Boosting Your Low Performers by Recognizing Your High Performers

By Dustin Schimek (LinkedIn Top Data Analytics Voice, Co-Host, Data Ideas Podcast and Data Careers Summit)

I’d long heard the anecdotes surrounding the importance of employee recognition. As a data analytics practitioner and manager who strongly believed in its value, I’d always wanted to see what the data had to say about this. 

For this reason, I was excited to talk with Mike White – a former colleague and staunch recognition advocate – who founded a software company (Secchi) enabling organizations to recognize employees at a greater scale and measure the results.

In our podcast episode (preview & link below), we discuss why companies must invest in recognition, why it’s been long neglected, and the incredible opportunities it presents to both the employer and employee. He provides an employee recognition example where an employee is recognized for having a month of perfect attendance. 

Link to the full podcast episode:

[Revolutionizing Employee Management: How a Data-Driven Approach Benefits Companies and Individuals (with Mike White, Secchi Founder) – Data Ideas | Podcast on Spotify]

Much of what Mike explained made sense, reinforced my beliefs as a manager, and inspired me to do more. However, as a data industry professional, I was still curious – what does the data show? Once I got a glance at what it looked like for one of his clients, I couldn’t help but wonder why recognition wasn’t a strategic area of investment for most organizations. The insights in the following paragraphs were what I found most compelling.

The arrow in the chart below shows the moment when this client began significantly increasing the recognition their employees receive:

Solid line = 4 period moving average, Light lines = weekly figures

*compared to the prior 15-week period

The manager’s time spent sending employee recognitions was relatively low, but the resulting reduction in unexcused attendance events (-45% over 15 weeks*) was significant. The recognition was sent directly to the employee and looked like the below:

Similar, but even more dramatic results, were observed regarding employee disciplinary events. As recognition ramped up during the period mentioned, disciplinary events also decreased sharply – this time by a whopping -69%:

Solid line = 4 period moving average, Light lines = weekly figures

*compared to the prior 15-week period

There are some benefits to these reductions that we can easily quantify, such as:

• Hours spent by employer and employee on discipline events
• Lost production from discipline events
• Lost production from unexcused attendance
• Overtime paid to cover unexcused attendance

Others are less straightforward in quantifying impact but are significant, such as:

• Increased efficiency from time reinvested in value-added work
• Improved employee retention from recognized work and balanced contributions from the team
• Improved employee relations including team culture and morale 

Calculating the Benefits of Employee Recognition

Taking the results the client above achieved, I couldn’t help but produce a simple estimate of what the cost savings might be for another organization achieving similar results:

My most significant takeaway from the above results is that recognition is not just a “nice to have.” It’s something that must be strategically planned for. The benefits of employee recognition to the employee, manager, and organization are too significant to ignore.

To learn more about how your organization can get started automating recognition and achieving similar results, Book a Demo.

External article on the impact of employee recognition:

The Importance of Employee Recognition: Low Cost, High Impact (gallup.com)