Sierra Ritchey - Fox Search Group

Thanksgiving 2022: Building a Culture of Recognition in the Workplace

by Sierra Ritchey | Nov 16, 2022 | Employee Experience

When was the last time you generously gave or received recognition in the workplace?

Being genuinely appreciated is perhaps one of the sweetest sentiments we all cherish and anticipate. Be it through words, a positive gesture, a monetary reward, or a plaque; the experience brings utter joy, contentment, and pride.

This could not be truer than in the workplace. Whether new or tenured, employees fondly remember and beam with pride for the moments they received recognition for a job well done. They consider this as a milestone in their career.

A timely article from the Harvard Business Review says that positive reinforcement, such as rewards and recognition, motivates employees more than negative reinforcement, like punishments and sanctions. Giving employees the recognition they deserve inspires them to do even better. It also enhances the relationship between the employee and the employer.

Why is Employee Recognition Important

If employee recognition is extremely important, then every company must practice it. But unfortunately, this is not the case across many companies and organizations in the U.S.

A survey conducted by Gallup revealed that only 1 out of 3 American employees feel that they received recognition for something good they accomplished in a week. That is only 33 percent of the surveyed population. Furthermore, most employees feel that their best efforts often go unnoticed. The survey also revealed that employees who feel routinely ignored despite consistently producing quality work output are twice as likely to quit the company.

Indeed, this is a missed opportunity for many companies and organizations, considering many benefits of recognizing employees. Here are just five of the top benefits of employee recognition and why building a culture of recognition in the workplace is vital in retaining top talent and attracting new ones:

1. Increased Productivity and Engagement

An article in Psychology Today revealed that employee recognition is one of the top 3 factors that affect employee productivity and engagement, together with peer motivation and commitment to produce good results. It only shows that you are directly setting them up for even more success by recognizing them for a well-done job.

2. Higher Employee Retention

Creating a culture where employees are recognized for a job well done gives the impression that your organization is a great place to work. Perhaps, no employee or job candidate will not be magnetized to work and stay in a company where employees feel recognized.

A culture of recognition also promotes employee satisfaction. When they are satisfied, employees tend to stay longer and refer other top candidates to work for the company.

3. Enhanced Team Culture

When was the last time you recognized your fellow team member at work for a job well done? In the study by Psychology Today, camaraderie or peer intervention took the top spot on what motivates employees to excel and do their best in the workplace.

This result is enlightening because it not only shows that employee recognition must solely be between a superior and a subordinate but also peer-to-peer recognition. Vertical and horizontal employee recognition is equally important.

4. Higher Potential to Attract Top Talent

When your employees become company ambassadors themselves because of the organization’s stellar workplace culture, it also increases the chance for you to find new talents of the same caliber as your top-performing employees. That is why building a culture of employee recognition is such an excellent investment.

5. Greater Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

By regularly recognizing your employees, especially the top-performing ones, you are also increasing their chances of bringing in more clients for your company and, therefore, more revenue. When employee engagement is high, and the company culture lends itself well for employees to become more productive, your customers and other stakeholders will feel the positive vibes.

Building a Culture of Recognition in the Workplace

Now that you know the importance of employee recognition in the workplace, it is also important to realize that incorporating this into the company culture is not exactly a walk in the park. It is not just about encouraging a colleague or giving gift vouchers to your top-performing employees. It has to be institutionalized and become part of the company culture for everyone to benefit from it fully.

Here are some solid steps to take for you to build a culture of recognition in the workplace and embrace it fully.

1. Create Momentum and Consistency

Manley Feinberg, renowned corporate speaker, and author, encourages employers and managers to create momentum and consistency in recognizing employees.

Consistently highlight your employees’ accomplishments, from the minor feats up to the major feats. Then, make your reward system commensurate to the actual accomplishment–small rewards for small feats and big rewards for big achievements.

2. Always Present the Big Picture and Stay Future-Oriented

Omer Molad, CEO of Vervoe, a trusted recruiting software firm out of Melbourne, Australia, highlights the importance of understanding the company’s big picture, how employees can align their roles, and what they should deliver in connection with the big picture.

When employees understand the big picture and commit to the work fully, they are more likely to produce excellent results. This will give them more opportunities to be recognized by the company and their colleagues. It is a symbiotic process.

Also, understanding the big picture and being recognized for an excellent job are surefire reasons to stay longer in the company and resist the temptation of quitting even when the going gets tough.

3. Ask for Feedback from Your Employees

As managers, you need to know what kind of positive reinforcement works for your employees and what does not. Aside from monetary rewards, what other types of recognition work for most of them? Is it gift cards? Is it extended time off? Is it a formal celebration? Know what works best for the people you work with regularly.

4. Make the Recognition as Public as Possible

Give your employees more than just 15 minutes of fame. Make sure that everyone knows about their accomplishments and that everyone gets to celebrate them. Do not keep it just between you and your employee or colleague. It will also send a strong message to other employees on what kind of results or outputs are rewarded in your organization.

5. Be Prompt on Recognition

Recognize your employee at the appropriate time and do not delay it for an extended period. Postponing recognition also diminishes its positive impact not only on the employee to be recognized but also on the rest of your employees.

Great managers must realize that you can never give too much recognition to your employees as long as the distinction is truly deserved. That is the beauty of meritocratic company culture. However, this also challenges your employees to do so much better. When you give back to your employees and duly recognize their efforts, you and your company stand to receive so much more in return.

CULTIVATE A CULTURE OF RECOGNITION WITH FOX SEARCH GROUP.

Should you be a manager looking for top professionals or a job candidate looking to connect with a company that genuinely recognizes a job well done, consider amplifying your search via the Fox Search Group. We can connect you with top talent and employers with potentially good employee recognition programs looking for candidates to hire. Reach out to us now!

A Closer Look: Is the War for Tech Talent Over?

by Sierra Ritchey | Oct 5, 2022 | Recruitment

In the last few years, the war for tech talent continued to rage in the job market. The demand for tech talent rose to unprecedented highs, and the tech talent shortage was extremely palpable across various positions in many tech companies.

According to data, in the UK and US, the hiring rate in the tech industry was at an all-time high in 2021 and was the largest hiring spree since 2016. The labor market also opened in 2022 with a bang by adding 467,000 new jobs in January. The first five months of the current year saw job postings increase by 52 percent compared to the same period last year. Indeed, the number of jobs available for tech workers continued its upswing.

However, based on the news lately, there have been movements, especially coming from big tech companies, that seem to be pointing in the opposite direction and dampening the tech industry that used to be red hot in hiring tech talent.

A Decline in Demand? Recent Layoffs in Tech Talent

The hiring spree in the first five months of the year was snapped by the first month-to-month decline in June, when job posts went down by 17 percent compared to the month before. Then, in the last few months, you have probably heard of high-profile tech companies making significant layoffs and letting go of manpower.

Data shows that Netflix has laid off around 500 employees, while San Francisco-based enterprise software firm Twilio has let go of 800 workers. On the other hand, Snap laid off 20 percent of its manpower, totaling 1,200 employees, while Fintech firm Robinhood shed 30 percent of its workforce and let go of more than a thousand employees.

Similarly, companies such as Shopify, Invitae, GoPuff, Coinbase, Carvana, Better, and Peloton have all laid off thousands of employees collectively. News is also rife that the top technology companies in the world, such as Microsoft, Apple, Google, and Meta Platforms have also laid off employees.

In fact, some job candidates who already have job offers from various tech companies have been called to have their job offers revoked. This has happened even with big tech companies such as Twitter and Amazon.

With these recent developments, you might be asking if there is still a tech talent shortage or has the labor market has been fully saturated. Is there a global tech crunch, and are we on the brink of it?

Is the war for tech talent over?

Tech Talent Shortage: Looking at the Forest Instead of the Trees

First, analysts quickly point out that there is no reason to panic. When the pandemic happened, and the global economy pivoted online, the products and services offered by tech companies became extremely crucial for businesses and organizations to continue to operate amidst lockdowns and other public health hazards. This led many companies to be extremely dependent on technology to continue to thrive.

As a result, many tech companies padded their employee ranks rapidly during the pandemic to keep up with demand. For instance, e-commerce giant Amazon doubled its workforce during the pandemic as consumers migrated online to shop. Other e-commerce giants, such as Shopify, did the same.

Now, as the global economy slowly emerges from the pandemic and people have begun to go out more for business and leisure, many tech companies realize that they are overstaffed. As a result, they need to streamline and downsize to cut costs and shore up capital. Many tech companies are also making this move to secure their coffers amid ongoing uncertainty in the face of inflation, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the lingering COVID-19 pandemic.

In hindsight, tech job candidates like you should know that the move by tech companies to cut jobs is mainly a move for greater profitability, stability, and efficiency. With pandemic-led growth now winding down, tech companies must pivot from a period of high growth/high demand toward long-term stability amid rising costs and the threat of a possible recession.

However, you must remember that companies do not represent an entire sector or industry. Moreover, one sector cannot represent an entire economy, so let’s look at the forest, not the individual trees.

The War for Tech Talent is Still ON

Is there still a tech talent shortage? The answer is YES.

Data pulled from July revealed that more than 500,000 new jobs in the IT sector were created in that month alone. This is way higher than what analysts projected of only 258,000 new jobs. Moreover, the unemployment rate for the IT sector currently stands at 3.5 percent, the lowest in many decades.

Software development job posts, for instance, increased by 125 percent from 2019, just before the pandemic hit. Aside from this, positions for data scientists, web developers, cybersecurity experts, cloud computing engineers, network architects, and web designers are still plentiful and very much sought after.

So how can YOU as a candidate navigate the future of work in the tech industry with flying colors? How can YOU make the most of the best and worst of times in this war for tech talent?

Continue to upskill and reskill.

Active job seekers and candidates should consider gaining more certifications and learning new tech skills, especially in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and other related fields. These fields and related positions have the highest demand in the job market now and in the foreseeable future.

Widen your options by considering non-big tech companies.

You must be open-minded about working for more companies instead of just high-profile ones. While it remains understandable if you are still obsessing about how to get a job at a big tech company, know that having a career in medium-sized companies or startups is also worth exploring. Not all IT professionals work for Big Tech. Non-tech industries and government agencies also need top-tech talent, so it’s best to expand your options.

Work with a dedicated recruitment or staffing agency.

Consider getting the services of a top staffing agency to help you find that ideal IT job, even during challenging times. Staffing agencies are equipped with personnel who are experts in matching top-tech talent with companies that are suitable and ideal for your particular profile.

Looking for a job on your own can narrow down and limit your options as you cannot cover all possible bases or platforms at the same time. This is where recruitment agencies can help, as they can tap into other platforms and various channels to give you options for prospective companies and a career in IT.

FIND THE TECH OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU WITH FOX SEARCH GROUP.

The Fox Search Group has a long history of helping IT job seekers find professional success. Our team, comprised of experts in recruiting and placement of top IT talent, ensures that you are front and center when it comes to companies that are looking to hire someone of your skillset and caliber. Reach out to the Fox Search Group and win the war for top tech talent with flying colors!