According to Workhuman, only 1 in 4 employees strongly agree that they feel connected to their culture at work, and only 1 in 3 strongly agree that they belong at the organization. In these instances, employees may resign to look for other opportunities, or they may drift from their organization, joining the quiet quitter storm.
How can leaders combat this out-of-touch culture that seems to be sweeping the workplace? The answer may be found by simply recognizing employees. To build a strong and lasting workforce that lasts into the future, leaders need to bring their focus back to a human-centered approach to better build their company.
Workhuman and Gallup partnered to study thousands of employees across the United States,
Ireland and the United Kingdom to understand what exactly recognition means. This includes whether employees feel they are being recognized authentically, equitably, and frequently enough, as well as what positive effects recognition has on their disposition on work and life in general.
Why Recognize Employees?
There are obvious benefits of recognition on the employer side, such as happier employees, employees who are more engaged, and employees who own and care about their work. However, there are less obvious benefits also, such as saved revenue. PeopleKeep found that the average cost of losing an employee can be thousands of dollars, as seen in the averages below.
Losing an employee can cost up to two times an employee’s annual salary:
- $1,500 for hourly employees
- 100-150% of an employee’s salary for technical positions
- Up to 213% of an employee’s salary for C-suite positions
These expenses may seem astronomical, but when considering the onboarding costs, recruitment costs, lost productivity, lost engagement, decreased employee morale, and training costs, it is easy to see how the loss of an employee can impact the company dime in many ways.
Why do Employees Leave?
Before diving into the importance of employee recognition, it is important to first understand why employees leave in the first place. PeoopleKeep identified seven of the top reasons for employee turnover, outlined below.
- Lack of career development opportunities
- Lack of employee engagement
- Poor company culture
- Poor company benefits and compensation
- Disagreements between coworkers or management
- No defined business goals or direction
- Employees feel that their honest feedback and thoughts are not considered.
These areas alone may seem distinct from one another, but when you consider recognition, you will notice that it falls into each of these categories.
- Employees want to be recognized for their hard work and dedication to the company through advancements in their careers.
- Employees want to be recognized among their coworkers through engagement and a positive company culture.
- Employees want to be recognized by the company taking care of their needs through fair compensation and benefit plans.
- Employees want to be recognized for their opinions through proper conflict resolution via coworkers and management.
- Employees want to be recognized for their ideas that support a common company goal and direction.
- Employees want to be recognized and shown that their opinions and feedback are considered by the leaders of the company.
Easy Ways to Recognize and Retain Employees
Celebrate contributions
This is a simple and effective way to recognize employees. When a task is performed well, a project is successfully completed, or an employee goes above and beyond for their team, simply recognizing the work your team completes can be enough to motivate employees to stay engaged and excited about the company’s goal.
Offer quality health benefits
This can be a costly benefit, however employees are more likely to say yes to a job if they are satisfied with the health coverage provdied according to SHRM. 56 percent of U.S. adults with employer-sponsored health benefits said that whether or not they like their health coverage is a key factor in deciding to stay at their current job. 46 percent said health insurance was either the deciding factor or a positive influence in choosing their current job.
Hire right the first time
Finding the right employee for your organization is a daunting taks. Fortunately, recruitment agencies, such as J2T Financial Recruiting, can help you hire the right candidate the first time by assessing the knowledge, skills, abilities, and culture fit of each candidate presented.
By recognizing employees early and often, companies are more likely to have satisfied employees, leading to greater retention, engagement, and overall company success. If you need help finding the right employee, specifically in the accounting and finance industries, consider partnering with J2T Financial Recruiting. At J2T, we are a one-stop agency for your long-term, direct hire solutions, your temporary or project-based contractors, your contract-to-hire needs and payroll services. Our contractors and payrolled employees have access to healthcare benefits in as little as 30 days - an opportunity not afforded by most other payroll services.
Between our two divisions—J2T Financial Recruiting and J2T Flex Financial—we have your Accounting or Finance solution from staff to CFO
Networking Event Opportunity: Join J2T and Denver’s top Accounting and Finance leaders on Thursday, March 9th at The Art Hotel in Denver.We are so excited to have our very own Kim Egan as our guest speaker who will share the formula for how to engage and retain your top talent. Kim comes from the training and development field and has 20 years of experience in leadership and management development, specifically focused on employee engagement and retention. She has trained thousands of leaders in numerous industries regarding the key steps needed to ensure your top talent is engaged, performs, and stays!
RSVP to arielle@j2tflex.com TODAY!
