In a modern workplace forever changed by a pandemic, social reckoning, and a new emphasis on flexible employment options, half-hearted company pizza parties are no longer enough to satisfy workers hoping for authentic, personalized recognition and engagement. Employees want to be seen, heard, and appreciated in ways that mean the most to them, and when they feel recognized and engaged, a workplace culture that supports productivity, loyalty, and overall organizational success is built.

How can leaders effectively implement programs that go beyond financial incentives to ensure employees feel valued and appreciated? What are some innovative approaches to boost employee engagement, especially in remote or hybrid work environments, and how can leaders measure the effectiveness of these initiatives? The answer is more complex than simply ‘no more pizza parties.’ Panelists at From Day One’s recent Philadelphia conference tackled these pressing questions and more.

Employee Listening to Develop a Recognition Strategy

The first step in building out a recognition strategy is understanding what employees value most. Trevor Bogan, regional director, Americas, at Top Employers Institute, which surveys over 4,000 organizations annually, cites a study that found that 45% of employers don’t have an employee listening strategy.

With employees scattered far and wide in remote working environments, organized listening is more important than ever, since casual face-to-face interactions or quick temperature checks can be harder to come by. And their experiences and desires are becoming more personalized than ever before. “What we're finding is you have to be more person-centric than people-centric, because everyone’s different. What I value in my life is going to be different than what you value,” Bogan said.

Listening is key to not only understanding what employees need, but also showing them respect. “Sometimes as leaders, we really love to hear ourselves talk, to talk about ourselves and what’s going on [in the company],” Bogan said. “But the more we listen to our employees and give them that free space to be themselves – that's truly impactful.”

Listening to employees connects directly with recognition, as it allows leaders to learn the methods of recognition that will be most meaningful and impactful to their team members, Bogan says. “The next hurdle,” added Elaine Becraft, head of human resources, diagnostics at Siemens Healthineers, “is to act on what they tell us.” Making employees feel heard, she says, can be just as important as making them feel happy.

A Changing Workplace’s Impact on Employee Engagement

In 2020, Becraft states, “We were all ripped away from each other in such a sudden way” and forced to find ways to say thank you for a job well done through email or Zoom rather than in-person. And with that extra layer of technology came an additional layer of distance. Kate Feather, SVP, head of employee experience & talent development at Lincoln Financial Group concurs. “We had employees telling us, ‘I feel like my contributions and the work I'm doing isn't being seen anymore,’” Feather said. “That's why we elevated recognition up on our list of priorities.”

In addition to the changes wrought by the pandemic, the political and social unrest of that period also changed the ways employees engage with one another in the workplace, says Geneva Campbell Brown, head of office of corporate secretary and lead counsel for corporate governance, Shareholder Engagement and Community Engagement at The Cigna Group. “The murder of George Floyd forced people to be thoughtful about what was happening in society at large but also in communities close to them,” Campbell Brown said. “Now we’re in the habit of bringing more of our personal selves to work and employees are looking for a space where they can be authentic.” The line between work and family life has blurred, and employees need to find ways to recognize all of these additional challenges that employees bring to work with them, Campbell Brown says.

Recognition Can Build a Stronger Workplace

Employee recognition is a powerful tool for encouraging positive behaviors, such as adherence to company values or exceptional organizational practices. “I'm a huge believer in what gets recognized, gets repeated,” Feather said.

It can have an enormous impact on retention. Feather says that in studies of employees that left Lincoln voluntarily, 75% of them had not been recognized in their employee recognition program. “There's a higher proportion of people who are choosing to opt out if they’re not being recognized.” In turn, it can also help with acquisition, making your company more attractive to prospective employees who hear about the good energy and positive environment the culture of recognition is generating. “Your employees are walking billboards,” Bogan said. “They’re going to talk about your leadership, talk about your HR initiatives, and that word spreads fast. Saying ‘thank you’ costs nothing. And taking the moment to do it – the return on that investment is huge.”

Innovative Approaches to Employee Engagement and Recognition

Panelists offered several examples of how their own organizations have implemented employee engagement and recognition programs with an eye toward personalization and authenticity.

Volunteerism

When Campbell Brown’s organization found that DEI committees were not really moving the needle, she and her colleagues took a beat to listen to what actually resonated with employees. “One thing that we found just through listening is that people were so invested in their local communities, and they wanted to get together with their colleagues and do something good,” Campbell Brown said. Their desire for team building activities that also gave a purpose to their workday inspired the implementation of employee volunteer outings. This unexpected alignment of corporate social responsibility and employee engagement led to increased in-person attendance, even from normally remote workers. “If we had a volunteer event, people were more likely to show up for that than they were to show up if there was a town hall,” Campbell Brown said.

Point Systems

Through engagement surveys, Feather’s organization discovered that employees didn’t always feel appreciated and that processes were inconsistent from department to department. The company found success through a rewards system that is partially financial and partially points-based, with benchmarks aligned with the company’s core values. Employees can trade in points to support their favorite charity, take trips to Disney World, or buy merchandise. The system also recognizes personal employee milestones, such as buying a house, having a baby, or getting an advanced degree. This in turn helps workers integrate their personal and professional lives.

Employee Resource Groups

Employee resource groups (ERGs) help colleagues connect one-on-one and support each other across levels and functions, both personally and professionally. Especially in larger corporations, this can help build a sense of community. “In my ERG, I'm getting to chat with people from other departments that I wouldn't ever get to speak to otherwise,” moderator Ximena Conde, reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer said. Bogan notes that it’s important to “think beyond diverse status,” meaning having groups not based simply on marginalized identities like race or gender, but also other areas like veteran status, disability, or caregiving. “In the hope of being inclusive, we don’t want to exclude people,” Campbell Brown emphasized.

Leading With Empathy and Authenticity

As companies hone their recognition and engagement strategies, they need to do so with an eye toward compassion. Leadership coaching programs that incorporate education on unconscious bias and empathy training, says Feather and Bogan respectively, are becoming the norm, paving the way for employees to feel more comfortable bringing their full selves to the workplace without fear of discrimination or ridicule.

And as a leader, bringing more of yourself to work encourages others in your organization to do the same. “It's so freeing if you can find a way to communicate around topics that are difficult, and allow people to really start to share,” Campbell Brown said. By setting the tone and providing the proper infrastructure for engagement, leaders can help employees feel more connected to and appreciated by their workplace.

Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost, Honeysuckle Magazine, and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, and CBS New York.