Companies with Excellent Recognition Strategies - Literature review Example

 Articles reviewed: The four articles reviewed encompass the following: employees’ performance, recognition, job satisfaction, and employee’s retention. Brooks (2012) article focuses on the link between the recognition of the employees and better performance in the business. Human resource firm (Bersin and Associates) research findings suggest that companies with excellent recognition strategies have higher chances of generating business results in comparison to their peers. This is inclusive of positional market leadership and profitability. Huge percentage of companies tend to have recognition programs that are either tenure based or ad hoc and these programs do not reinforce messages that are consistent or even make impacts in terms of strategies. Brooks (2012) asserts that recognition of employees is a crucial management tool that provides guidance into their performance, minimizes their turnover, increases their engagement, and drive the performance of the business. Brook (2012) further elaborates that in firms characterized with frequent recognition of employees, productivity, customer service, and engagement of the workers perform relatively well in comparison to those companies that do not either adequately recognize or reward their employees. Bersin & Associates use statistical analysis and customer interviews to determine ways in which businesses can improve their employee recognition mechanisms. It requires the leadership of the business venture to first set the recognition tone. Moreover, it involves the leaders communicating effectively on their expectations. This helps the employees to comprehend not only their goals but also the goals of the team. Secondly, clear recognition criteria can be created. The excelling companies are usually capable of recognizing individuals who accomplish special tasks or projects, demonstrating the values of the company, and achieving the goals of the company, as well. The integration of the use of technology into the recognition modalities has also proved effective in optimizing business performance. The integration of technology has the potential of making recognition to be accessible to the workers. It may also allow companies to modify their recognition programs that fit with the needs of the business, besides resulting into those that are frequent. The final practice that organizations can employ should entail engagement into offensive recognition multi-fronts. This may entail both rewarding the values of the employee and providing recognition. There are benefits of incorporating the use of sofware for the recognition of the workers though the approach has to be comprehensive. It may encompass factors such as certificates, appreciation and praise, token rewards, and trophies among others. The token rewards with points or values that are relatively smaller can be converted to other items. Employees are usually motivated when they receive rewards that are perceived to be of high quality. In addition, some are even motivated when these rewards are of high financial value. Therefore, there is a relationship between the recognition of workers and performance in business. Brook (2012) illuminates this relationship by providing the results of the research findings of Bersin & Associate. The results reveal that there is a positive relationship between these two factors. Employee retention Eroke (2013) in her article elaborates the importance of the retention of employees as crucial part of management strategy in the contemporary organizations. Several employees have quitted their jobs either as a result of being helpless or driven by their decision to move on due to the failure of the management of their firms to incorporate effective strategy for the retention of the employees. The management of organizations, therefore, has the obligation of finding the reasons why employees are quitting their firms. When the turnover for the employees is high, the shareholders values are likely to be affected in terms of not only productivity but time, as well. Eroke (2013) reveals that the cost of replacement of an employee is approximately thrice the salary of that employee. This is exclusive of costs related to lost productivity, recruitment, lost opportunity, and severance. The contemporary organizations are in the dilemma of whether to invest resources and time of the recruitment strategy or to give additional attention to the already existing talents within them. The recruitment of new workers is not only expensive but also time consuming and stressful. There are many reasons that make workers leave firms though the employer may not be cognizant to these reasons. For an instant, employees may leave due to constant friction or frustration from the superiors or their colleagues. Besides, they can also leave due to poor environment at the work place, low salary, lack of motivation and aspects of growth, poor supervision and lack of work that is challenging, and complicated hierarchies. It is relatively difficult for a firm to retain a worker who has made a decision to quite in search of better opportunity. This should not be the case as employees are vital assets for the growth of organizations. Business success and failures of a firm are highly dependent on the hard work the employees incorporate towards the achievement of the organizations target. Observations reveal that workers who tend to spend huge amount of their time in an organization usually contribute effectively and know more about the company. Moreover, they usually develop the sense of loyalty, as well as, strive to meet the management’s expectation. Fortunately, every challenge/problem tends to have solution(s).Worker that stay in organizations for too long often know more about it and also have an attachment to the firm. They are usually familiar with the policies, culture, rule, and guidelines of the company. The retention strategy should begin at the onset, which entails hiring of an employee. Most companies fail to address the problem. Once they realize that they are about to lose an individual, they usually tend to entice him/her into staying after which business goes as usual. The approach may succeed on short term basis but may not be ideal for long term purpose. Eroke (2013) advices that companies should not wait until their vital employees begin leaving before beginning to act on the retention strategy. It is important for the management to comprehend what the workers want and make efforts towards implementing some of the issues raised as they may help in retaining them. Some of the vital components that companies can evaluate to help in the workers retention are: their supervisor training, communication, reward and recognition mechanisms, and flexibility. Effective communication helps in dissemination to the employees, the state of the company while reward and recognition are vital in their motivation. Job satisfaction and commitment Folkman (2015) article focuses of ways of improving employees’ satisfaction without raising their salaries. In the past, dissatisfied employees would quite their job and obtain others. However, in the current job market, the placement opportunities have become narrow with the rate of unemployment being very high. This has relatively contributed to individuals neither quitting nor leaving their jobs. Unfortunately, organizations are experience something perceived to be worse which involves workers quitting but staying in their jobs. Therefore, there has been significant decline in the overall job satisfaction in the US. The workers dissatisfaction with their current job has continued to increase while they continue with their current jobs. Folkman (20150 argues that not all firms are experiencing these results that are dismissal. The assessment that was carried out recently illuminated that there were significant improvement of the employee satisfaction though the company was not immune to the recent economic recession. The phenomenon can be attributed to several factors. First factor is the ability of an organization to have values that are consistent. In some firms, during tough economic times, the core values are often abandoned. On the other hand, during good times the values of leadership appear to be applicable. Therefore, an organization with tightly held values irrespective of the situation in the economy is likely to result into employee satisfaction. This is due to the fact that the employees will be capable of appreciating the values after making observations to the happenings of other companies. Secondly, companies should be capable of focusing on the long term goals irrespective of the hurdles likely to be encountered. The problems encountered before the realization of the long term goals should be viewed as temporary challenges. Employees are likely to be focused during difficult periods when they are convinced that the future is bright. The third factor is based on leadership. It stems from the recognition that dissatisfaction and satisfaction often emanate from the group work. The managers or supervisors should received vivid assessment of their worker satisfaction. Moreover, they should be given the challenge of finding and evaluating improvement opportunities. The next factor focuses on continuous communication. Companies should in fact increase their efforts towards communication during bad times as opposed to good times. It entails sharing the bad news with the employees concerning the reality of the situation. Collaboration through working together and sharing resources optimizes efficiency and reduces cost when highly embraced by organizations. The next factor is related to the existent of opportunities for development of employees. This is created when there are opportunities not only to develop new skills but also to new capabilities. Finally, agility and speed may also contribute to job satisfaction. The emphasis on speedy decision may compel the workers to move and leverage on the opportunities that available in the marketplace. Organization should not wait for either business or economic turnaround for the measurement of their employees’ satisfaction. Upholding good values during tough economic situations such as the recent recession inculcates good environment that can be capitalized on during better financial times. Swartz & Porath (2014) in their article attempt to illuminate the reasons why individuals hate work. They assert that the way people are working may not be work itself. Those luck to have jobs are not probable exited about their jobs as the feel they are not appreciated in their organizations. They usually find it relatively difficult to accomplish their most important tasks and they also lack the belief that their tasks make the difference in the organizations they worker for. The experience is not only common to managers at middle level but also at the top executive. Swartz & Porath’s (2014) use their company “The Energy Project” to assert the opinion. Firms, as well as, their leaders should improve their engagement with the employees, as well as increase the suitability of their performance. Swartz & Porath (2014) have used several employees experience to assert their perception on job satisfaction. For an instant, Luke Kissam (an executive of a chemical company) explains that regardless of what he is doing, he is often being pulled somewhere else. In addition, research on senior leaders revealed that nearly all of them showed at least signs of burnout due to their jobs. 30% of workers in America, according to the reports from Gallup in 2013, feel engaged at their respective workplaces. However, this proportion is just 13% and that for most workers, work is emerging as dispiriting experience, depleting, and to the extent of getting worse. The demand for the employees’ time is exceeding their capacity as it drains their energy needed to bring both the talent and skills at workplace. Besides, the ever increasing competitive nature of businesses has played significant roles in adding more pressure to the workers. The employees tend to be more productive and satisfied when their most important needs are satisfied. One of the needs is physical. This need is satisfied when there are avenues of renewal and also recharge at the work place. The second factor is emotional needs which encompass the need for the workers to feel not only appreciated but also valued for their contribution to the company. The third need is associated with mental aspect through the provision of the opportunity to lay emphasis on the important tasks, as well as, the definition of where and when they get their work accomplished. On the spiritual aspects, the employees need to have the opportunity to do their best by either enjoying what they are doing or feel connected to the work’s purpose. Effective leadership is crucial in ascertaining that the needs of the employees are met. Moreover, it also plays a vital role in dispelling the avenues of the workers feeling disconnected with an organization thus optimizing job satisfaction and commitment to the organization. References: Brooks,C (2012). Employee Recognition Linked To Better Business Performance. Retrieved on 20th June 2015 from: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/3387-employee-recognition-linked-to-better-business-performance.html Eroke, L (2013). Employee Retention as Key Management Strategy. Retrieved on 20th June 2015 from: http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/employee-retention-as-key-management-strategy/166156/ Folkman, J (2015).Seven Ways To Increase Employee Satisfaction Without Giving A Raise. Retrieved on 20th June 2015 from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/joefolkman/2013/11/27/seven-ways-to-increase-employee-satisfaction-without-giving-a-raise/ Swartz, T & Porath, C (2014). Why you Hate Work. Retrieved on 20th June 2015 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/opinion/sunday/why-you-hate-work.html?_r=0 Read More