The ROI of

Social Recognition
7 WAYS IT DRIVES BUSINESS SUCCESS
What is it?
Social recognition is the act of publicly acknowledging
your people for who they are and what they do. Social
recognition puts the power of gratitude to work, aligning
your people and culture with a shared purpose. The key
to achieving a culture of gratitude is the correct reach,
frequency, and value.

A consistent stream of positive interactions fuels

unparalleled, provocative human insights and draws on
your entire organization as a community – unlocking
human potential and motivating people to do the best
work of their lives. The data proves it, again and again.

Traditional employee recognition consisted of managers

giving their employees tactical forms of rewards – like
pins or watches – for simply sticking around. In the
days of lifelong employment and strict organizational
hierarchies, that may have worked. But today’s employees
want purpose, mastery, and empowerment – not a pen
with a company logo on it.

Making work more human through social recognition

drives business results by capturing, amplifying, and
echoing recognition moments across the organization.

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Social recognition is different from
traditional recognition because it’s:

• Democratic – anyone can participate,

regardless of job title

• Tied back to core values

• A source of unparalleled, provocative

workplace data and human insights

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Why does it matter?
Great organizations know that the more gratitude in a company,
the better it performs. Social recognition is the foundation for
creating a culture of excellence – one which fosters recognition
and appreciation while empowering individuals, strengthening
relationships, and providing a clear purpose aligned with
achievable goals. A human workplace allows business leaders to
make significant progress on ever-present issues like retention,
culture, and employee happiness – by connecting people and
culture to shared purpose.

How can you use social recognition

to drive business success?
• Reinforce company values • Build a magnetic
and culture employer brand

• Unlock true performance • Boost employee happiness

development data • Drive employee
• Reduce voluntary turnover performance

• Increase shareholder returns

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ONE

Reinforce company
values and culture

Did you know that organizations that

focus on living their corporate values are
more profitable?
Companies that have strong core values also have strong
cultures. And how does strong company culture affect a
business’s bottom line? It increases productivity, retention,
and employee happiness, to name a few benefits.

In fact, experts say that having core values is essential

for resilient organizations. In the book “Built to Last,” Jim
Collins and Jerry Porras found that “Companies with strong
positive core vision and core values have outperformed the
general stock market by a factor of 12 since 1925.”

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The challenge for many companies is how to
make those core values attainable. That’s where
recognition comes in. Because social recognition
is designed to tie back to core values, it integrates
those ideals into employees’ everyday thoughts and
actions. Workhuman® research, in collaboration with
SHRM, found values-based programs to be more
than 2x as likely to be focused on reinforcing/driving
business goals.

Values are a key driver of culture – everyone has heard

that “culture eats strategy for breakfast,” and the data
agrees. Strong organizational trust is a key indicator
for profitability. Research has shown companies with
high trust are more than 2.5x more likely to be a high-
performing revenue organization.

Recommendation
Find out how your core values resonate with your
employees. Do core values match the organization’s
culture? If the answer is no, social recognition can
help. Use gratitude, mapped to core values, to show
employees how their work connects to your culture.

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TWO

Unlock true
performance
development data

The hiring process doesn’t end when a

candidate accepts a job. In fact, that’s only
the beginning.
Yet, onboarding – an opportunity to introduce
culture, core values, and the day-to-day routines of
an organization – is all too often an afterthought.
According to Gallup research, only 1 in 10 employees
strongly agree their company’s onboarding
was effective.

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Many organizations, including SHRM, recommend
following the 4 C’s of effective onboarding: compliance,
clarification, culture, and connection. Onboarding
materials and training can go a long way toward
compliance and clarification. But how can you
productively integrate your new hire into your culture
and your community?

Giving and receiving recognition visibly helps establish

connections between employees and reinforces the
behaviors that drive the culture of your organization.

Workhuman research has found that people

thanked at work in the last month are:
• Half as likely to be looking for a new job
• More than 2x as likely to be highly engaged
• More than 2x as likely to feel respected
at work
• More than 3x as likely to see a path to grow
in the organization

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Once you’ve successfully onboarded your
new employee, coaching and feedback
become the critical components of
successful talent development.

Gallup found that employees

who’ve had conversations
with their managers about
goals, progress, and wins in the last
six months are 2.8x more likely to
be engaged. And employees who
get daily feedback from a manager are
3x more likely to be engaged.
Creating a culture of feedback is essential for
employees to do their best work.

Social recognition, along with a continuous

performance development solution, is an ideal
platform to promote a coaching culture because it
offers immediate and specific positive feedback and
delivers that positive reinforcement at a time when it
will be most impactful – when it happens, rather than
six months later at a performance review.

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As you look to the future, how do you find your true
stars? And more importantly, how do you retain them?
One way is to prioritize internal mobility. The Human
Workplace Index found 92% of workers surveyed
are willing to learn new skills for their job. Knowing
that, it’s critical for you to be able to identify your
best employees so that you can retain, promote, and
cultivate them.

Workhuman's Social Recognition® provides the

crowdsourced data required to gain deep insights into
performance and quickly spot your cultural energizers
and positive outliers. With the help of Workhuman®
iQ, crowdsourced data goes from numbers on a page
to digestible and actionable insights to better your
organization – and your humans.

Recommendation
Evaluate the efficiency and accuracy of your current
performance development systems. Implement a social
recognition program and use the resulting crowdsourced
performance data to analyze how employees and departments
interact, where talent outliers and hidden influencers are, and
how employees align with your culture and values.

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THREE

Reduce voluntary
turnover

Unwanted turnover is a costly liability

and a pervasive business issue.
According to research by the Work Institute employers paid
$600 billion in turnover costs in 2018 – and that wasn’t
during a global health crisis. In 2021, a record 47.4 million
people voluntarily quit their jobs. Calculations from Gallup
estimate the cost of replacing an employee can range from
one-half to 3x the employee’s salary. Using an average
salary of 50,000 dollars, U.S. businesses paid at least 2.37
trillion dollars on turnover in 2021 alone. When we factor in
the time and productivity lost to vacancies and onboarding,
we begin to see just how significant these “hidden costs”
really are.
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Research overwhelmingly shows that recognized
employees are more likely to stick with you.
Workhuman iQ research has found employees who
have the strongest recognition experience have the
lowest turnover. With recognition, LinkedIn’s employee
retention rate increased to 96% when employees
received four or more awards in a year.

How can you be sure that employees feel appreciated?

Recognize them. Witnessing public thanks is also
associated with less burnout and stress, meaning
appreciation benefits the whole organization. It also
makes employees more motivated, more committed,
and less likely to leave.

Recommendation
Calculate your turnover rate and annual turnover cost.
Compare that against the investment in a social recognition
program. Invest in recognition as a way of keeping retention
high. However, you must make the proper investment in
reach, frequency, and value. One award a year will not
deliver transformative business results. Do the best for your
employees so they can do their best for the organization.

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FOUR

Increase shareholder
returns

There has always been one proof point in

business that tends to be more important
than everything else: “It benefits the
bottom line.”
Social recognition is proven to retain employees, increase
employee satisfaction, drive psychological safety,
and improve motivation. It also drives engagement. In
fact, 84% of those surveyed for Workhuman said that
social recognition measurably and positively impacted
engagement. And – this is where your CFO will sit up and
take notice – engagement leads directly to improvements
to the top and bottom lines, such as increased productivity,
customer loyalty, sales, and profits.
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 Let’s look at JetBlue:
For every 10 percentage
point increase in
recognition, the company saw a
3 percentage point increase in retention,
as well as 2 percentage point increase
in engagement. If that wasn’t enough to
prove the power recognition can have on
on engagement, engaged flight attendants
at JetBlue are 3x more likely to “WOW”
customers. Talk about a return on investment.
With its strong impact on engagement, social
recognition drives business outcomes in a
direct and compelling way.

Gallup research shows that engaged companies have a

significant competitive advantage. In today’s business
landscape, where there is one disengaged employee for
every 2.4 engaged employees, employee engagement
can make or break a company. Compared to the bottom
quartile, companies in the top quartile for engagement
experience 23% higher profitability, 64% fewer safety
incidents, and 18% lower turnover rates for high-
turnover industries.

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So, engagement is key. But how do you get it?
“The powerful thing about recognition is that it
reminds people of what matters most,” says Mary
Ann Masarech, former lead consultant, employee
engagement practice at BlessingWhite. “This is a key
part of engagement – to redirect employee effort
and attention to the top priorities of the organization.
Regular recognition throughout the year is a reminder of
what you need employees to keep doing.”

Returns by the numbers

Gallup’s extensive employee engagement study found
businesses in the top quartile of employee engagement
significantly outperform those in the bottom quartile on
these business outcomes:

81+19+J
81% Lower absenteeism

64+36+J
64% Fewer safety incidents

43+57+J
43 %
Less turnover
in low‑turnover
organizations
23+77+J
23% Higher profitability

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Historically, recognition programs have been tactical,
but culture-based programs that allow for peer-to-
peer recognition are better for business. According to
Workhuman iQ research:

• Employees at a technology company who received

five or more awards were nearly 2x as likely to
improve performance year over year.

• Consultants exceed their billing hour targets when

they are more frequently recognized.

• Operations managers who received more frequent

recognition saw better year over year performances
in their store sales and customer counts.

Recommendation
Assess your organization’s level of engagement with an
employee survey such as Workhuman’s Moodtracker®.
Consider a values-based, peer-to-peer recognition
program to not only increase engagement, but also
make a real impact on business metrics.

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FIVE

Build a magnetic
employer brand

What current and former employees say

about your culture can have a huge impact
on recruitment.

Considering the fact that SHRM estimates the average

cost per hire in the U.S. is more than $4,000, there is not
a company in the U.S. – and we would argue the world
– who can afford to ignore their employer brand.

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 For one, job seekers are more informed than
ever before. Here are a few things to keep in
mind, according to Glassdoor:
• 86% of employees and job seekers
research company reviews and ratings to
decide on where to apply for a job.
• 68% of millennials, 54% of Gen Xers,
and 48% of boomers indicated they
visit an employer’s social media
properties specifically to evaluate the
employer’s brand.
• A strong employer brand can reduce the
cost per hire by as much as 50%, and a
negative reputation can cost a company as
much as 10% more per hire.

Change the conversation with a social recognition program

that lets you “walk the talk.” By cultivating a positive
culture, employees make those feelings public in how they
talk about the company. Our research also found 64% of
HR professionals said values-based recognition helped
them build a stronger employer brand.

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Social recognition is also integral to building a culture
that job seekers want. According to Gallup, “the
organization cares about employees’ wellbeing” is a top
three demand of the whole workforce. For millennials
and Generation Z, it’s number one on the list. In our
Workhuman research survey, we asked workers whether
their leaders care about building a human workplace
focused on employee well-being. Those with values-
based recognition were nearly 2x as likely to agree.

Employer brand quick facts:

• Employer brand content has a 2x higher
engagement rate when shared by employees
• Companies with high numbers of employees
sharing quality content are 58% more likely to
attract talent

Recommendation
Assess how you currently market your company’s internal
brand – and make sure you’re actually living those values.
Consider tying your employer brand to a values-based
recognition program that reflects your company’s unique
culture and attracts the right candidates.

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SIX

Boost employee
happiness

Happiness raises nearly every business

outcome we can measure.
Happy employees are crucial to a healthy, productive
corporate culture. In fact, according to Workhuman® Live
speaker and New York Times bestselling author Shawn
Achor, happiness raises nearly every business outcome
we can measure, raising sales by 37%, productivity by
31%, accuracy on tasks by 19%, and providing myriad
health and quality of life improvements.

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 Research from the iOpener Institute
concurs, showing that compared
to the unhappiest employees, the
happiest employees:
• Spend 2x as much time on task
• Are 6x more energetic
• Intend to stay in the role 2x longer
• Take 10x less sick leave
The data shows happy employees are
great for business. How do you get
more of them?

Happier founder Nataly Kogan explains,

employees who are engaged and thriving
“perform 27% better than non-thriving
employees, including 89% better on
innovation, and they are 79% more
committed to the organization.”

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Unfortunately, happiness at work isn’t a given. Only
about half of employees report a happy employee
experience, yet 73% of employees report that being
recognized makes them happier at work and 35% said
it also makes them happier at home. Social recognition
amplifies appreciation and relationships by creating a
continuous loop of positive feedback in the workplace.

Receiving frequent, unexpected recognition from

colleagues and managers goes a long way in making
employees feel more appreciated. But studies also
show that those who give the recognition benefit too.
Workhuman iQ research found employees have the
highest level of engagement when they both give and
receive recognition.

Recommendation
Consider a companywide social recognition program
that encourages every employee to show gratitude.
When employees see good work, they should feel
comfortable calling it out. After all, the more gratitude
in an organization, the better it performs.

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SEVEN

Drive employee
performance

It’s no surprise that high-performing teams are

more profitable than lower performing teams. High-
performing employees are good for business, but
what motivates them to work hard?
Simply giving employees more money and hoping
for better results doesn’t work. Research shows that
monetary incentive alone only increases performance
by 11%. However, having a sense of purpose is one
of most powerful motivators there is. The same
study showed that a combination of feedback,
social recognition, and monetary incentive (including
tangible rewards) will increase employee performance
about 32%.

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Mark Royal, a partner at Korn Ferry,
explains how recognition can help drive
performance: “We often encourage
organizations to think about recognition
as a positive form of performance
feedback. It can be a great way of helping to
clarify for employees what some of those must-win
battles are.”

Because social recognition is tied back to shared

purpose – the big vision – employees are motivated
and empowered to drive company results.

Recognition also makes flow possible for employees.

Flow is the feeling you get when everything “clicks.”
It’s an optimal experience characterized by a positive
mood and requires feelings of learning, development,
and mastery of our work. And according to Claremont
Graduate University Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi,
we can help employees achieve flow by offering
stability, clear goals, achievable challenges, and
meaningful, immediate feedback.

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Employees themselves say they will go above and
beyond if they feel appreciated. When asked how
employees could feel more appreciated in the
workplace, a “thank you” from a boss and support for
personal/professional moments were at the top, just
behind receiving a bonus. This is why it’s so important
to build a culture of recognition in your organization
where it’s easy for managers and employees to
show appreciation.

Recognition at work
Employers may not know how/when to
offer recognition: 56% of employees said
their companies don’t celebrate Employee
Appreciation Day and more than one-quarter
rarely or never deploy feedback surveys.
A little “thank you” goes a long way:
53% of employees said they’d like to see
employers incorporate more human moments
in the workplace by offering recognition for their
hard work.
Appreciation from a peer and/or manager
drives positive performance: Another 31% of
employees say recognition directly impacts their
motivation to succeed and nearly one-quarter say
it increased their productivity levels.

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Social recognition creates a groundswell of positive
thinking throughout an organization, which is also
a central driver of performance. And considering all
the benefits that come with employee engagement,
happiness, and positivity, social recognition is one of
your organization's most important initiatives.

Recommendation
Purpose, mastery, and empowerment are important to
your employees. Establish a positive feedback loop that
makes employees feel appreciated, adds meaning to
their work, and motivates them to reach their highest
potential. Use recognition to reinforce behaviors that
lead to success in your organization.

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The takeaway
To make a compelling business case for social
recognition, you need the facts. Social recognition
creates a groundswell of confidence throughout the
organization and builds a foundation for a true culture
of appreciation.

Join the growing list of admired companies like

Cisco, Citizens Bank, and LinkedIn that are using
Social Recognition to align their people and culture
with a shared purpose, driving business results and
empowering their employees to do the best work of
their lives.

Great organizations know that the more gratitude in

a company, the better it performs. The data proves it,
again and again.

To see the power of Social Recognition for yourself,

visit workhuman.com to schedule a demo or learn more.

+1 888.743.6723 | workhuman.com
Or read more on our blog: workhuman.com/resources

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