A Step-by-Step Guide to Employee Recognition That Drives Results

It all starts at the top.

This post is part of my Implementer series: long-form articles chock full of expert insights, frameworks, habits, and best-in-class leadership strategies you can implement in how-to action steps. If you’re joining me for the first time - welcome to your leadership development journey! Get started by clicking on that red box below. From there, I promise to do everything possible to provide the pathways to make you that much better and more effective as a leader.

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For the past three decades, I've championed the importance of caring for and supporting employees. In the early days, my message was barely a whisper amid the louder voices of skepticism and rigid, top-down leadership. But as we near 2025, the balance between workplaces built on care and those rooted in toxicity is shifting. Now, more than ever, organizations have a pivotal opportunity to embed care into their core strategies—meeting employee expectations and fueling sustainable success.

With that in mind, I wanted to share insights from recent research by O.C. Tanner. They gathered feedback from over 38,000 individuals across 24 countries, which makes their findings quite powerful. I did the heavy lifting for you and sifted through the mountain of data to give you the highlights here. But more importantly, what should we do with the data?

Their research underscores the importance of moving beyond just basic employee support (think pay and health benefits) and embracing a culture of what they call “generative care.” This means that truly caring for employees should be at the heart of how workplaces operate. 

The report states that organizations should focus on these elements of care: meaningful recognition, fair compensation, emotional intelligence, and support during transitions. All these factors enhance the employee experiences, but it all starts with building a workplace where everyone can flourish and truly bring their best selves to work.

Photo by andreaooi on Pixabay

Key Findings

Let’s take a look at some of the report’s key findings.

• Survival vs. Thriving:

  • Nearly a third of employees are in “survival mode,” feeling overwhelmed and anxious.

  • Employees satisfied with their compensation are 228% more likely to feel fulfilled.

  • Physical and mental health benefits increase fulfillment by 174% and 259%, respectively.

• Employee Recognition Boosts Mental Health:

  • Strong recognition programs save organizations approximately $8K annually per employee with probable depression.

• The Power of Ongoing Learning:

  • Organizations prioritizing skill-building, career development, and flexibility make employees 68x more likely to thrive.

• Emotional Intelligence as a Cultural Catalyst:

  • Practicing five key emotional intelligence elements (empathy, self-awareness, resilience, flexibility, communication) makes organizations 107x more likely to thrive.

• Job Transitions Are Crucial:

  • Employees with positive onboarding, promotions, or role changes report:

    • 457% higher engagement.

    • 438% more fulfillment.

    • 237% stronger sense of belonging.

    • 251% greater intent to stay for two or more years.

Moving to Action

Since I coach leaders for a living, we need forward movement to address what may be stumbling blocks in your leadership and organization, otherwise, all I’ve left you with is just good data to reflect on. So, what do we do with all this information? We devise a comprehensive strategy to implement based on the most crucial employee retention and engagement elements, per the research:

• Meaningful employee recognition

• Developing emotional intelligence

• Devising an effective onboarding strategy

• Support worker mental health and well-being

You’ll note I left compensation off the list. That’s for you and your HR people and CFO to sit down and determine if you have the bandwidth to stay competitive and pay what people deserve based on their market value in your region. It’s a separate conversation we will not tackle here. Let’s hope your company does place a high priority on compensation! 

For the rest of this article, we will only cover that first important bullet: meaningful employee recognition. Then, in successive weeks, make sure to return because I will cover the rest of the strategies. Otherwise, you’ll suffer from information overload (today’s strategy is very comprehensive).

A Step-by-Step Guide to Employee Recognition That Drives Results

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Four Requirements

To lay out the plan, first remember that employee recognition isn’t so much about “programs” related to awards, perks, and financial incentives. That’s the cherry on top. I won’t be telling you about the tech side of recognition either, which is an important piece of the puzzle. There are tons of tech options and integrations out there, and your HR people should look for a platform with the right features and support to get the results they need.

Since our focus is making leaders better, recognition here has everything to do with human interaction–how leaders view their employees as valued contributors and how employees feel seen and heard. 

The overarching goal is to make it meaningful. There are four requirements for a meaningful recognition strategy, according to employee-centric research:

1. Specific: The recognition is about a specific action or behavior that the individual took.

2. Frequent: The recognition must be frequent and timely to be meaningful.

3. Personal: The recognizer personalizes it with information they know about the receiver so they feel known.

4. Impact-oriented: The recognition outlines the outcome or impact of the behavior, showing the positive effect of the action.

STRATEGY #1: MAKE RECOGNITION SPECIFIC 

While recognition comes in many forms, a simple ‘thank you’ for a job well done does not elicit a meaningful reaction from employees. Employees want to hear how they specifically moved the needle on a project or why they powerfully made a difference in a co-worker’s life. So, next time someone on your team leads a project with awesome deliverables or puts together a killer PowerPoint for a client presentation, expressing your gratitude with specific praise aligned to their work and describing the behavior being lauded will make a huge difference. It becomes that much more meaningful to the employee. 

To illustrate, when you approach the employee you’re praising, you don’t have to give a speech. Be brief and give specifics about what the person did right. This is so key because when you specify exactly what your employee did right, that person knows you’re being sincere and not just giving platitudes. It tells them that, as their manager, you’re being genuine, that you’re familiar with their work, with what they’re doing, and with how hard they work. 

STRATEGY #2: MAKE RECOGNITION FREQUENT AND TIMELY

The companies in Gallup's study with the highest engagement levels found that employees who receive recognition frequently increase their individual productivity, receive higher loyalty and satisfaction scores from customers, and are more likely to stay with their organization.

How frequently are we talking? Recognition should be given once per week. One notable research showed that individuals who are recognized weekly are twice as likely as the average to have strong job commitment — and five times more likely than those who are never recognized to say they rarely think about job hunting. This is the most low-cost, high-impact way to connect with your employees, and we'd be foolish not to try it. 

In fact, one of the questions from the popular Gallup Q12 engagement survey even asks this of employees about their immediate managers:

In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.

According to Gallup's analysis, only one in three workers in the U.S. strongly agree that this was the case. Would that be a wake-up call if your direct reports answered this survey question with a 'no'?

But if that kind of frequency is unrealistic, fine. The frequency of recognition each employee desires can vary depending on the company, but the bottom line is the timing of it. That’s a non-negotiable. Recognition should be given in the moment and regularly. 

But here’s the key: you don’t randomly give out praise like you’re giving candy to a kid. You attach praise to performance–for going above and beyond, and not just for doing what they’re expected to do in their jobs. 

Here’s what happens: In most organizations, the managers spend most of their time catching people doing what? Doing something wrong. In praising people effectively, you want to catch them doing something right. When you see someone doing something right, you have to make contact with that person and give praise as soon as that person has done something right. Don’t wait. It tells that person that you really care about them and want them to prosper. And that you’re on the same side. 

An effective practice emerging in startups is known as micro-actions. Basically, a micro-action is a brief and intentional activity -- some of which take two minutes or less -- that any leader or manager can take to attain improved results in some defined area. In the case of recognition, leaders might engage in "drive-by praise," aiming to offer timely compliments throughout the day attached to the performance. This offers leaders a small but meaningful step toward improved team morale and engagement.

STRATEGY #3: MAKE RECOGNITION PERSONAL

While a warm ‘nice work’ is always welcomed, employees actually want to hear personal words of praise, especially from their direct managers. They are more likely to react strongly to personal thank-you notes or tailored shout-outs on internal social networks or whatever app you communicate your kudos. But hand-written notes take the cake. According to one OGO (O Great One!) research, 76% of people save handwritten thank-you notes. A customized, thoughtful handwritten note or email with specifics will have a bigger impact than something mass-produced and sent out through an app. 

Technology tools aside, I want to offer you a quick and simple exercise that any manager can do to express gratitude and praise the old-fashioned way. This little ritual will not only make people feel special, it will also increase a manager’s optimism and happiness levels, and it's backed by science. Here it is:

1. Make a list of people at work you are thankful for and who deserve praise for good work. Think back on the key contributions, accomplishments, or events during the calendar year involving these people.

2. Give each person a personal kudos via email, text, a hand-written note, or in person. Spend no more than five minutes per person (one person/one kudos daily). Let these people know how special they are to you and how you feel about them and their work.

Positive psychologist Shawn Achor, best-selling author of The Happiness Advantage, says that giving kudos and expressing specific gratitude for 21 straight days is the fastest way to train your brain to learn optimism and stay positive. He says two minutes per day will do it. Just choose a different person to praise and recognize each day.

STRATEGY #4: MAKE RECOGNITION IMPACT-ORIENTED

What separates the practice of recognition from all traditional and standard ways of performing it on a human-to-human level is the ability to share your feelings about what they did right. Tell your employee why their heroics were so important for the company; give them the business context and the impact it made. Show them any improved metrics or KPIs attached to their contribution. The point is that you, the manager, must be authentic and express how good you feel about what they did. This will amplify the praise and make your people feel like a million bucks. Once they understand why their performance is praise-worthy, they then start catching themselves doing things right and start praising themselves. So they’ll work even harder and perform even better.  

Remember: It All Starts at the Top

The whole idea of giving meaningful recognition really starts at the top. When managers set the example, employees naturally follow suit. From senior leaders to frontline managers, when people see recognition happening above them, they’re more likely to do the same for their teammates. Employees who regularly feel valued by their manager are more likely to pass that recognition along, building a culture of appreciation. Plus, recognition is a great way for managers to create more engaged employees. In fact, research from Achievers Workforce Institute shows that regularly recognized employees are three times more likely to recommend their manager to others.

It’s clear that consistent, meaningful recognition from managers has a big impact. But a lot of companies aren’t equipping their leaders with the skills to make that recognition really count.

In places that do offer training on recognition, most focus on why it matters and the difference it can make, but only about a third teach how to make it truly meaningful. Since meaningfulness is key to effective recognition, this is a clear area where leaders could step up their game.