOE SCHMIDT is an Associate Consultant in the Vancouver office of Hay Group. He helps organizations work by designing 

and implementing human resources solutions. He is a generalist, supporting projects that span a full-range of Hay Group services 

and solutions. In addition to his skills in organizational development he brings expertise in research and analysis. Joe holds 

a PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Calgary and a BA in Psychology from the University of 

Calgary. 

TRACY BOSCH is a Principal in Hay Group's Reward practice. In her 14 years as a business advisor she has helped 

large, small and growing organizations in both the private and public sector to get more value from their human resource 

processes. Her work goes beyond the Reward practice into areas including leadership, organizational design, talent management 

and performance management. She is recognized for her ability to design pragmatic, tailored solutions that fit a client's real 

needs. Tracy holds a BComm in International Business from the University of British Columbia. 

MARK ROYAL is a Senior Consultant within Hay Group Insight, Hay Group's employee research division. He also plays a 

leading role in directing Hay Group's annual research with Fortune magazine to identify the World's Most Admired Companies 

and uncover the business practices that make these companies highly regarded and highly successful. Mark holds PhD and MA 

degrees in sociology from Stanford University and a BA in sociology from Yale University. 

Journal of Compensation and Benets E September/October 2010 

© 2010 Thomson Reuters 

11

zations—assigned a place in 

Total Rewards, engagement, 

training and development, or 

performance management— 

rather than considered holistically, 

across the business. It is 

often treated as a program or a 

task rather than as part of the 

organization's DNA or culture. It 

often takes the form of tokens 

and forced processes that are 

not strategically aligned with the 

business. 

In practice, few organizations 

have recognition initiatives that 

are ring on all cylinders. Recognition 

is truly eective when 

it is: 

E Meaningful and tailored to 

the recipients 

E Aligned with and reinforcing 

the strategy, goals and 

values of the organization 

E Well-delivered, sending 

the intended message 

In workplaces we use the 

term recognition quite loosely, 

referring to anything from 

length-of-service awards to 

pats on the back to bonus 

programs. In this article, our 

emphasis is on recognition with 

a low price tag, which would 

include both non-nancial recognition 

and small spot or token 

awards. We share insights from 

current research that illuminate 

the role of recognition in engagement, 

alignment, and the 

employee value proposition, and 

Journal of Compensation and Benets 

we provide a framework and 

tools for getting recognition to 

work for you. 

Recognition should not be 

considered just a warm-andfuzzy 

HR initiative. There is a 

real business case and economic 

value to be derived from 

eective recognition programs. 

Most of us know intuitively the 

importance of recognition and 

the positive impact that wellcrafted 

recognition has on our 

commitment and motivation. 

The research bears this out and 

draws a picture of a valuable 

and cost-eective tool, with 

non-nancial recognition outpacing 

even nancial incentives 

for driving job performance and 

engagement. 

RECOGNITION AS A DRIVER 

OF ENGAGEMENT AND 

RETENTION 



12 

To keep and motivate their 

talent, many organizations are 

focusing attention on increasing 

levels of employee engagement. 

Engagement refers to the commitment 

employees feel toward 

the organization (e.g., their willingness 

to recommend it to 

friends and family, their pride in 

working for it and their intentions 

to remain a part of it). But 

it's also about employees' discretionary 

eort—their willingness 

to go the extra mile for the 

organization. Right now, as organizations 

need to do more 

with less and strive for greater 

eciency, tapping into the discretionary 

eort of employees 

is all the more essential. And, in 

the rapidly changing environments 

most companies now 

face, where roles and responsibilities 

are continually evolving, 

organizations must count on 

employees to act on their own 

in ways consistent with organizational 

cultures, objectives, 

and values. 

Numerous studies have suggested 

that non-monetary rewards 

and recognition are very 

important motivators—sometimes 

more important nancial 

rewards. A meta-study that 

reviewed and synthesized results 

from nearly all of the research 

conducted on nancial 

and non-nancial rewards over 

a 20 year period found that the 

combination of performance 

feedback and recognition had 

substantially stronger eects on 

improving job performance than 

nancial rewards alone. 1 

It's not that money doesn't 

matter. It's just that money 

tends to be a “deciency need.” 

If employees feel that they are 

signicantly underpaid—that 

their pay does not reect their 

contributions to the organization—their 

motivation is likely to 

suer. But when it comes to 

encouraging employees to pour 

discretionary eort into their 

work and delivering superior 

performance, the chance to 

make a dierence and be recognized 

for it is likely to provide

a much stronger incentive. As 

Harvard Business School professor 

Rosabeth Moss Kanter 

puts it: “Compensation is a 

right. Recognition is a gift.” 

The fact that patting employees' 

backs may be a more effective 

form of positive motivation 

than padding their wallets 

is very good news for companies, 

especially in a challenging 

economy when nancial resources 

are stretched to the 

limit. For unlike compensation, 

recognition is cheap. Indeed, 

often it's free. Hay Group employee 

opinion norms suggest, 

however, that too few organizations 

are leveraging the motivational 

power of non-monetary 

rewards. Only 57% of nonmanagement 

employees, and 

just 63% of managers, report 

that their contributions are typically 

recognized when they perform 

well. 

Indeed, in engagementrelated 

research Hay Group 

conducted in partnership with 

WorldatWork and Loyola University 

Chicago in 2010, fewer 

than 40% of reward professionals 

surveyed rated non-nancial 

recognition as having a “high” 

or “very high” impact on employee 

engagement levels. 

These results would seem to 

Rewards Strategy and Practice 

conrm a gap between the motivational 

potential of recognition 

programs and current 

practice. 

As our world of work continues 

to evolve, recognition will 

only become more important. In 

tough economic times, when an 

organization's nancial resources 

are constrained, a focus 

on non-nancial recognition 

is even more essential. As we 

turn a spotlight on generational 

dierences in the workplace, 

recognition shows up as a priority 

in the employee value 

proposition. In fact, Hay Group's 

employee engagement research 

has shown that respect and 

recognition are extremely important 

components of the employment 

value proposition for 

younger employees. Respect 

and recognition ranks as the 

rst and second most important 

driver of engagement for Millennials 

and Generation X, 

respectively. Scottrade recognizes 

the importance of recognition 

for younger workers. As 

Jane Wulf, executive director of 

human resources, notes, “they 

grew up with bumper stickers 

on their cars saying, ‘My child 

is an honor student.’ They grew 

up in an era where everyone 

won a trophy.” 2 

Now more than ever, recognition 

is important. It quite simply 

gets the job done. So how 

do you make it work for you? 

A FRAMEWORK FOR 

RECOGNITION PROGRAM 

DESIGN 

We nd that when organizations 

are designing recognition 

programs, the conversation often 

begins and ends with what 

the program will look like and 

how it will work, rather than 

why it exists and what results it 

is intended to achieve. For example, 

organizations will decide 

to create a length of service 

recognition program and focus 

on milestones, sizes of gifts, 

and other details, instead of 

beginning with a discussion of 

how such a program returns 

value to the organization and 

employees and what strategic 

drivers might inuence design. 

The framework outlined below 

illustrates an approach to 

mindful and strategic recognition 

program development. In 

practice, the design process 

does not need to be any heavier 

or more complex, but the approach 

going in needs to focus 

on how to achieve a good return 

on the nancial and emotional 

investment in recognition. 



13


Rewards, whether tangible or 

intangible, are a tool for increasing 

organizational eectiveness. 

The employment relationship 

involves an exchange of organizational 

inducements for employee 

contributions. A well 

designed program focuses 

those inducements to attract 

and retain the talent the organization 

requires and motivate 

employees to act in ways consistent 

with business objectives. 

Accordingly, your recognition 

approach should be designed 

to balance the needs of the organization 

and the needs of 

employees. 

BEGINNING WITH STRATEGY 

AND ENDING WITH RESULTS 

It should go without saying 

that any investment of an organization's 

resources should be 

done with an eye to the strategy, 

goals, culture, and values 

of the organization. As discussed 

above, recognition program 

design or review should 

begin with an understanding of 

what the program is intended to 

support. Often the intermediary 

between the business strategy 

of the organization and the strategic 

objectives of a specic 

program area, such as recognition, 

is a human capital strategy 

that looks holistically at the 

programs that will ensure the 

organization has the talent, systems, 

and resources required 



14 

to achieve its overall business 

strategy. 

Positioning recognition within 

a human capital strategy, as 

opposed to a more narrow reward 

strategy, makes us better 

able to deliver the business 

benets of recognition. When 

done well, recognition is a form 

of feedback that tells us we are 

doing something that is contributing 

to the organization's 

success. Recognition communicates 

messages about the contributions 

that are expected and 

valued by the organization. 

From this perspective, recognition 

is a key tool for aligning 

employees with team and organizational 

goals. It takes place, 

both formally and informally, in 

the context of performance

management and day-to-day 

coaching and leadership. When 

we integrate recognition with 

performance management and 

leadership programs, it puts the 

organization in a better position 

to deliver the value of recognition 

to both the employee and 

the employer. 

The nal key element of the 

recognition framework relates 

to the results you expect to 

see—the ultimate output of 

strategy execution. To assess 

the ROI of strategic initiatives, 

including human capital strategies, 

it is necessary to document 

how the program will deliver 

value at the beginning of 

the design process. For larger 

investments, this might include 

identifying measures of success 

and implementing processes to 

track those measures. Between 

the design and the results you 

will need to consider implementation 

as well—how to make the 

change happen and the results 

real. 

CONSIDERING THE NEEDS 

OF THE EMPLOYEE AND THE 

NEEDS OF THE 

ORGANIZATION 

As we work through our 

framework, we next need to 

consider how to optimize our 

program design and execution 

to align with the needs of employees 

and the organization. 

For employees, it needs to be 

more than a one-o program. It 

needs to be meaningful. For the 


employer, recognition programs 

should deliver real business 

benet. They should motivate 

discretionary eort and performance 

that is aligned with organizational 

goals. 

The social contract between 

employers and employees is 

changing. Employee expectations 

extend beyond nancial 

rewards into important intangibles 

such as professional 

development, career progression, 

work-life balance, and the 

opportunity to contribute to 

something larger than 

themselves. Recognition needs 

to t into that wider social contract 

and form part of that employee 

value proposition that 

delineates what an organization 

can oer to its people. 

Aside from generational differences, 

we know that what 

motivates people intrinsically 

can vary widely. Managers face 

signicant challenges trying to 

understand what makes employees 

tick in order to recognize 

employees appropriately. 

The social motive framework, 

as popularized by renowned 

psychologist David McClelland, 

is a straightforward tool that 

managers can use to identify 

the types of recognition that different 

employees nd 

motivating. 3 There are three basic 

social motives: 

1. Need for Achievement (the 

motivation to master 



15 

tasks, achieve high standards 

of performance, and 

outperform others); 

2. Need for Power (the motivation 

to inuence others, 

shape the environment, 

and eect social change); 

and 

3. Need for Aliation (the 

motivation to belong and 

feel accepted in a social 

group). 

Any one of these social motives 

can inuence a person's 

behavior in a given situation, 

and most of us have some element 

of each. However, individuals 

frequently have a dominant 

motive. Astute managers 

can gain a good understanding 

of their direct reports' dominant 

motives and provide recognition 

accordingly. 

For example, recognition in 

the form of status and challenging 

assignments can be an effective 

motivator for those high 

in Need for Achievement: a public 

thank-you, preferred parking, 

employee of the month 

programs, individual performance 

ratings or the opportunity 

to work on a special 

project. For others, this type of 

public recognition can be 

demotivational. Team lunches, 

team measures of achievement, 

and heart-felt thank you cards 

will motivate employees high in 

Need for Aliation, but those 

forms of recognition can be an


annoyance to employees with a 

high Power motive. These employees 

likely need to be recognized 

with opportunities to 

implement a new project, lead a 

team, measure the impact of 

their work outside the organization, 

or network with senior 

management. Although people 

are extremely complex and employee 

behavior cannot be easily 

cast into three broad categories, 

managers who hone 

their skills at identifying employees' 

dominant motive proles 

will be much more eective at 

providing powerful and engaging 

recognition. 

MAXIMIZING RECOGNITION 

ROI IN PRACTICE 

The evidence supports recognition 

as an important driver 

of engagement, retention, and 

business performance, but what 

does this look like in practice? 

How do we foster a culture of 

recognition throughout the organization, 

while simultaneously 

enabling managers to help employees 

feel valued and motivated 

to provide discretionary 

eort? In this section we will 

discuss four key factors of effective 

recognition practices. 

These factors are: 

1. Understanding recognition 

outcomes; 

2. Using multiple levels of interaction; 

3. Creating a culture of recognition; 

and 

4. Delivering eective recognition—the 

PRAISE model. 

We will conclude by outlining 

specic recognition practices 

that, with very little nancial 

investment, can produce substantial 

returns in employee 

performance and commitment. 

DIFFERENT TYPES OF 

RECOGNITION PRODUCE 

DIFFERENT OUTCOMES 

Understanding that recognition 

is a powerful, but often 

ineectively applied, motivator 

is an important rst step. For 

recognition eorts to be truly 

engaging, however, managers 

must align their recognition 

practices with the outcomes 

they hope to achieve. Tables 1 

and 2 organize dierent recognition 

practices according to 

their association with four important 

outcomes, as well as by 

dierent levels of interaction. 4 

Table 1. Outcomes of Recognition 

Valuing People and 

Groups 

Outcomes, E Foster teamwork 

value and and employees' 

role 

sense of belonging to 

group or organization 

E Show interest in 

the person for themselves, 

not just their 

work 

E Can contribute to 

engagement and also 

values alignment in 

particular; less of a 

direct link to driving 

results 

Reinforcing Actions 

and Practices 

E Positively reinforce 

employee development, 

problem-solving, 

good process and 

practices, innovation 

E Reinforces the values 

and culture of the 

organization as well 

as the ways of getting 

work done; indirect 

link to results 

Crediting Eort 

and Commitment 

E Shows awareness 

of an appreciation 

for dedication, 

eort, drive 

and loyalty 

E Contributes to 

dedication, engagement, 

retention and 

sustained eort and 

motivation 

Applauding Peformance 

and Results 

Highlights achievements, 

work product 

and results 

E Enhances performance, 

maintaining 

focus on results and 

contributing strongly to 

alignment and drive 

The rst outcome is about 

fostering teamwork and employees' 

sense of belonging to 

the group or organization. This 

is an ethical aspect of recognition—valuing 

employees as individuals 

because it is the right 

thing to do—and it can have 

important eects on organizational 

commitment. Extensive 

research has indicated that employees 

are less likely to leave 



16

the organization if they feel they 

have been treated fairly 5 and if 

they feel attached to the team 

or organization. 6 Examples of 

recognition associated with 

teamwork and belongingness 

include: 

E Organizing social gatherings 

for employees 

E Management providing 

coaching and feedback for 

employee development 

E Recognizing important life 

events (birthdays, completing 

a training course, 

etc.) 

The second outcome category 

relates to employee development, 

problem-solving, and 

innovation. Focusing on recognition 

practices associated with 

these outcomes is important for 

organizations looking to alter 

their strategic direction or to 

develop innovative products 

and work processes. This type 

of recognition may occur after 

employees have identied quality 

improvements, demonstrated 

creative thinking, or obtained 

skills aligned with the organization's 

new strategic direction. 

Some examples include: 

E Highlighting innovation and 

creative thinking at team 

meetings 

E Providing assignments to 

special process improvement 

projects 


E Implementing professional 

practice or innovation 

award programs 

Job dedication and organizational 

commitment are outcomes 

relating to the third recognition 

practice category. This 

type of recognition is provided 

after employees have demonstrated 

considerable eort during 

a demanding period or remained 

positive and supportive 

in a time of organizational 

change. These recognition 

practices may alleviate job 

burnout and further enhance 

organizational commitment as 

employees perceive that their 

eorts were valued. Some examples 

of recognition associated 

with this outcome include: 

E Providing personalized letters 

acknowledging employee 

contributions during 

a dicult time 

E Explicitly accounting for 

situational constraints and 

diculty of work during 

performance evaluations 

E Recognizing overtime 



17 

Performance is the outcome 

of the nal recognition practice 

category. Recognition enhances 

performance when it is provided 

to employees who have 

achieved explicit outcomes valued 

by the organization. It helps 

align behaviour and ensures 

everyone is pulling in the same 

direction to attain the organization's 

strategic imperatives. 

Some of these types of recognition 

practices include: 

E Parties to celebrate team 

success 

E Bonus incentives 

E Awards of excellence 

When managers and organizations 

focus on achieving all 

four recognition outcomes, the 

message sent to employees is: 

“Your perspectives and skills 

are valued, you are enabled to 

make improvements, your eort 

and sacrice has been noticed, 

and you will be appropriately 

and expediently rewarded for 

delivering results.” This simple 

statement touches on many 

important aspects of prominent 

work motivation theories that 

have been shown predict superior 

performance and job 

dedication. 7 

WORKING WITH A FULL 

TOOLKIT: LEVELS OF 

INTERACTION 

In addition to organizing recognition 

practices by the four 

major outcome areas, Table 2 

clusters recognition practices 

according to the target of the 

recognition message—otherwise 

known as levels of 

interaction. This model underscores 

the value of multi-level 

recognition practices (peer, 

manager, and organizational) to 

instill a culture of recognition 

throughout the organization. It


also represents an understanding 

that organizations do not 

operate in isolation and require 

motivated suppliers, partners, 

and subcontractors, as well as 

community support, in order to 

function eectively. As such, 

the model further delineates 

practices aimed at providing 

recognition to external stakeholders 

and the community at 

large.This is about awareness 

that recognition can come from 

peers and teammates, management 

and leadership, the organization, 

or even individuals and 

groups outside the organization. 

Using strategies at dierent 

levels of interaction maximizes 

impact as it increases the 

sources and freshness of 

recognition. It also helps us 

meet dierent need based on 

generational dierences and 

motivations. 

An eective recognition strategy 

has elements throughout 

this matrix, touching on each 

outcome and each level of 

interaction. This helps ensure 

messages are well-balanced, 

so that they do not reinforce 

one element at the expense of 

another. It also helps ensure 

that recognition works for different 

people, taking into consideration 

how they are motivated 

and what their 

preferences are. 

Table 2. Examples of recognition for dierent levels of interaction within each outcome 

Level of Interaction 

Horizontal recognition: 

Peers, teammates 

and colleagues 

Vertical recognition: 

Management 

and leadership 

Valuing People 

and Groups 

E Seeking advice 

or input from a 

peer 

E Team events to 

build relationships 

within a team 

E Being available 

and visible to team 

members 

E Providing exibility 

E Creating professional 

development 

opportunities 



E Requesting mentorship 

or training 

from a peer 

E Providing feedback 

or recognition 

to a peer for a professional 

skill 

E Assigning special 

projects 

E Asking an individual 

to train others 

E Recognizing a 

team for role modeling 

for an organizational 

value 

Crediting Eort and 

Commitment 

E Oering peer support 

to a teammate 

during their crunch 

period 

E Bringing a colleague 

a coee or 

lunch 

Showing awareness 

of eort and complexity 

of work when 

reviewing performance 

and results 

E Having a social 

event after a crunch 

period 



E Celebrating a success 

together as a 

team 

E Personally congratulating 

a colleague 

when a milestone 

is achieved 

Investing time in 

high-quality performance 

conversations 

and reviews 

E Holding people 

accountable 

E Writing personal 

letters of recognition 

for results 

E Sharing team successes 

with own 

manager 



18


Level of Interaction 

Organizational recognition 

External recognition: 

community, 

suppliers, clients, 

associations, partners 

Valuing People 

and Groups 

E Orientation for 

new employees, 

addressing more 

than task/ process 

E Soliciting employee 

input 

E Creating transparent 

processes 

E Cards for life 

events 

E Support for individual 

volunteer 

work or corporate 

social responsibility 

E Family events 

E Programs to collect 

feedback from 

clients or suppliers 

E Positive and respected 

employer 

brand 



E Supporting professional 

development 

E Recognizing process 

improvement 

and innovation 

E Performance reviews 

that include 

measures of collaboration 

and teamwork 

E Participation in 

external standards 

programs at the organizational 

level 

E Recognition for 

professional certications 

relating to 

practices, processes 

and ethical standards 

E Partnerships with 

community organizations 

Crediting Eort and 

Commitment 

E Recognition for 

years of service 

and/or overtime 

E Providing support 

for oce social activities 

E Providing exibility 

in work arrangements 

to oset demands 

of work 

Showcasing client 

experiences where a 

team or employee 

went above and beyond 

the call of duty 

E Sharing the energy 

and dedication of 

employees with the 

community through 

team volunteer programs 



Eective processes 

for performance 

management and 

accountability 

E Programs with 

gifts to recognize 

goal or milestone 

achievements 

E Award programs 

E Discretionary recognition 

budgets 

E Personalized congratulations 

from 

CEO 

Proling in “best 

companies” lists 

E Media coverage 

for signicant milestones 

E Showcasing team 

results in annual reports 

to investors or 

the community 

CREATING A CULTURE OF 

RECOGNITION 

For recognition to be truly effective, 

it must be ingrained in 

an organization's culture or 

DNA. If recognition is perceived 

as “another HR initiative” or as 

solely a managerial accountability, 

it is unlikely to produce 

any substantive ROI. When recognition 

is eectively delivered 

by peers, managers, and external 

stakeholders, and supported 

by organizational processes, it 

is ingrained within the organization's 

culture and can have a 

profound impact. 

Changing the culture of an 

organization to build recognition 

into its fabric can be a 

challenge. The rst step is to 

create organizational processes 

designed to support recognition 

eorts at all levels of interaction, 

not just the organizational 

level. For example, organizations 

might measure and reward 

managers for their skill in recognition, 

or implement a corporate 

social responsibility program 

that gives the organization 



19 

the ties to its community that 

might foster external 

recognition. 

The next step is to implement 

programs designed to develop 

employees' skills in delivering 

eective recognition. The implementation 

process should cascade 

from the management levels 

down through individual 

contributors and emphasize the 

business value of recognition, 

the outcomes of dierent recognition 

practices, and that recognition 

is everyone's 

responsibility.


Although these steps are 

foundational to developing a 

recognition culture, nothing will 

change if people do not deliver 

recognition eectively. The next 

section describes a framework 

to provide eective recognition 

to others. 

DELIVERING EFFECTIVE 

RECOGNITION—THE PRAISE 

MODEL 

At the end of the day, recognition 

is not about the mug or 

plaque or coee card. The most 

important aspect of recognition 

is the message. If the message 

is underscored by and reinforced 

with a gift, that can help 

give it weight and make it memorable; 

but a gift without underlying 

meaning and a welldelivered 

message is wasted. 

So how best to deliver the 

message? Since recognition is 

feedback, most models for positive 

constructive feedback apply 

here. We outline below one 

model that we use when developing 

recognition skills for 

managers: the PRAISE model. 

Personal 

Relevant 

Articulate 

In Time 

Specic 

Engaging 

Know the individual and tailor the message to them (refer to the discussion of social 

motives in a previous section) 

Recognize worthwhile things and link recognition to goals and values 

Keep it clear and concise 

Don't wait; recognize as close to the event or behaviour as you can 

Explain exactly what was well done and why you are recognizing it 

Be sincere, build rapport, and use the opportunity you are creating to build commitment 

and motivation 

Developing managers' skills 

in delivering recognition messages, 

whether as part of a 

program or in their day-to-day 

work, is worthwhile. Managers 

need to see recognition as an 

arrow in their own managerial 

quiver, not as someone else's 

program. Training in this area 

should include not just the core 

skills but some valuable strategies, 

such as: 

E Really understanding the 

recipient to ensure recognition 

suits the individual 

E Tying recognition to the 

strategy, values and goals 

of the organization and the 

team 

E Using creative ideas for 

making recognition stand 

out 



20 

E Creating networks of 

PRAISE, by making sure 

their own managers are 

aware of the accomplishments 

of team members 

and by passing recognition 

along to peers and other 

teams 

E Taking recognition out of a 

program and into their 

day-to-day way of working

Strong programs also speak 

to the pitfalls and risks (such as 

concerns about fairness or inconsistency) 

and how to avoid 

them without diluting the value 

delivered by recognition. Most 

of the risks and challenges can 

be addressed by: 

E Ensuring that recognition 

speaks eectively to individuals, 

as discussed 

above 

E Building on respect and 

trust, so that recognition is 

perceived as sincere and 

valuable 

E Matching equivalent recognition 

to equivalent performance, 

so that it is perceived 

as fair even if it is 

dierentiated and personalized 

E Setting clear expectations 

up front so that everyone 

understands what is valued 

and how 

E The HR function creating 

skills and capabilities in 

providing recognition so 

that those providing it 

avoid blind-spots, disruption 

to team dynamics or 

other factors which may 

erode the value 


SUMMARY 

Our framework is designed to 

support the design of recognition 

programs so that they 

maximize their value to the 

organization. The fundamental 

building blocks of the framework, 

discussed above, boil 

down to strategic alignment, 

clear objectives, careful consideration 

of the needs of employees 

and of the organization, and 

eective implementation— 

which perhaps are the fundamental 

building blocks of any 

human capital program. 

Such a framework can make 

implementing or improving recognition 

programs feel a bit 

onerous. It need not. Every 

ounce of improvement in each 

of those dimensions will increase 

the value of a program—it 

is not a question of all 

or nothing. It will always be better 

to implement a low-cost, 

simple, fairly well though-out 

and eective program than to 

delay implementation in the 

pursuit of perfection. If you are 

beginning from scratch, start 

with a discussion of the strategy 

and the results you expect 

to achieve and look for simple 

and aordable wins. If you are 

assessing existing programs, 

use the framework to guide you 

in your analysis so that you can 

nd gaps and opportunities for 

improvement. In either scenario, 

the most important thing is to 

keep recognition in mind. Put 

recognition's unbeatable combination 

of high value, low cost, 

and unending supply to work 

for your organization. 

NOTES: 

1 Stajkovic, A. D., & Luthans, F. 

(1997). A meta-analysis of the eects 

of organizational behavior modication 

on task performance, 1975-1995. 

Academy of Management Journal, 40, 

1122–1149. 

2 Quoted in Millenial magnets, Human 

Resource Executive, April 1, 2008. 

3 McClelland, D. C., Atkinson, J. W., 

Clark, R. A., & Lowell, E. L. (1953). The 

achievement motive. New York: 

Appleton-Century-Crofts. 

4 Based on/ adapted from: Brun, J. 

P., & Dugas, N. (2008). An analysis of 

employee recognition: Perspectives on 

employee human resources practices. 

The International Journal of Human 

Resource Management, 19, 716–730. 

5 Colquitt, J. A., Conlon, D. E., 

Wesson, M. J., Porter, C. O. L. H., & 

Ng, K. Y. (2001). Justice at the millennium: 

A meta-analytic review of 25 

years of organizational justice research. 

Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 

425–445. 

6 Mitchell, T. R., Holtom, B. C., Lee, 

T. W., Sablynski, C. J., & Erez, M. 

(2001). Why people stay: Using job 

embeddedness to predict voluntary 

turnover. Academy of Management 

Journal, 44, 1102–1121. 

7 Steel, P., & Konig, C. J. (2006). 

Integrating theories of motivation. 

Academy of Management Review, 31, 

889-913. Vroom, V.H. (1964). Work 

and motivation. New York: Wiley. 



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