One of the many things that companies try to do to boost employee morale is to give employee recognition. To management, it is often a fairly inexpensive and easy to implement morale booster. For some companies the recognition they give out is big marketing point for their company. It’s human nature to want to feel appreciated, and recognition at work is a small token of that appreciation. The hard part comes when having to deal with vastly different personalities in the workforce. What is worthy of recognition to one person is not always the same as it to another. This is one of the big challenges that companies and managers face, and one of the reasons why recognition may not always be what’s it cracked up to be.
Companies implement recognition at the workplace in many ways, and it can vary even within a company depending on your manager’s management style. Currently in my company it seems that people get recognized for just about everything that they do from month to month. I’m not saying that they are not good workers and that they don’t deserve to be recognized for their accomplishments, but what are we considering an accomplishment nowadays? It seems that we have created an environment where you get recognized for anything you do, instead of those times when you truly have accomplished something worth noting. So if everyone is getting recognized, how much is it really worth to you?
This is kind of related to the argument that all teams in children’s sports nowadays get trophies. It doesn’t matter who wins or loses anymore, as they want to make the children all feel like winners. I’m not a child psychologist, and I don’t claim to be an expert in any type of behavioral science, but to me that is ridiculous. I feel like we’re teaching our children (and ultimately our employees) that it doesn’t really matter how well you perform, everybody gets the same. If that’s the case, where’s the incentive to stand out from the crowd? In real life, it’s a competitive world out there. I’m afraid that the more we pretend that it’s not, the less prepared we will be when reality finally hits. Am I analyzing it too much? Possibly, but I think the concept is fundamentally flawed.
I know some people will say that it shouldn’t matter that everyone gets recognized, as it can be used as a fun way to build team spirit and just be a part of the normal process. I can see that argument and think there is definitely some merit in it. But what it ends up meaning is that you have to come up with another recognition system for those employees that truly do amazing things. Otherwise, the incentive to do those things will start to go away over time.
Lastly, there are those of us (and I think I fit in this category for the most part) that aren’t really big on recognition. I like when my manager says a simple “good job,” mainly as a way to show that he understands I did something positive that was outside the normal realm of expectation. Other than that, it’s not a big deal to me. My true satisfaction comes from a love and passion for what I do, and the respect of my peers. But those are the things that just happen to matter to me, and everybody has different motivating factors. The only thing I would hope people consider is that part that makes recognition special is that you are getting singled out for standing out in the crowd. If everyone is getting the same recognition, maybe you’re really just keeping pace.
