Employee Recognition ROI at KPMG

Recognize This: The emotional impact of recognition is huge compared to the low monetary investment.

Last month I had the pleasure of participating in a webinar, Recognition the KPMG Way: Driving Employee Engagement and Success, with Sara Turner, UK head of employee benefits and wellbeing, KPMG. Sara made quite clear the same point I’ve been making this week about the need to Involve Program Participants and Invite Their Input  when creating a strategic recognition program:

“The key is not to do this in isolation. Look how recognition links to other areas of engagement in the organization and consult with stakeholders – decision makers and users— to make sure what you’re designing will really resonate. You need to take in account how other people feel.”

The ROI of Recognition

The results experienced at KPMG have been phenomenal. They increased the number of award recipients year over year by 25% without any additional spend. But the emotional impact is even more powerful. Again, quoting Sara:

“What you get with recognition is a really emotional response. This is quite different from any other area of reward. What really sets recognition apart – and this comes through the feedback from the people – is that it’s unexpected. Though the monetary value is low, the impact is really huge.

“In monetary terms, recognition is so much less expensive [than other reward systems], but what you get is this emotional gut response from people who are overwhelmed, happy and excited when they get an award. People are so engaged because someone has appreciated the extra effort they’ve gone to and taken the time to make sure they acknowledge it and that others acknowledge it as well.”

Did you miss the webinar? Listen in here.

Have you ever been “overwhelmed, happy and excited” by being recognized in your workplace? Tell me the story. Better yet, how often have you felt that way?