90%

88%

86%

85%

84%

67%

42%

70%

70%

66%

Has a positive impact onemployee engagement

Helps the organization instilland reinforce corporatevalues in its employees

Increases employeehappiness

Adds humanity to theworkplace

Improves employeerelationships

HR Professionals Report Positive Effects of Employee Recognition Programs

Values-basedprogram

Nonvalues-basedprogram

n = 641-645

Program tied to

organization’s values, 58%

ProgramNOT tied to

organization’s values, 22%

No program, 14%

Plan to implement within a year, 5%

Prevalence of EmployeeRecognition Programs

n = 823

 

   

Key Findings

Most organizations (80%) have an employee recognition program. More than one-half (58%) provide recognition that is tied to their organization’s values, and HR professionals at these organizations are more likely to give higher ratings to their overall recognition efforts and service anniversary programs.

Employee recognition can help meet human capital challenges. Especially when employee recognition is tied to the organization’s values, it can have a positive impact on employee engagement (90%), happiness (86%) and relationships (84%), as well as add humanity to the workplace (85%).

The most common negative feedback from employees about service anniversary programs was an inadequate reward selection (32%). This was followed by the anniversary program lacking impact (30%), and being inconsistent (25%) and impersonal (20%).

Creating a more inspiring experience (35%) was the top advice from HR professionals for improving service anniversary programs. Other suggestions were to have more participation from senior leaders (22%), managers (21%), colleagues and work friends (19%), and to provide better quality award choices (22%).

SHRM Research Spotlight: Employee Recognition

Shedding Light on the Business of HR | www.shrm.org/research | Twitter @SHRM_Research

24%

49%

22%

4%

17%

42%

34%

7%

Excellent Good Fair Poor

HR Professionals' Rating:Service Anniversary Program

Values-basedprogram

Nonvalues-based program

35%

22%

22%

21%

19%

19%

18%

18%

16%

A more inspiring experience foremployees to look forward to

More participation fromsenior leaders

Better quality award choices

More participation frommanagers

More participation fromcolleagues & work friends

A bigger budget allocation

Inclusion of past achievementsand successes

Better breadth of awardchoices

Inclusion of memoriesand stories

HR Professionals’ Advice: How to Improve Service Anniversary Programs

32%

30%

25%

20%

18%

15%

8%

6%

4%

8%

7%

Inadequate rewardselection

Not impactful foremployees

Inconsistent experienceamong employees

Too impersonal

Too infrequent

Not enough impacton business results

Too big an administrativeburden

Too manager-dependent

Too expensive

Other

*None

Negative Employee Feedback: Service Anniversary Programs

18%

60%

20%

1%3%

38%

45%

14%

Excellent Good Fair Poor

HR Professionals' Rating:Overall Recognition Efforts

Values-basedprogram

Nonvalues-based program

n = 662

n = 522 n = 548

n = 583

       

Note: Percentages may not equal 100% due to multiple response options or rounding. An asterisk (*) indicates the option was developed from open-ended responses.

Methodology A sample of HR professionals with a title of manager or above was randomly selected from

SHRM’s membership database. Overall, 823 responses were received. Data were collected in January and

February 2015. The full findings are available in the SHRM/Globoforce Employee Recognition Programs—2015.

SHRM Research Spotlight: Employee Recognition www.shrm.org/research

© November 2015 Society for Human Resource Management