Alright. Let's go ahead and get started. Welcome to today's webinar hosted by O.C. Tanner.
Because I know that this comes up a lot, you will receive a link to the recording in your email after the webinar is concluded.
It will also be available to watch on demand on our website whenever you would like.
If you'd like to earn HRCI or SHRM hours, those codes will be displayed at the end of the webinar.
So let's get started. Today's webinar is a panel discussion all about how different generations think about recognition in the workplace.
We have representatives from the Baby Boomer generation, from Gen X, a Millennial, and someone from Gen Z.
So just a disclaimer, of course, each generation is made up of a wide range of people with a lot of different experiences. So our panelists definitely don't speak for their whole generation, but this is a time to explore the idea that each generation might have, on the whole, slightly different needs or wants. So let's take a minute to meet our four panelists.
I'm gonna let them each introduce themselves. If you would each tell us your name, your job title, your generation, and maybe a favourite childhood toy. Let's start with you, Maureen.
MAUREEN MULLEN: Hi, everybody.
My name is Maureen Mullen. I'm a marketing award designer here at O.C. Tanner, so I design trophies and recognition items.
I'm a member of Gen Z.
And growing up, I loved, Pokemon. Playing Pokemon was, I love that.
I had a Game Boy.
MODERATOR: Awesome.
Thank you, Maureen. How about you, Stephen?
STEPHEN SHAO: Thanks. Hi, everyone. My name is Stephen Shao. I am a Client Strategist here at O.C. Tanner, so I help our clients with their recognition strategies. And my favourite toy growing up was this little Aladdin lamp. I really did love Aladdin for whatever reason, and I carried that lamp all around with me.
MODERATOR: I love that. I think Aladdin speaks to a lot of us millennials for sure. Selma?
SELMA MLIKOTA: Yes. Hi, everyone. My name is Selma Mlikota, and I'm the director of awards and product management here at O.C. Tanner. I've been with the company for, let's see. It's coming up on twenty seven years now.
My favourite childhood toy was my doll. Her name was Stella.
Stella was well loved. She was actually missing an eye. I remember my mom sewed a button instead of that eye.
And for a good part of her life, she was, without any clothes until my grandma took pity and sewed her a new dress. So, yeah, she was definitely my best companion for many years.
MODERATOR: Aw. She sounds very well loved. And then Linda.
LINDA ADAMS: Thank you, Raven. My name's Linda Adams. I am a sales specialist with O.C. Tanner, supporting our salespeople in several locations.
And my favourite toys were board games, like Monopoly.
I remember one called Shenanigans. I don't really remember what that game was about, but I just remember the name, and I liked it. But that's what I like, playing cards, things like that, where you had to do something and think.
MODERATOR: Can't go wrong with a good board game for sure.
Well, wonderful. Thank you so much to each of you for being here today and sharing some of your experiences with us.
The way that this is going to kind of flow is that I'm going to share a stat or an insight from research from the O.C. Tanner Institute, and then we'll just take a minute to chat about it and and see what you all think.
So let's dive in.
So our research shows that the generations agree that recognition is meaningful when it's given by a leader, personalised, and connected to specific contributions made by the employee.
So I'm wondering, in your experience, what makes recognition meaningful, and do you maybe have an example? I think, Linda, you had a an example for this.
LINDA: Yes. For me, recognition is really meaningful when it's a surprise, when I'm really not expecting anything. I'm just going about my business, doing my job.
When I'm maybe putting extra effort or asked to do something different, I might think about it a little bit, but I'm still not expecting it. A really good example of this in my experience was about a year and a half ago when we closed the physical office here in Southern California, and it was really my responsibility to handle all of that, the movers, the donations, getting everything closed down legally.
And on the last day that I was in the office, the managing director in the area came came in to gather a few things and surprised me with a gold award, and I just was not expecting that. To me, this was just something I was doing. It's what I was meant to do, and I did it. So I love that aspect of surprise when it comes to rewards.
MODERATOR: I love that. Yeah. It sounds like maybe the expectation of a reward wasn't your motivation, or something that you were necessarily seeking out.
But having that kind of validation after the fact really made it more meaningful and special to you.
LINDA: Yeah. Absolutely. It did.
MODERATOR: I love that. Thank you. Anybody else?
MAUREEN: I can contribute to that.
I feel like, recognition that means a lot to me usually comes from someone that I've worked with personally, someone that's been able to see the way I work and what I've done, up close. And so I know that they know what's gone into it, and how much time has been spent, things like that.
An example of this was, I was on a team doing a big initiative for a client, and my portion was relatively small compared to everyone else.
And I wouldn't have been surprised if I wasn't recognised because all I really did was make a small graphic that was included on some products, but I ended up getting recognised with that group. And that was because my leader was able to see what I had done and how I had contributed.
And I think, even though I thought it was a small portion, she was able to see that it was actually, pretty important. That made me feel really good about my work, made me feel like part of a team.
MODERATOR: I love that.
Yeah. And thinking about how other folks in your generation are also, you know, at the beginning of their careers, using it as a time to support and encourage and to make you feel included in in a bigger team effort. I love that.
MAUREEN: Yeah. I should also add, I guess, that I'm also new to O.C. Tanner. I've only been there for about, six or seven months. So I think feeling part of the team, I mean, helps me just feel like I'm doing what I need to be doing and doing a good job.
MODERATOR: Yeah. Absolutely. Anyone else? Stephen, Selma?
SELMA: Maybe I would, I mean, I love how Maureen talked about the fact that it's definitely more special when it's coming from someone you worked with, someone you know, your peer, or your supervisor.
But I would also add that it really is more meaningful when it's timely, you know, when it's given really close to the actual accomplishment.
If it's not, it kinda loses that appeal for me personally and becomes, you know, what I've done, like, a month ago, it became an old news. I've already moved on to a different project. So if it's not done timely, I think, it loses that ability to create a more, kind of a connection to the actual achievement into my team and the celebration. So I think that's definitely something to keep in mind, when when, you know, deciding when to recognise somebody.
MODERATOR: Yeah. And that really goes back to showing that whoever gave you the recognition has been paying attention and has been following the progress of of your effort.
Definitely. Yeah. Stephen?
STEPHEN: Yeah. Yeah. The keyword there to me is time, both timeliness and the timing of it. Because similar to Maureen, I'm relatively new with the organisation, and it's funny. One of the key moments that sticks out is, like Maureen's, maybe a smaller moment to where it was just a little thing that I contributed.
But this was within the first few weeks that I was with the company.
And just because it was, I was so new and I felt seen on this small thing, really, you know, it just meant a lot, disproportionate to the amount of effort, that I felt that I put in.
MODERATOR: Yeah. I love that. We're all so humble.
And I do think that that is the the key to recognition is that most people aren't seeking it out, but it just helps them feel included. It helps them feel like their work matters and it's being seen and valued.
Yeah. Awesome. Thank you.
Alright. Our second stat.
For maximum impact, seventy percent of Millennials think a workplace award should communicate a company's purpose. Among Baby Boomers, that drops a little bit to fifty four percent.
And I wanted to share an example in case, some of you in the audience might not be familiar with how recognition could tie to a company's purpose. But here's an example, from a client. And, Selma, I think you were going to walk us through this a little bit.
SELMA: Sure. I can do that. So this is a custom award that we call a Careerscape. It's basically a miniature trophy collection.
It's a way to, kinda offer a single, a fun place for employees to collect different symbols of their personal achievement, but also a company wide achievements and company history or milestones.
And, they're very interactive, and they actually grow with each employee. So employees are collecting these on you know, based on their careers, you know, celebrating different career milestones or different achievements, maybe trainings they've completed, and and things like that.
And so what you're looking at here is a Careerscape that we did for an organisation called Wellstar.
Wellstar is a nonprofit health care organisation, and people are really at the centre of their organisation. And so everything that Wellstar does and every decision that they make is centered around people that work for their organisation and people that they serve in their communities.
And so, really their mission is to, like, deliver the world class health care to every person at every time regardless of their ability to pay for those services.
And so when we met with them, you know, we had a lot of fun because they've had, you know, they obviously have a very vibrant brand here. As you can see, lots of fun colors. But they had a tons of great stories that they shared with us in our discovery calls.
And, you know, we were trying to figure out, how do we capture those stories and, you know, package them neatly in a symbol that then carries that story from, you know, one person to another.
And so, I'm not gonna go through all of the examples here, but just couple of those.
For an example, this icon that says joy.
Well, ninety percent of Wellstar employees say that they have joy at work. This is according to their company wide surveys.
And so it is very important to the company to nurture that feeling of joy when you come to work. And so they've created a symbol to capture that.
The little nesting dolls right next to it is, again, they're a nonprofit health care system. They're very proud of it. And so they're focused on community, and so that's why they have this, you know, the nesting doll, thing, icon next to it that says, you know, we are here to take care of you from start to end of your life in this community.
The megaphone you see on the back kind of, in the back here might be something that kinda might appear a little unusual for a health care organisation. However, they wanted to give a nod to their commitment, to their mission, to honor every voice and hear everybody.
And so what better way to capture that commitment than to, you know, create an icon of megaphone?
And so there's, you know, other icons that are more representative of what they actually do as a health care organisation such as the nurse's hat or the flowers and Band Aids and things like that. But, basically, you know, sharing those stories, we were able to capture things that the company really values, their mission and their purpose in these symbols that are then rewarded and collected by their employees.
MODERATOR: I love that. Thanks for walking us through that. I think it's such a fun example of connecting purpose to recognition.
So thinking about that stat that I shared, seventy percent of millennials think a workplace award should communicate a company's purpose. Maybe we'll start with you, Stephen. What do you think? Do you think awards should connect to company values?
STEPHEN: Well, Raven, you gave that lovely disclaimer about how we do not speak for our generations.
But, as a Millennial, let me speak for all of us in answering this question.
And so, you know, like Millennials and myself personally, we really place an emphasis on career mobility, as a means of career progression.
So that being said, I wanna work for a place that not only I get the highest wages on, of course, but that also has a mission, that has values that I really believe in.
And as Selma so lovely demonstrated, these types of awards really are a feedback loop that can really accurately reflect that connection between the organisation and the values and the people that they hired to actually employ those values.
So, absolutely, I do think that awards should connect to the company values, because that is a tangible way to show that, yeah, we practice what we preach.
MODERATOR: And you know, Stephen, the research really does back you up that Millennials as a generation, and I'm part of that generation too, are looking for companies that, you know, connect with their own values that, you know, take part in their communities, that have, more than the service or product that they're offering, but that have a community of giving back and supporting each other. So I think I think that rings true to me as well.
Anyone else?
LINDA: Well, as the Baby Boomer on the panel today, fifty four percent. Well, at least it's more than half, and I would definitely count myself in that group of people who think the award should connect to company values.
But I'm wondering if maybe the other portion of that people find that it's more their personal pride for their work and not so much connected to a reward that they might receive, that they know they've given all their best on that particular day and each day that they come to work. I think that's very satisfying for someone in, my group.
MODERATOR: Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. Selma?
SELMA: I don't know. For some reason, this question kinda reminds me, that, you know, O.C. Tanner has been a proud sponsor of Olympic games for many, many years, you know, going way back to, like, the 2000s when we started sponsoring the gold rings for our US athletes and para-athletes later on. And then also, you know, in 2002, we did the medals for the Olympic games. And so there's one quote by one athlete that I can't remember the name of the athlete, but he said something, I'm gonna paraphrase, that gold medals are really not made out of gold. They're made out of, sweat and tears and determination and hard to find alloy called guts.
And so I think, recognition awards are, when they're well thought out, they're like these gold medals because they kinda represent that commitment.
It's not just a physical object that I receive. It's a reminder of my commitment and dedication, and then the values that I've, you know, inserted into achieving this award. And so if those values then, coincide with the values of the company, I think that really paints a clear picture of how my individual contributions, contribute to the overall good of the company and overall mission and goals. And so I personally think that, you know, there is a really strong reason why we should make that connection between the the company values and our award.
Because I think we've all been at the receiving end of a gift card, you know, for staying late or, you know, doing a little something, and then you receive a gift card. Then, you know, ten days later, you forgot what you used that gift card for. Maybe you put some gas in your car or maybe you bought some groceries. You know, maybe you bought a coffee at Starbucks, something like that.
But those things just don't have the lasting value. Not that they're not, there's always a place and time for these types of awards.
But if we're looking for something that will have the lasting value, that will have that reminder, oh, I got this when I was on that project, and we achieved x y z. I think we really need to be very intentional about the type of award we're giving, and we need to make that connection to that value and mission of our organisation.
MODERATOR: I love that.
And I think about somebody, you know, from your generation and especially someone like you who's been with a particular company for a while, you know, collecting, those symbolic, momentum, testaments to your work. Yes.
Yeah, and to your community.
I can see how that would be really valuable.
MODERATOR: They're just lovely conversation starters too, not just at work, but also at home where you just take that those values at home, and then you have that conversation with your family members, your children, your spouses. You know? And so they're just, I think there's a very, a good story behind it and a reason to make that connection.
MODERATOR: Alright. Should we move on to question three?
So according to our research, once basic needs are met, if we're thinking about kind of, workplace culture as a whole, three key elements elevate an employee's sense of thriving in the workplace, and those are flexibility, skill building, and career development. So my question for you is, you know, which elements of this thrive index speak to you the most?
Maureen, you wanna kick us off with this one?
MAUREEN: Yeah. Totally. I think this question is really interesting because, I think our answers will vary depending on, like, where we all are in our careers and things like that, even what's happening in personal lives, which I think is important when it comes to, like, what point in your life you're at.
And since I'm so new, relatively new in my career, I've been a professional for four or five years at this point. So really, really not very long. And I'm also new at O.C. Tanner. I think that out of these three, the most important thing to me is skill building and career development, maybe career development being number one.
This is because I as a twenty six year old, I'm just thinking about what a workplace can provide to me in terms of what my future will be like. So when I accepted this job at O.C. Tanner, I was trying to imagine, what my life would be like five years down the road or ten years down the road. And I think after discovering that O.C. Tanner has so many long tenured employees, that was a big, you know, that was a huge green flag to me. Like, lots of people love sticking around, and seem to be able to be mobile, stay interested, things like that.
So I think working in a place that's empathetic to the idea that I am imagining my trajectory and trying to decide what I would like to do next, I think is a big deal to me.
MODERATOR: Yeah. That being at in the early stages of your career and really wanting to build a solid foundation.
Mhmm.
That makes a lot of sense to me. Linda, as kind of our generational bookend, which of these speaks to you the most?
LINDA: Well, I would say at this point, flexibility.
Since I'm more towards the end of my career, I'm not looking to develop more career paths. But skill building is still very important to me, and I'm grateful that our company offers a lot in that direction.
And it's for my job because it's kind of a, I'm a utility player in many ways. I need a lot of different skills, so that's still very important. But I would say flexibility.
This year marks my thirtieth year in full time employment, not all at O.C. Tanner, but seventeen, over seventeen years here at O.C. Tanner.
And they are so great about flexibility, and, hopefully, that's changing in most workplaces, I think. But, you know, when COVID happened, it forced companies to be flexible in a lot of ways.
But, like, it just makes me think of a personal story. Again, like, two years ago, my son was who lives in Denver was in a bad car accident, and I literally had to gather up my computer and monitors and jump in the car and drive to Denver from California.
And it was a seamless transition for our company. I had full support of leadership.
One day, I was in California working. The next week, I was in Denver, and none of my salespeople knew unless I had reached out and told them. It was very seamless.
And that's something that's priceless. When a company and leadership support their employees in that manner. With that kind of flexibility and, you know, it would have been nice to be at O.C. Tanner when my children were young to have more flexibility than I did in the companies I was at the time. But, I'm really appreciative of it now.
MODERATOR: Yeah. I was thinking when you were talking about how, you know, our research shows that flexibility isn't just about, like, the hours that you work, but it's, you know, how you get work done, where you get work done, when necessary.
I'm just glad that you had that support that you needed when you needed it.
LINDA: I did, and I had to be in Denver for almost two months. So it was, you know, a short term thing in some regards, but long term in another way to look at it.
MODERATOR: And that kinda goes back to company values that we were talking about earlier. Right? Feeling like your company is walking the walk. Yes. What about our two folks in the middle? Selma, Stephen, any thoughts on this question about the Thrive Index?
SELMA: Wow, Linda, that's that's a powerful story.
So glad that you were able to be there for your son.
I would agree with Linda. Flexibility is probably, at this stage in my career, is probably number one.
You know, just the ability to balance the personal and professional life. You know? I've got kids in soccer that I'm chasing around with their soccer schedules and busy teenagers. You know? And then, but, also, it's a little bit about, you know, maybe selfishly about some personal fulfillment.
I feel like I'm at this stage of my career in life where I can give back and maybe contribute to the causes that I care about personally.
And so, you know, I always look for opportunities to serve on nonprofit boards and get involved in the community. And so having the flexibility to do that, it's huge for me.
But I also wanna say that while I might not be, you know, completely, like, focused on career development, I still have few years left. I feel like skill building is also very important to me, especially in this age where, you know, technology is rapidly developing.
AI is just just about in every aspect of our life now. I feel very fortunate to have the support of my leadership to continue that skill development to stay relevant to my workplace.
So I think that would come as a strong number two place for me.
MODERATOR: I love how you brought out the flexibility to serve in your community. I would say that's the opposite of being selfish. It sounds like you're very, you know, service oriented, and that that brings a lot of value to you.
But I think that's such an important piece. And maybe especially for, you know, Millennials and older, who are trying to give back to their communities in ways that feel meaningful to them. That's really cool. Yeah. Stephen, any last thoughts on this question?
STEPHEN: Yeah. I'm gonna cheat a little bit and say all three. Mhmm. And really because I'm in the middle, firmly in the middle of my career.
And along with that, I'm firmly in the middle of starting a family. And so having the ability to not sacrifice one for the other. That's really key, and I think the most important word in this question is thrive. Right?
Just being able to be somewhere at an organisation to where I'm not just working to work, and I don't have to miss anything for the family or miss anything important for work and having all those, the flexibility, while also being able to build the skills I need to grow in my career as I'm right in the middle of it. So to answer your question with a with a bit of a cheat there.
MODERATOR: No. I think what you're saying about wanting to kind of have it all, I think that's another hallmark of our generation perhaps of, we really expect to be able to have meaningful work, but also balance that with our home lives, our community lives, etcetera. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense.
Alright. So our fourth stat, when it comes to the frequency of recognition, Gen Z and Millennials are fairly comparable with seventy percent and seventy two percent respectively having given recognition within the past thirty days.
And then Gen X and Baby Boomers are just a little bit less so, sixty four percent and fifty eight percent respectively, having given recognition within the past thirty days. So we've talked a lot about how it feels to receive recognition.
I'd like to hear a little bit about what motivates you to give recognition. What does that look like for all of you?
Stephen, do you wanna kick us off on this one?
STEPHEN: Sure. As as a millennial, I'm firmly in the MySpace generation, and that goes into really wanting to both be seen and to see others. And that to me really is the motivation around giving recognition, showing that, well, right, I see you. I see you as both a human. I see you as a coworker.
I want to be seen. I want to be valued just as a human being.
And in a lot of ways, that ties into work because at the end of the day, just we're people. Right? We've got these these core behaviours that we all have and these needs that we wanna have and these psychological traits. And so it really just comes down to wanting to be seen, and seeing others.
MODERATOR: Yeah. That's so vital to just being able to show up at work as a as a whole person. Right?
Mhmm.
What do the rest of you think?
What motivates you to give recognition?
SELMA: You know, Stephen, I can echo that because what you said reminds me of an interview that I watched with Oprah in which she was saying that, you know, she had all these famous people constantly on her show, right, doing the interviews with them, all these movie stars and politicians and whatnot.
But she would say at the end of every interview, when the cameras are off, everybody would lean over to her and say, how was this? Did I do good? You know? Did I do what you wanted me to do?
So that insecurity, that human, like, desire to do well and to be seen for who they are, you know, comes through no matter who are you talking to.
And so, you know, in the end, I think we all just show up and, you know, we're worried, wondering about three things in our life. You know? Do you see me? Do I matter? And am I making a difference?
And I can totally relate that to my early career when I was, you know, showing up at work, totally insecure in my skills, not quite knowing what I'm supposed to be doing, and just craving that feedback. Like, did I do right? Did I do okay? You know? Could I have done it better?
You know? And so I think it's really important for me now to give that reassurance to people, to those around me that I work with. Yes. I see you. And, yes, you do make a difference on this project or on this team or, you know, yes, your opinion does matter.
And so that's kind of the motivation that I feel internally because I know I crave that myself. So I try in return to give that to the people around me.
MODERATOR: Selma, I love how you have empathy for, you know, the you of your early career and also for probably other people around you who are earlier in their careers. You remember what that felt like, and you take steps to help them feel encouraged and like they're on the right track.
SELMA: Yeah. That awkward feeling where you want to lead, but you're not quite sure if you're supposed to. You know? So getting that reassurance from a senior member of your team or a leader, you know, means a lot. So, that's my driver in giving recognition.
MODERATOR: Well, with that in mind, Maureen, how do you like to give recognition?
What motivates you?
MAUREEN: Well, I'll say, Selma's answer is great because I feel like as a pretty brand new employee, I have gotten recognition for maybe small things that I've achieved. They're still achievements, but they're small things.
And I can tell that it's people wanting to make sure that I feel confident and things like that, which I think is great and has been really helpful for me feeling, being able to build relationships here, and things like that.
But since I'm someone that is, has been utilising a lot of my mentors around me, getting trained on a lot of things, making a lot of mistakes, and, like, having people help me out, I love to give recognition to people that are pretty senior, and that have put a lot of time that they didn't really need to put time in, you know, not necessarily having to help me out of things that I'm just, like, you know, clueless about or getting used to.
I just want to make sure that the people around me know that I do appreciate it. Like, it's important to me that if I'm making a mistake, like, I'm appreciative of people that are willing to help me and, like, show some grace towards me, and things like that. And I think that's great for building relationships too.
MODERATOR: That's such a great point.
I think we talk a lot about maybe peer to peer recognition, so recognising, you know, your teammates. And I think we talk a lot about leaders recognising their employees. I don't think we talk a lot about people recognising those that are more senior than them, and I think that creates such a virtuous cycle. Right? You're being mentored by somebody, and then you're expressing gratitude for that mentorship. I think that's really, really beautiful.
Yeah.
Linda, any thoughts on oh, go ahead, Maureen.
MAUREEN: Oh, I'm sorry. I was just gonna add that, just yesterday, my direct manager was, it took an hour out of his day to show me how to use a specific software that I need to learn to use, voluntarily. And so I was like, oh my gosh.
I'm gonna give this guy, you know, something, some points!
Yeah. And he didn't have to do any of that, but he's very willingly helping me. So yeah. Go ahead, Linda.
LINDA: That's awesome.
I couldn't agree more with everything that's already been shared. But for me, motivation to recognise people comes with maybe some of those small things or just the, not seeing things. Maybe something only I know about. And a perfect example of this, I actually gave recognition for something like that this morning just so I could make sure I'm in that fifty eight percent.
But really, I had sent an email late in the day long after this person, who's in a different time zone than me, was gone for the day and just asked a question if he had some examples of, some information that I needed.
And I expected that he would answer, didn't know when. Well, when I came back this morning, not only had he answered my questions, but in his explanation, he explained that he had actually walked to a different floor in the company, gone and personally talked with people to get more specific information than what he could give and then sent all of that back to me in an email. And to me, that's a small thing, but it's behind the scenes. Nobody else knows about it.
But it was a little above and beyond to go that far. I was expecting maybe he would know something off the top of his head. Give me one example, but, no, came back with a whole list that I could then go and look up some some additional information.
So I gave an ecard with fifty points for that. But I think being on an internal behind the scenes team like I am, I'm not out in front. I'm not client facing.
I serve the salespeople and then other internal teams. To me, it's really important for internal teams to be recognised, people on them who are doing those kinds of things. I preach that to my sales teams on our monthly meetings. About once a quarter, I'll remind them, hey. Don't forget about your internal teams and, you know, give some recognition to people who are supporting you. That's what motivates me.
MODERATOR: That's so great. I mean, I think back to recognition that I've received, and some of the most memorable, meaningful ones weren't, you know, the bigger awards or things that anybody else would have seen. But that one person who saw me doing something and thought to take that the next step and reach out, I think that can be so meaningful.
Any other thoughts on this before we move to our final stat?
Alright.
So, this last stat is talking about whether awards encourage you to do your best work. So when we surveyed folks, seventy percent of Millennials said yes, Fifty one percent of Baby Boomers said yes. So this is a question for the whole group.
What do you think? Do workplace awards encourage you to do your best work?
We can start with you, Linda, if you want.
LINDA: This is a tougher one for me. I see two sides of it. Yes, in some ways, but I might find myself more in the forty nine percent just because to me, a personal work ethic is the most important thing. I need to know that I'm giving my very best whether or not I'm seen, rewarded.
It's just something very personal to me, and, maybe people in my age group, work tenure group, would think that same way.
Most of us, in probably, in the beginning of our careers, I know this was true for me, there wasn't really such thing as a recognition.
You know? You were glad that you got your paycheck every two weeks and weren't fired the next Monday when you walked in. You know? It was more of that mindset, probably back when I started in a full time career.
So maybe that carries over in some ways.
MODERATOR: Yeah. Like we've talked about, I'm sure some of that is personal. You know, you're just a very intrinsically motivated person. I am curious and wondering if it is a generational difference.
I, as a millennial, I don't know. I'm a gold star sticker person. I like to know that, you know, what I did was, not only right, but that somebody else noticed. That makes me sound like a horrible person.
But, Stephen what do you think as another millennial?
STEPHEN: Well, if my boss is listening, awards do not encourage me to do my best work. It's there every day.
But I don't think she's listening. I do think that you hit it on the head with, I do think there is a generational gap in this.
And in large part, it, not to go down a rabbit hole, but with social media and that really feedback, that feedback loop.
MODERATOR: Mhmm. That makes sense.
STEPHEN: Yeah. That we're the generation that, started with that.
But to to really answer this question, truthfully, there is some of that intrinsic motivation that Linda said that, of course, that's what we're paid to do. Right? We're here. This is the job. It's like that madman quote. Oh, that's what the money is for.
But to me, I, and this may seem a little bit vapid or vain, but, yeah, sometimes it does give that little extra push of knowing that, okay, it's not just taken for granted.
Like, that again, going back to the point of feeling seen and being seen and knowing that these efforts are not under-appreciated.
And it's not, I do wanna make the disclaimer. It's not something to where, yes, if I do something, then, yes, I need to get rewarded with points or a shout out. No. That that's not the case.
Right? But just having something to where again, saying, oh, okay. I see you. I see the effort.
It may be big. It could be this small little, small little thing, but I do see you.
MODERATOR: What about you, Maureen? What do you think?
MAUREEN: Yeah.
I think what Stephen said about being seen really makes sense to me. And what I was thinking, you know, when I heard this question was, like, I'm not, like, doing extra stuff at work because I'm like, I better get, you know, points for this or something. Or, I don't know. I better get an award for this.
Like, that's not really what I'm thinking. It's like, I would do this stuff because I'm here to do it. It's my job. But what makes it, what makes me feel extra happy to do it is, like, the people that I work with and caring about the people that I work with, and also caring about projects.
And I think sort of, like, having, like, an ecosystem or, like, a system where, like, people are able to recognise each other really easily, you know, whether that's, like, a software thing like O.C. Tanner has, or just, like, a culture of people vocally thanking each other or building, like, a work friendship around that, being appreciative of each other, out loud, I think, just makes me want to really come through for people, and make sure people know that I see the needs that they have, and I'm willing to help. And, also, I'm grateful for them, and they're grateful for me. And, like, that's a really supportive, like, positive way to work, I think.
So it's not just about the material things, even though those things are nice and an effective way to communicate gratitude to people, but it's about, being able to build, like, interpersonal relationships at work that feel really worthwhile, and, like, a positive thing to show up to every day.
MODERATOR: Yeah.
If we're going to be you know, we're around our teammates just as much or more than we're around anyone else in our lives, we wanna build those relationships.
And I know that the research does back up that idea that it matters that you have friends at work, that you have those relationships. That's going to impact your mental health inside and outside of work and how you feel like you can show up every day. So that's that's a really good point. Selma, any thoughts?
LINDA: Well, I was just thinking about, like, you know, the ecard that I gave today. I've used those cards throughout my time at O.C. Tanner to develop relationships with people that I need to have communication with.
You know, I think about it this way. Sometimes I need to cash in a chip for a favour on something. You know, I need something rushed, and recognition is a great way to develop the lines of communication and like what Maureen just said, you know, friendships.
And even though I'm not at corporate, I have to work with people at corporate, and they need to know who I am. They need to know that when I have a request, it's important. And I just think recognition is a great way to do that. Even if you're not giving points with every card, having a programme like that in place really helps people across the miles to feel connected with those that they have to work with in other locations.
MODERATOR: Yeah. That's a great point.
SELMA: You know what? Nothing more to add that hasn't already been said, Raven.
It's not necessarily that, you know, I am expecting an award, and it'll encourage me to do my best work. I think, you know, the work ethic, my personal work ethic will dictate that I will do the best I can in on any given day.
But it does sure help to make you feel seen and valued and appreciated.
And so, you know, working through a really tricky project or staying late, you know, if you don't have that tap on the shoulder to somebody that says thank you, you know, I've seen what you've done over the last month. I've seen that you sacrificed you know, with your family just to stay late and get the order out or whatever that might be. You know? It would be really hard to continue doing that without that loop you know, feedback loop.
And so I think, I really do think that recognition is super important. And like Linda said, it doesn't always have to be monetary. It doesn't have to be a big trophy. You know?
It's just a simple thank you and tap on the shoulder to say I've seen you. I recognise you, and I, yeah, appreciate the effort. So, so the answer is probably yes for me. They do help and encourage, you know, the best possible me showing up at work every day.
MODERATOR: Awesome. Any concluding thoughts from the four of you before we turn it over to Q and A?
SELMA: No. It's just that it's been really interesting to listen everybody's, you know, what you do and where you kinda might differ. So it's been a super interesting conversation. Thank you for inviting me, Raven.
MODERATOR: Yeah. I think, I think maybe what this has shown that there are some areas maybe where the generations differ and that something to do with how long you've been in your career, or just, you know, like, Stephen, you pointed out growing up with social media and how that changes things. But then I also just think we're a lot more alike than we are different. Right? I think that's what I'm taking away from today.
I have my teammate, Whitney. Whitney, are there any questions in the chat for our panel?
Yeah. So one of them is, what about teams that might not have a desk job? Are there any thoughts on what sort of physical awards there would be possible for that?
Yeah. Selma, I'm gonna hand this one to you if you have any thoughts there.
SELMA: Yeah. We actually get that question a lot. Like, well, you know, I don't have a physical office, you know, to display an award. And, you know, my answer to that is always, you know, I work with a group of graphical and industrial designers like Maureen and her coworkers here, teammates.
And we really, when we get together with the client and we start designing a custom award for them, we really never design an award for an office space.
We design an award with a person with an individual recipient in mind.
And so a good example to kind of paint that picture would be that Careerscape that we did for Wellstar.
If you think about the nurses, you know, many of them don't have an office space, but it is a personal thing for them to take home and display at home if they want it and have that conversation starter to go home and say, I've earned this because I've achieved, you know, x, y, and z.
One of our very first clients that adopted the idea of a Careerscape was actually FedEx safety driver programme. And if you think about the safety drivers of FedEx, you know, they clearly don't have an office. But to them, it was very important because their company value is, like, you know, safe driving. Right? And so after every so many miles of safety, of driving without any accidents, these drivers would, you know, earn these different icons.
And so for them, when we did a little study group with them, you know, it was very important to, and very prestigious to earn these milestones and then go home and have that conversation with their families to say, this is why I earned it, and this is why, you know, safe driving is important. So, yes, many of the people that we work with, many organisations that we work with, they have employees that don't have physical offices and spaces. But, again, we design these specific awards, with the individual in mind rather than a place where they will display it. So, hopefully, that answers the question.
MODERATOR: Yeah. Thank you, Selma. I was also thinking about how, I know, we've done, our institute has done quite a lot of research into, you know, how to make sure that deskless, offline, frontline workers feel included. And there is this desire among that cohort to feel like they're part of the bigger picture, to feel like they're contributing to something bigger, to feel that connection to the company's story and to the mission of the company. So I just think anytime we can provide that kind of validation and connection, that's just gonna be great for them.
LINDA: I think too that's where the social wall of recognition programme that's online comes into play.
For instance, you know, in our company, when somebody gets a nominated award that shows up on the social wall, and then people can go out there and comment. And then the points that are associated with that are personal to the person because they can go out to the award store and choose something of their liking. But I think that visibility, especially for younger people, those types of recognitions that are visible on, you know, some, a company's own intranet to each other, and then people can take that out to, you know, their Facebook or LinkedIn or wherever they want to and receive, you know, more recognition that way. But, that type of medium, I think, is really helpful for those people that are working, like you said, in an offline, no desk, no office situation, they can still have that visibility and participate in the recognition.
MODERATOR: Absolutely. Love that. Thank you. Whitney, any other questions?
Yeah. This one is, in regards to career development.
This person would love to hear the panel's feedback in which ways they have learned best with learning opportunities that their companies provide. She's interested to see if there's a generational preference, if you prefer two to three minute video trading or interactive game training, things like that. It's if it varies within each generation.
That's a great question. Yeah. What do you think, panel?
STEPHEN: Yeah. Maybe I can start with this.
I wonder if it does have to do with the the social media being online aspect. So I'm curious, what Maureen thinks about this as well.
But I definitely prefer those little snippets, the couple minute videos or some sort of gamification or really that self-service model to where if I have time and just doing it doing it online.
I'm so used to things at my fingertips. So, I wanna learn at my own pace, and I wanna be able to access it, whenever or wherever I want. So, that's really what resonates with me.
Thank you. Yeah. What do you think, Maureen?
MAUREEN: Yeah. It's an interesting question because, most of the career development I've done at this job has been learning certain softwares, and so it's usually a longer process than just a couple minutes. So in my experience, yeah, a bit harder for me to answer.
But I do think that, like I'll just use an example. Last quarter I chose to learn a software course, and I signed up for a class, and it was something that I could do over the course of a couple months on my own whenever I had time.
That was the best way to do it. There really weren't due dates, and it was all up to me, because I had to balance client work at the same time. And so I think being able to sort of schedule that out for myself and manage it myself, I think, was just fine.
And I could do it for a couple minutes a day, decide how, you know, in-depth I was gonna get, choose for myself, like, how important certain things were to my specific, you know, job position or what I do daily, and then really get into the ones that I thought were, you know, a big deal or, like, would be really helpful.
So I'm not sure if that's incredibly helpful in terms of, for development internally, but, I think just flexibility, to be able to balance it with with life and and work at the same time with what I'm already doing, is helpful.
MODERATOR: And that kind of, like Stephen said, that self-service model of picking when you do it, and maybe even what kinds of trainings you wanna do.
Yeah. Linda and Selma, any thoughts?
LINDA: Well, I know one thing we have here out on the Intranet is a link that's called pathways so that you can go out and look at the various departments and the roles that are available within those departments.
And the reason I know that is I was part of the project about two years ago to populate those different departments and roles with training modules that I would go out online and associate with either, you know, a training through LinkedIn or, you know, a personal trainer in some type of discipline, etcetera, and then link those to those pathways.
So for our company, there's a way to go out, and, then you can just click into those trainings and take them yourself. So I would actually take them, you know, whether it was just on, I don't know, different software, you know, even programmes, you know, like Word or Excel or something like that, and I would link depending on what the job skills were required for each of the different positions within the departments.
So, you know, in our company, somebody could go out to Pathways and say, well, maybe I'm interested in doing a career transition into some other, you know, position or maybe a lateral move, maybe an upward move, and they could actually go out there and receive some of the training through that that they might need for it.
MODERATOR: Mhmm. Selma, any last thoughts?
SELMA: I've actually spent fifteen years of my career in training development, which Linda will know well.
And so I studied a lot about adult learning principles. And I think in the end, it's really the mix of, you know, the variety.
And so I think we know now that people learn the best by trying things out, you know, touching, feeling, experiencing.
And so, I think it's just the mix of everything. I don't think it's the matter of generational preferences as much as it is to mix things up and allow people to test things out and touch and feel and, you know, play with the system or, you know, have a role play or, you know, whatever that might be, I think kinda boils down to that variety of different experiences in order to solidify that knowledge.
MODERATOR: Love that. Thank you. Well, I know we're almost at time. I wanna make sure that you all get those codes that you need if you want to submit those for your credentialing.
Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you to our panelists.
And we look forward to having all of you join us again in April when we're gonna have our researchers on to talk about emotional intelligence in the workplace and what the latest research shows about that. So thank you everybody, and have a good rest of your day.
