Employee Recognition Day

What the day is

Employee Recognition Day is kept on the first Friday of March, so the date moves each year. It asks employers to acknowledge the people who work for them, which sounds uncontroversial and is done badly often enough to be worth examining.

Origin and background

The origin of the observance is not documented. What the research shows is reasonably consistent.

Recognition works best when it is specific, prompt and from somebody whose judgment the recipient respects. Naming the particular thing a person did conveys that it was noticed, which is the actual content. Generic praise conveys only that a process exists.

Several common formats work against that. Employee of the month schemes turn recognition into a competition with one winner and a larger number of people who were not chosen, which can reduce motivation among exactly the solid performers the scheme was meant to encourage. Recognition delivered months after the work has lost most of its force. And praise from a manager who is not close enough to the work to know what was difficult reads as a formality.

There is a more uncomfortable finding. Recognition substituted for material things people are owed tends to be resented rather than appreciated. A pizza afternoon in a year without a pay rise, or a thank-you email to a team that is short-staffed, draws attention to the gap rather than closing it. Studies of appreciation at work generally find it strongly associated with retention, but as a complement to fair pay and workable conditions rather than a substitute for them.

The cheapest effective version is also the rarest: passing praise upward and outward, so that the person's reputation improves beyond the conversation.

How to take part

• Name the specific thing somebody did rather than thanking them generally.
• Say it now rather than saving it for a review.
• Tell their manager, and copy them in. Recognition that travels is worth more.
• Skip the competition format. One winner produces many non-winners.
• Fix the pay or the staffing first if either is the actual problem.