Benchmarks & Trends, Company Culture, Employee Engagement , Employee Recognition
Key Takeaways:
- Employee recognition: Giving everyone opportunities for special recognition encourages discretionary effort, cooperation and a more positive workplace experience.
- Employee appreciation: Acknowledging good work and extra effort has a stronger influence on employee behaviours and outcomes than general workplace celebrations alone.
- Workplace celebrations: Shared events strengthen culture when they are supported by consistent, everyday appreciation for individual and team accomplishments.
- Employee pride: Strong cultures of celebration help employees feel proud of their achievements and view their organization more positively.
- Employee cooperation: Organizations with the strongest celebration cultures outperform those with the weakest by 11% to 18% across cooperation, effort, pride and workplace experience.
Cultures for celebrating success promote essential employee behaviours and workplace outcomes according to new research by Great Place to Work® involving hundreds of organizations in our 2017 Best Workplaces Recognition program. These cultures for celebrating success were based on participating organizations’ Trust Index© employee survey scores on “people celebrating special events”, “management showing appreciation for good work and extra effort”, and “everyone having an opportunity to get special recognition”.
The strongest cultures for celebrating organizational and individual success were found to be most effective in promoting key employee behaviours like discretionary effort, i.e., “people giving extra to get the job done” and cooperation, i.e., “being able to count on people to cooperate”; and, also to driving important workplace “outcomes” like employee feelings of pride in their accomplishments and overall impressions of their organizations as great places to work.
Participating organizations were categorized into quartiles based on the strength of their overall “culture for celebrating success” scores. On average, the top quartile cultures significantly outperformed the low quartile cultures by between +11% to +18% on key employee behaviours and workplace outcomes. In essence, the stronger the cultures for celebrating success the stronger employee discretionary effort, cooperation, pride and overall impressions of the workplace.
Appreciation & Recognition More Critical than Workplace Celebrations
Our research further reveals that the underlying management practices of strong cultures for celebrating success have “differential” impacts on employee behaviours and workplace outcomes.
More specifically, statistical correlations show that management appreciation for good work and extra effort; and, opportunities for everyone to receive special recognition are more instrumental to key employee behaviours and overall workplace experience than more general workplace celebrations.
As noted in the chart above, appreciation and recognition practices correlate .80 or higher with multiple employee behaviours and outcomes (i.e., discretionary effort, cooperation, pride and overall workplace impressions), whereas workplace celebration events correlate only .63. While all three management practices underlying celebrating success cultures are statistically significant, your R-O-I will be greatest when investing in programs and practices that focus most specifically on recognizing and appreciating employee efforts and accomplishments vs. more generalized workplace celebrations.
Celebrate with Focus and Continuity
In summary, workplaces cultures that celebrate success foster cooperation and discretionary effort among employees and contribute to an overall great workplace experience and pride. While overall workplace celebration events are an important ingredient in the required culture mix, their impact on desired employee behaviours and workplace experience will be greatly enhanced when complemented by more focused and ongoing day-to-day appreciation and recognition of individual and team accomplishments.
Frequently Asked Questions:
How does celebrating success influence employee behaviour?
Recognizing accomplishments encourages employees to contribute extra effort, cooperate with colleagues and feel more connected to their workplace.
Which celebration practices have the greatest impact?
Ongoing appreciation for good work and equitable access to recognition have the strongest connection to positive employee behaviours and workplace outcomes.
How does employee recognition support workplace pride?
Meaningful recognition helps employees see the value of their contributions, strengthening pride in their achievements and organization.
How should organizations build a culture of celebration?
Combine workplace events with focused, continuous appreciation and recognition of individual and team contributions throughout the year.
