DANIEL PATTERSON: Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for a sneak peek at a new report coming soon from the O.C. Tanner Institute, the State of Recognition in the Age of AI: the employee perspective.
Now before we begin, just a few housekeeping items to take care of. Today's presentation is both SHRM and HRCI certified for one hour of general credit. We'll be sharing the program IDs at the end of today's session, and this presentation is being recorded and will be sent out to all registered attendees by the end of the week.
Okay. Before we dive into today's content, I'd like to take a moment to introduce ourselves for those who may not know us. I'm Daniel Patterson, and joining me today is Cristen Dalessandro.
Cristen is one of our top senior researchers and sociologists at O.C. Tanner who specializes in the study of social inequalities as well as qualitative and quantitative research methods.
As part of the O.C. Tanner Institute, Cristen works on researching workplace culture and the employee experience using a social science lens.
She has a PhD from the University of Colorado Boulder and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Utah.
She has published over thirty articles in peer reviewed journals and her book, Intimate Inequalities, Millennials' Romantic Relationships in Contemporary Times, explores how millennials navigate social and identity differences in their relationships.
CRISTEN DALESSANDRO: Thanks, Daniel. Of course, I'm here with Daniel Patterson. And Daniel is a research manager at the O.C. Tanner Institute who specializes in the psychology that shapes the employee experience.
So in addition to his research, he regularly leads client assessment projects as well as tailored client initiatives that analyze business impact and ROI, specifically with an eye to helping organizations improve their workplace culture. He specializes in mixed method research and holds a master's degree from the University of Utah with advanced studies in research and theory. So welcome, Daniel.
DANIEL: Thank you, Cristen.
CRISTEN: Okay. So now that you know a little bit about us, let's take you through our agenda for the day.
So the webinar today, as Daniel mentioned, is all about introducing you to a brand new State of Recognition report. So this is a brand new report. We haven't done this before. We're really excited about it.
So this is gonna be, again, a first look at the report before it officially drops on our website soon. And, you know, many of you listening probably know about our Global Culture Report, but the State of Recognition report is distinct from that. And so first up, we wanna introduce you to the State of Recognition report, you know, this brand new report out of data from the O.C. Tanner Institute. And, really, what we're covering in this report is the topic of recognition from the employee perspective.
So following our introduction, we wanna give you a broad overview, some of the subjects that we're gonna that we cover in the report, including the employee perspective on the use of AI and recognition, employees' opinions and experiences with symbolic awards in the age of AI, and the importance of personalization when it comes to recognition.
You know, last but not least, we'll conclude with a more comprehensive overview of where recognition is going in the future and our recommendations for where to go from here.
Okay. So let's talk a little bit about the State of Recognition report, you know, the topic of this webinar today. So for this new report, we used both qualitative and quantitative research with employees across the world to get more information on their experiences with and opinions on recognition in the year twenty twenty five.
So, again, this is a bit different from our Global Culture Report research, which covers workplace culture trends more generally. You know, instead, the State of Recognition report is all is about all things recognition.
So before we get into recognition trends, I do wanna talk just a little bit about the general workplace landscape today to kind of, you know, set the story up for you all and, kinda set the stage for where we were going with this research and this report.
So in twenty twenty five, you know, businesses crave efficiency.
And I think especially with the advent of AI, we've been hearing a lot about efficiency in the news. And while efficiency is good, focusing too much on efficiency can risk making the workplace feel a little bit too transactional.
You know, based on our past research and recognition, we know that a purely transactional workplace isn't ideal when it comes to those positive outcomes that we like to see for both employees and organizations.
You know, we also know from our research that recognition can really help the workplace feel less like a transaction.
But we still have questions around that we have to ask, you know, when it comes to the state of recognition today. You know, if anything's characterized the workplace in the last couple of years, it's been change. Right?
And we're in a different place now than we were even a couple of years ago. So what does this mean for recognition?
You know, we need to tackle the question, what does recognition look like today? And in addition, what do employees want out of their recognition experiences?
Answering these questions is really gonna be key to helping us understand how we leverage recognition in order to make the workplace feel less like sort of a, just a soulless transaction and instead a place where employees can grow, thrive, and where we see all those positive outcomes that we like to see.
So we're gonna get into the, what employees want out of their recognition experiences question in a minute. But just to give you a sense of how things are looking right now, you know, we found that recognition is still really important and really impactful when it comes to the employee experience.
You know, for instance, when organizations have recognition integrated into their culture, we found that it increases the odds employees will have a strong sense of connection to their organization by five times, that they'll feel a sense of inclusion by eleven times, and that their feelings of burnout decrease by eighty one percent.
DANIEL: You know, I really like this, Cristen. And, you know, despite the fact that, I mean, obviously, O.C. Tanner is a recognition company, and we at the Institute do a lot of research around recognition. It's still really insightful and to see this kind of data, and then it ultimately, it tells us that recognition is still an important factor when it comes to achieving those really positive outcomes in the workplace.
CRISTEN: Exactly. You know? And while this is interesting, you know, it doesn't necessarily tell us what employees want or what they're looking for when it comes to their recognition experiences. And having this information is really gonna be key when it comes to determining what's gonna make a recognition program successful. Right?
So what do employees want? You know, in our report, we found that a key thing employees are looking for out of their recognition experiences is for their experiences to be meaningful to them. So remember that. We're gonna keep returning to it throughout this whole webinar.
But, you know, how common is this experience? You know, in encouraging news, we did find that sixty one percent of employees would consider their most recent recognition moment to be meaningful to them. So that's great. Right? Sixty one percent.
You know, and while sixty one percent is a decent number, I will challenge you to think about this, as the flip side of that is that thirty nine percent of employees would not consider their most recent recognition moment to be particularly meaningful to them. Right? So this is about a sixty/forty split, indicating that, you know, while more than half feel like there was a meaningfulness component to their recognition experience, we still have a lot of room for improvement here.
DANIEL: And I think this is a really important point that you bring up and something that really stood out in the research.
And, yes, we'll be hearing a lot about meaningful recognition over the course of this presentation. But, it is a reminder that, you know, it's not just a matter of having that transactional experience of recognition, that really for it to have the kind of impact that individuals and organizations really wanna see, that really makes a difference, it needs to be meaningful. And, so there's definitely opportunity for growth here.
CRISTEN: Exactly. Right. And so, you know, all of that being said, what are we talking about when we say recognition should be meaningful or, you know, what does this even mean?
So oh, so this go ahead, Daniel.
DANIEL: I was just saying sorry about that. Quick quick jump on the slides.
CRISTEN: Oh, no worries. But, you know so to answer this question, this is something that really came through strongly in our research, both quantitative and qualitative, when we were exploring this question of, you know, what makes recognition meaningful? Because we kept hearing this this phrase. You know? We want recognition to be meaningful.
And what we've really found is in digging into what employees actually mean by this is that, to put it simply, our research definitively found that meaningful recognition is recognition that connects an employee's contributions to other humans in some way.
So for example, recognition is meaningful when employees understand, you know, how they helped a coworker out, how they may have made a contribution that impacts their team, how their contributions at work impact their community at work more generally, you know, their department, or even things like how their their contributions may have helped clients. Right?
Employees wanna know, what impact did I have ultimately on other humans? And if you think about it, you know, even if an employee's accomplishment isn't necessarily human centric on the surface, ultimately, a lot of what people do at work has the effect or the impact of making the workplace experience better for other humans in the space. Right? Coworkers, leaders, clients, other people involved in the work.
DANIEL: You know, it sounds to me like at the end of the day that, you know, employees really wanna feel that their teams, leaders, and organization recognize and see them for their contributions. That connection to other human beings, humans seeing and recognizing your work is really a big part of what makes recognition meaningful.
CRISTEN: Exactly, Daniel. Right? It's the human element that makes recognition meaningful.
So, for example, you know, here's just a quote from one of our focus groups that really speaks to preserving that human element of recognition.
So this is a focus group participant who's a social worker.
"When recognition does come, it's just special. I save those emails. I save those handwritten comments because they make the hard days easier if you think about or reread some of those accolades that you received in the past."
DANIEL: You know, I love this, Cristen, and I think it's really interesting that the human element of recognition emerged as so important, especially given the advent of AI.
CRISTEN: Right, Daniel. There's that elephant in the room, the advent of AI.
Yes. One of our main findings that emerged from our research was how employees are really reconciling AI and just all of the technological change that's been coming down the pipeline in recent years with the human side of recognition. And, you know, that being said, would you mind taking us a little bit through our findings on recognition and AI, you know, how people are making sense of the place of AI in their recognition experiences?
DANIEL: Absolutely.
So, I mean, I don't think it would be an overstatement to say that everywhere you look today, someone is talking about the transformative role AI is having and will continue to have on the workplace experience, how it will impact our roles, our work, our relationships with leaders, colleagues, and clients.
But when we start talking about AI and recognition specifically, we see the conversation take on some very interesting considerations.
And, namely, what happens when this kind of unique digital experience moves further and deeper into what is for many, historically, an in person experience.
So, I think as, you know, kind of Cristen sort of laid the groundwork, ideas of meaning and human-centric are all gonna really kind of come into play here. Now one thing I do wanna be clear about, even with this setup here, this isn't to say that technology in whatever form it takes isn't welcome in the recognition experience.
And, actually, in fact, our study found that seventy percent of employees believe technology is important to the success of their company's recognition program. But when it comes to recognition, AI represents something different. It's a form of technology with the potential to support the human side of the employee experience or, as some fear, potentially replace it.
CRISTEN: You know, this is really interesting, Daniel. And I think that this stat in particular just really goes to show that although it's the human element that makes recognition meaningful, these are a little bit more complicated. Right? It's not just that we're accepting the human side, which means that we're rejecting technology in some way. You know, we're not rejecting technology. There's something more complicated going on here.
DANIEL: Absolutely. And I think what you're gonna see over the course of some of this data is, you know, some of the findings, what we found was that, you know and in a lot of respects, employees are not as frightened or scared of AI as a technology.
That there's a place and a roll for technology within, not only in the workplace, but within the recognition experience. But there's some really interesting subtleties and nuances that will start to to emerge.
And then, of course, you know, like, the personal recognizing, that personal human connection really is central to the recognition experience.
And this really prompted us to start our exploration with some very, basic questions.
So first of all, what do employees think about AI?
You know, are they using it now as part of their recognition program?
How is it being used? And is it helping or hurting those powerful personal connections that happen when recognition is done right? So, I mean, I guess in short, is AI improving their recognition experience?
As a starting point, we found that eighty percent of respondents reported that their organization uses some form of technology in their recognition program.
So this is not terribly surprising. And this would include features or functions like eCards or award nominations and online stores for redemption.
Now given the growing adoption of workplace recognition programs and platforms, this is a fairly predictable finding and one that actually aligns with our previous research.
Now what was interesting was the discovery that AI has already become a part of many recognition programs and that nearly half of employees have used AI to craft a recognition message.
So how do they feel about this new AI experience in recognition?
Well, the research suggests something of a kind of a middle of the road response.
Just over half of employees feel that AI can improve their recognition experience, and sixty percent believe it can help them create better recognition messages.
We are in the early days of adoption of AI and recognition. So this type of response isn't terribly surprising.
Now that said, while roughly half of employees see the positive potential in AI and recognition, sixty three percent also see a potential downside in that AI will make recognition less personal.
CRISTEN: Right, Daniel. You know, what stands out to me here is the perception that, well, AI might make processes faster or more polished.
Employees are a little worried that it is going to strip out that personal component.
DANIEL: Yeah. Absolutely. And in fact, that very sentiment came through time and time again in our focus groups.
In fact, here's one participant, what one participant had to say, "at the point that recognition is just auto generated, where did it really come from? It's different when it comes from a person. If somebody really took a moment to write out their thoughts and how they felt about whatever it was I'd done, I definitely cherish that more."
And, again, this is the type of concern or feeling that, you know, we heard multiple times from both in our qualitative research, and it kind of came through strong in the survey data as well. And so I guess that the initial takeaway here, is that employees want a recognition experience that is more than just an efficient transaction.
And if AI is going to be a part of recognition, it has to support support genuine human expressions of appreciation that let a person know that they are truly seen, valued, and heard.
So in short, for AI to really truly be effective in recognition, it should serve the human side of the experience. Now we're gonna explore what this looks like a little later in the presentation when we look at some of the data that we found regarding the future of recognition.
But before we move on, I do wanna highlight a couple of stats that really drive home the importance of human connection and the employee experience.
So our research found that employees who feel a sense of human connection at work are three times more likely to feel their recognition as meaningful and four times more likely to feel a strong sense of community in the workplace.
Again, the takeaway here is that need for human connection is really strong, and that when employees have meaningful experiences that support this, the impact is significant.
And, you know, one thing I would also say here, while we kind of highlighted how, Cristen highlighted early on kind of the unique nature of our State of Recognition report, and we're really targeting in on recognition.
A lot of these same concepts have emerged over the years when we do our Global Culture Report. So, you know, I would encourage anyone that wants to, you know, learn more about, you know, the importance of connection and community, as it relates to recognition and creating sort of that thriving workplace culture, we have a real depth of data that exists in those culture reports.
CRISTEN: Right, Daniel. And, you know, I think just to to kind of, wrap up this section before we move on to symbolic awards, I do think that it's, it's interesting that--you know what? I actually just lost my train of thought. I'm sorry.
Interesting. That doesn't usually happen, but, you know, I'm like, talking about.
DANIEL: It is interesting. I mean, it just or did it come back to you?
CRISTEN: No. It didn't.
DANIEL: Oh, okay. Well but I mean, I guess I would just, you know, add to it too that, you know, one of the things that was really, fascinating about the State of Recognition report often, I mean and we're not the only, you know, group, let me now just be transparent here. We're not the only group that is kind of, organization that's looking at sort of the State of Recognition.
One of the, I think, the real differentiators and one of the strengths that our work really kind of brings to this conversation, not only is the immediate research and the findings that we're having, what research, what recognition looks like today and kind of seeing where it's heading. But, also the real, the depth of previous research that we have that we can draw from, that we kind of, integrate into, you know, this type of project.
And also the fact that, you know, what we're finding in this specific report with this specific research, is actually validating years worth of work in this field. So it's actually really exciting to see kind of, you know, how this all comes together and the benefit ideally that it can bring to, you know, organizations.
CRISTEN: Mhmm. And, you know, I guess we're seeing the human, the humanness, in action. Right? Sometimes humans lose their train of thought, but it did come out, which is that, you know, I really think what these data show is that, I guess, AI and technology in the workplace, especially as it relates to recognition, it is a delicate balance. Right?
And we are, when the report comes out on our website, you can read more about this in more depth there. But, you know, it is this balance between, you know, speaking to the human need for efficiency and speaking to that human need for connection. Right?
More generally, but especially as, you know, of course, in this report, we're concerned with recognition, so, we're thinking about it through that lens. Right?
But, you know, that being said, you know, moving on to sort of another topic that we're covering in the report because, you know, again, we're just kinda giving you all a broad overview today of what's in the report and all the topics relate, but, they are slightly different.
So moving away from from the question of AI a little bit, I wanna talk to you all a little bit more about the place of symbolic awards. You know, symbolic awards is something that O.C. Tanner offers, and it's something that, you know, a lot of, they're really a staple in many recognition programs.
And, you know, just because it kind of, as an aside, just, you know, for those of you who might not be aware of what I mean by this. You know, when we say symbolic awards, we're really talking about those physical awards, that are typically given during milestone celebrations. So things like, you know, career anniversaries, or during new employee onboarding, for example.
So, you know, we want to talk about this because, you know, especially given, you know, we're in the age of AI now, everything that's going on in the workplace. You know, there's some speculation that employees, especially Gen z and millennial employees or maybe employees who are kinda just starting out in their career, there's speculation that these groups maybe aren't really that interested in symbolic awards anymore. You know?
People who, you know, things that we've heard in our focus groups, for example. You know, there's questions of, you know, if I work in an office, it's kind of obvious that, you know, I can display my symbolic award for people to see. But if I'm working at home or remotely, there's questions of, does this have the same meaning? Right?
You know, as things move increasingly online, including recognition, you know, is there really a place for physical awards, or is everything going exclusively digital? So as you'll see, you know, we find that symbolic awards actually still have a really big role to play. However, the caveat there is that they have to be done right. And, again, you know, preserving the human side of recognition is really key in determining whether or not symbolic awards are done right or whether they fall flat.
So regardless of where an employee is in their career, you know, we find that employees really appreciate symbolics when they feel their awards are, again, meaningful to them.
So when it comes to symbolics, what does this mean? You know, we know what meaningfulness means. We sort of already covered that. But specifically related to symbolics, what are we talking about here?
So when it comes to symbolic awards, there are really kinda two key points or findings that we have that we found determine the impact of meaningfulness from the employee point of view. You know? The first point that I wanna touch on has to do with whether these awards are custom or generic.
So when we say generic, you know, we're talking about these awards that are not necessarily unique to a particular organization. So these can be things like, you know, an employee of the month certificate that any organization could give or something along those lines. You know, these awards can still be valuable.
However, we see even more of an impact with custom awards or those awards that, you know, reflect an organization's brand, values, and history. So just to kinda give you an example, you know, employees who receive a generic award are twice as likely to be engaged than employees who, you know, don't.
But employees who have received a custom award are four times more likely to be engaged. So we see a jump there with from, generic to custom.
DANIEL: Well and this is really great, Cristen, and I think it makes a really strong case for the importance of symbolic awards. But what is it about both kind of generic and custom awards that make them meaningful as opposed to something that doesn't really make an impact on the employee experience?
CRISTEN: Yeah. Great question, Daniel. And this actually connects to the second point, which is the importance of the employee journey.
So in our research, we found that the employee journey is something that employees are really essentially yearning for when it comes to what, the messages that their symbolic awards convey. You know?
So why do custom awards have such an impact? That seems to be you know, part of it seems to have to do with the fact that custom awards are typically reflecting an organization's brand, values and history, and employees wanna see how the story of the brand connects to their own journey as an employee of that brand.
So when we're talking about the employee journey, what we're talking about here is, and this, again, this is the really kind of the second important factor when it comes to symbolic award meaningfulness. And when we say that an award reflects the employee's journey, what we're really referring to is that it reflects the story of an employee's life and career over the course of their tenure with an organization.
So let me give you an example of what this looks like. This is from one of our focus group participants, and she was very happy with this award.
"Last year, I was, quote, tech of the year, and they actually got me a GOAT or greatest of all time trophy. And they put my name underneath, and they actually used events throughout the entire year recognizing me for things that I had done. So it definitely felt personable because they remembered something that happened ten months ago. They've written it down, and that just made me feel really good."
DANIEL: You know, Cristen, I love this, and I can see in this, in this quote, where this award really speaks to the employee journey because it's a visual representation of all the things this particular employee had accomplished over the past year. And, again, it really speaks to that human need to be seen and recognized by other humans in the workplace.
CRISTEN: Exactly. And, you know, when we look at the stats related to the impact of highlighting the employee journey, I think they really speak for themselves.
So here's just a couple of examples. You know, for instance, when a symbolic award tells a story about the employee journey, employees are three times more likely to be organizational promoters and four times more likely to be thriving at work.
But on the flip side, not keeping in mind the importance of the employee journey can really sink the impact of any symbolic award regardless of whether it's custom or generic.
So here's kind of the dark side. You know, here's another quote from one of our, another one of our focus group participants, that essentially illustrates what not to do. So this young man was not happy with his award experience.
DANIEL: I remember this one.
CRISTEN: Yeah. He said, "my manager handed me a my five year award and just said, oh, here's what I got to give you. I got this in the mail. This is for you. Congratulations. So it didn't really mean too much."
DANIEL: I mean, could we have a better example of an award presentation that is pretty much, like, devoid of, like, the human aspect? I mean, instead of recognizing this employee for their efforts, demonstrating knowledge of their career journey, I mean, this symbolic award moment just really I mean, the only way to say it, it just feels like an empty gesture.
CRISTEN: Exactly. You know, this quote just goes to show that, you know, if you aren't gonna imbue that human element into a recognition experience, a symbolic award or any award for that matter, it's not gonna land well with employees. It's not gonna have the intended effect of making the employee feel like they're seen and valued and, you know, that they're having a great experience at your organization as an employee.
And this really brings us actually to our next discussion point, which is the importance of personalization when it comes to not just symbolic awards, but really all award types. You know, any award that employees receive should ideally have an element of personalization attached in order to really have maximum impact.
So here are just some more stats that illustrate the difference that personalization can make.
Excuse me. And this is looking specifically at symbolic awards, which, you know, we just covered.
But as you can see, receiving a generic award can have an impact on how meaningful an employee perceives a recognition moment to be.
But custom awards have an even greater impact. You know? No surprise there. We sort of already covered that, and I talked about it a little bit already.
But, you know, this chart goes this table goes one step further because when, you know, generic awards are personalized, it increases the odds that employees will feel an award is meaningful to them from two times to fourteen times. So that's a pretty precipitous jump there. But look at this. When custom awards are personalized, it increases meaningfulness by a whopping twenty four times.
DANIEL: Okay. I gotta say the stats guy in me just geeks out in this. I love this. And I really like this because it truly illustrates that even though custom awards are an improvement over generic awards, when it comes to outcomes, when employees feel their awards are specifically personalized to them and their experiences and preferences, it really just amplifies and elevates that impact.
CRISTEN: Right. And, you know, although custom is great, another thing that I like about this table is it shows that even if your organization might only be able to do generic awards, you know, for example, maybe there's budgetary concerns or you wanna make progress with existing award types while revamping your program to include more custom awards. You know, maybe this is what you're working with at the moment. These data show that by making sure these types of awards have that personalization component, you can still really amplify meaningfulness.
You know? So in summary, awards are most impactful when they're also personalized. You know, no matter what kind of award we're talking about here, generic, custom, symbolic, not symbolic, we need personalization for maximum impact. Personalization helps employees feel that any award they receive will speak to them and their unique contributions within their workplace communities.
As you can see, you know, some examples of personalization appear right on this slide here. You know, these are awards that are for Starbucks, and they tell the story of the company, but also of the employee journey as well.
You know, so, for example, the Careerscape, which is, which is that sort of, I guess, rectangle shaped award kind of in the center there. You know, these really speak to the individual employees' journeys while working with the company. You know, each of the little tokens there that's on the Careerscape represents an employee milestone or accomplishment. And so this is something that's really getting at that personalization component. It's representing, it's telling a story about the company and also about, you know, the employee's personal journey with that company.
And, you know, just to kind of hammer it home, here's a quote that demonstrates some of these ideas in action. This is from an IT professional from one of our focus groups.
"For me, it's the personalization behind the award. I wanna know what it's for, not just, quote, 'attendance award.' You know, maybe say, I didn't miss a day for four hundred and sixty four days or something to trigger a memory of that moment. And then if you can, add something special about the person. You know, just say something to say, hey. Yeah. I see what you do, but I see you as well."
DANIEL: You know, Cristen, you know, another thing that really stands out in this quote for me is that it demonstrates the importance of employees being seen by their community when it comes to the personalization process. You know, in order to be seen, employees need to be seen by others, and their leaders and coworkers need to recognize that they've had perfect attendance, for example.
CRISTEN: Right. And, you know, interestingly, personalization refers to the individual, but it doesn't happen in a vacuum. And we talk about this more in the in the report as well. You know, personalization is achieved when individuals feel that their unique contributions are recognized by the workplace community.
And so to kinda give you an example of what we mean here, you know, a very important part of an employee's workplace community is their leader. Right?
And when employees feel that their leader really knows them, it increases the meaningfulness associated with an award five hundred and twenty two percent.
But on the flip side, when it was, when employees feel that the awards they receive do not convey that their leader knows them, so kind of maybe thinking back to, maybe that quote earlier about the, unfortunate five year award experience. You know? The leader didn't really indicate in that example that they really know and see that employee.
When this is the case, the feelings of meaningfulness attached to this award decreased eighty four percent.
DANIEL: I love this. I love always, you know, kind of seeing the positive, but what's the impact when that's not there? And because, you know, again, we're coming back to some similar common themes for a reason. This really drives home the importance of, you know, leaders taking time to get to know their people when it comes to making recognition a meaningful experience.
It's really, and this is something that, you know, again, kind of making that outside connection too. One of the things that we find over and over within our research, in the Institute, and, you know, our Global Culture Report study is that the importance of having sort of that workplace environment where leaders are really connecting with their people and understanding, you know, what is going to be meaningful and impactful, to their people because, you know, the recognition experience is not a one size fits all. It's going to be, you know, it's going to be something different for everybody. And, again, it just drives home that importance of leaders really knowing their people.
CRISTEN: Right. Exactly. You know, as Daniel mentioned, our past research has shown that leaders are important, if not critical. Right? And our current research continues to show that they're only gonna keep being important going into the future.
And in fact, you know, I think this is actually a perfect transition to our next section, which is the future of recognition. So, Daniel, would you mind taking us through what our survey told us about where recognition is going in the future?
DANIEL: I would love to.
And this is really, personally I thoroughly enjoyed this part of our study and our research because while it's always really insightful to understand the state of things in the present, you know, what things people are doing and what's the immediate sort of sentiment, it really becomes fascinating when we start looking at how employees envision the future, and in particular here, the future of recognition.
With so many changes happening in the workplace with work modes and technologies, how employees and leaders recognize each other is evolving, which means for recognition to continue to be impactful, and to really be a meaningful part of the employee experience, we have to understand where it's going and what keeps it meaningful.
One of the main questions driving this is simply, what do employees hope to see from their recognition programs?
Now unpacking this, we wanted to understand a variety of things, including, you know, what are the channels and modalities and practices that employees feel will be most important when it comes to the future of recognition.
And let me tell you, what we found was really fascinating.
Now, as a starting point, we looked at how employees, first and foremost, are interacting with their recognition program now and how they see that changing in the future. And as you can see in the table here, employees predict their engagement with their program through digital modalities, whether that's desktop, mobile, or, you know, flow of work, they all predicted these will increase in importance.
Again, not terribly surprising. We live in a very digital environment, and those technologies are constantly evolving. But what is telling, is the story here of their in person interaction.
So, if you look at the bottom of the table there, currently, forty two percent of employees engage with their recognition experience through in person elements. So those are gonna be things like physical cards or notes or physical symbolic awards.
But when they were asked about how important the in person interaction will be in the future, that figure jumped to seventy four percent. That's a full ten points higher than any digital modality.
Now when we start breaking it down even further, employees say they want more opportunities to engage with recognition in person. And as we can see in the table, the types of recognition employees feel will be most valuable are those that really leverage those in person elements.
CRISTEN: Yep. I really like this table, Daniel. And, you know, I'm also seeing here not only in person practices, but the elements of personalization.
Right? So personalized messages, celebrations, awards, and experiences.
Employees are foreseeing that those are gonna increase in value as we go forward.
DANIEL: Absolutely. Excellent catch, Cristen. You know, the personal and the in person really go hand in hand when it comes to creating a meaningful, valuable recognition experience.
Okay. Now let's shift and talk about the elephant in the room that's notably absent from the room here, and that's AI. So where does AI fit, from the employee perspective, in the future of recognition?
Well, let's start by giving an example of what employees don't want to see. Here's a comment from one of our focus group participants that captures that fear that many people have of AI and recognition.
And this person said, "I gotta admit, if I sniffed out AI on a congratulatory note, that would probably really be a big turn off. If it was my supervisor, he's a Bostonian, so if all of the sudden the message came out as, Mr. Jones, we greatly recognize your dedication, that's not my boss doing that."
Now, great quote. He was actually a really fascinating participant. But, you know, employees are concerned that AI could replace or undermine the human aspects of recognition that really make the experience meaningful.
We all want to know that the communication that we receive, the acknowledgment that we get, we wanna know that it's authentic and that it's coming from a real person with a real voice, and that's especially true if they're from Boston.
Ultimately, employees aren't worried about integrating technology into their practices and programs. They simply want AI, like any technology, to be used appropriately and responsibly.
So what does responsible AI look like? Well, actually, the answer is pretty straightforward.
From our research, we found that responsible AI strengthens and encourages human connections.
Now when it comes to recognition, this means features like AI coaches that maybe help refine recognition messages, but not write messages for you out of thin air.
It may mean features that remind or prompt or encourage meaningful recognition moments. So, really, is there a place for AI applications that leverage efficiencies?
Again, we kind of addressed some of that earlier.
There is a place for, you know, AI to kind of help make, your work faster and easier and easier to manage, and that can go for recognition as well. But what our research really drove home is that efficiency should never come at the expense of or in place of important human connections.
So in short, it's about putting the human experience first, and then, responsible AI practices will follow.
And to maybe just expand on this a little further, your culture can also help shape how employees perceive AI in recognition. So for instance, we found that when employees are part of a workplace culture that prioritizes human connection, one where they feel a strong sense of connection to leaders in the organization, and where they feel a strong sense of community and inclusion, the odds increase significantly that they're going to see AI positively in recognition.
So in the end, we found that when employees look to the future of recognition, they want, they still want to have an experience that is personal and meaningful, whether that comes as an in person moment or as an AI supported connection.
CRISTEN: Yeah. Daniel, if I can just jump into really quick, you know, I really like the table that you just showed because I think what it really illustrates is that it's not necessarily AI or the technology itself that is, that's sort of an impediment to that human connection. Right?
It's we need the the humanness to exist first, and then that actually leads to or relates to seeing AI in a more positive light. Right? And we talk about this more in the report as well that, you know, if there is already a healthy culture at your organization, if employees feel like they have a connection to their leaders, their teams, to other humans in the org, they're more likely to see AI in a positive light and to feel that it's actually something that can enhance their recognition experience or, you know, maybe the experience of them giving recognition, for example, as opposed to something that detracts from or degrades that experience.
DANIEL: No. You're spot on there. And I think if there's, you know, one of the, I think the important takeaways from this research is that, you know, it may sound like an oversimplification to say, but AI is a tool. It's a powerful tool. But it, how you use that tool is really going to be a reflection of what your culture is.
I mean, if your workplace culture is transactional and it's it's productivity over people, then, you know, you're going to see some applications of AI that are going to be transactional.
They're not going to be supportive of the human experience.
They're gonna be trying to replace and just make something more streamlined and effective.
But if you've got it, you know, if you really actively work to build a culture that is about the individual, it's about community, about the sense of belonging, and that ability to connect and thrive, then that's really gonna inform what your strategy for AI in recognition is going to be. Absolutely.
Okay. Well, now that we've blasted you with all this amazing information, how do you put it all into practice? So, as always, we have some recommendations on how you can make this data actionable. And, again, you can, we're gonna kind of hit some highlights here. You can find some more information in the report when that becomes available.
So first, recognition in AI.
As we've kind of said, AI initiatives should always support human connection.
Likewise, you're gonna wanna leverage AI to elevate, not replace recognition messaging.
You know, we wanna ensure that when it comes to the messaging that's being sent, whether it's, you know, eCards or notes or nominations, that human voice and that personality is still there. But AI can be a really helpful tool to coach you in how to make that message even stronger, and more inclusive or celebratory, all these different sort of ways.
And then, third, we wanna balance AI efficiencies with authentic human connection.
Second recommendation. When we come to our symbolic awards, generic awards can have impact, but custom awards are ideal.
Also, I think too and I think it was great that Cristen really highlighted this point. Now this doesn't mean that generic awards, you know, if you as an organization are not in position for whatever reason to really kind of, you know, advance the custom awards, personalizing a generic award is a really great way to kind of drive home that impact and really facilitate that human connection experience.
Second, awards should convey the employee journey. And lastly, symbolic awards that don't speak to the employee journey may actually be unhelpful.
A third recommendation, personalization.
Personalization elevates the meaningfulness of any award, whether generic or custom, and personalization really helps employees feel seen.
And then finally, when it comes to the future of recognition, we, our study, you know, finds that, really what organizations ought to do is regularly audit your program to ensure that it's balancing efficiency with genuine human connection.
Also, you wanna seek employee feedback when considering future offerings.
Again, and I think this kinda came out in some of the charts and descriptions when we were looking at what things employees were seeing as most valuable when it comes to their recognition experience.
That's going to vary. You know, while this kind of reflects the you know, controls for our much larger sample size, you know, the nuances and variances around that will be a little different in every organization. So it's important to get that regular feedback from your employees.
And then lastly, you wanna actively foster a workplace culture that prioritizes belonging and connection.
CRISTEN: Absolutely. And, you know, now that we've given you a lot of information, let's see if we can distill all of that information down into a few key takeaways. This whole big report, what should we take away from this?
DANIEL: I like how we go from, like, all the information, we distill it to some recommendations, and now we're gonna we're gonna distill it even further.
CRISTEN: Yeah. One more layer of distilling, and then we will have some time for Q&A. Okay. So key takeaways. So here's what we think are sort of the key takeaways from everything that we've talked about today, and I realize it was a lot.
But, you know, first, employees want their recognition to be meaningful.
You know, if you remember from the beginning, the heart of meaningfulness is really about connecting humans to other humans. How did this employee positively impact the people around them, including their teams, leaders, and organizations? You know, making this connection through recognition leads to meaningfulness.
And, again, you know, if you can, if for some reason the recognition does not connect in some way, as we saw a couple of examples of this, the meaningfulness just isn't gonna be there, and your efforts are gonna, unfortunately, probably fall flat more than likely.
So second, you know, thinking about symbolic awards, you know, if there are symbolic awards involved in a recognition experience, these awards should tell a story, not just about the organization, but also about the employee's journey at the organization.
You know, as we saw, ideally, symbolic awards are custom, but generic awards can also be impactful as long as they include the elements of personalization and they're telling that story, which brings me to my third point, which is that recognition should be personalized. Right? Even if we're not talking about a symbolic award, we really, we got pretty in-depth on symbolic awards today.
Or but, you know, if we're talking about any award, we should try to get an element of personalization in there. You know? What is it that this employee did that makes them deserving of this award? Employees wanna know, what did I do to deserve this? You know, how did I contribute?
And last but not least, when it comes to AI and other new technologies, be sure to balance the efficiency with in person elements. Right? So employees are looking for the humanity in their recognition experiences. You know, even though AI and other tools can increase efficiency, this shouldn't come at the expense of the human side of recognition.
You know, thinking back to the quote from our focus group participant who had a boss from Boston. You know? He had a very, according to the participant, you know, his boss had a very distinctive way of communicating with him, and even writing out recognition, as he shared in the longer version of that quote. And so if, you know, if he, as he put it, sniffed out that the message was kind of a little too formal, a little too off base from what his supervisor, his boss would actually say to him or about him, then, you know, it's not gonna land.
It doesn't mean anything because the human aspect of the recognition that he would receive from his boss is stripped away. Right? So we have to make sure that we take steps to preserve the humanness of recognition, that employees know the recognition is coming from a human even if AI has helped craft the message in some way.
DANIEL: Excellent. Well, we have made it to the end, ladies and gentlemen, and we have a few minutes left here for Q&A.
Raven, do we have any questions from the audience that we can tackle?
MODERATOR: Yeah. We do. We have a couple of great questions.
Our first one says, do you have any metrics or research around what stops some teams or organizations or leaders from using recognition when the data is so evident that it is useful and impactful?
CRISTEN: Well, I think, you know, one thing that I can see happening is that, or or one thing that we have seen is that, you know, recognition, if it's just a sort of an exercise that checks the box and, again, that doesn't have that personal element, that is something that you know, kind of thinking back again to one of the examples we shared, that it's just a sort of a thing that goes through the motions.
You know, if an organization approaches recognition that way and, you know, that's the employee experience with recognition, it's not gonna have the impact that we like to see. Right? And so if recognition isn't done in a way that preserves the humanness, that follows best practices that we've kinda talked about here and we talk about in more depth in some of our other research, then, you know, we don't see the ROI. And so I think that's a big reason that deters some folks from pursuing recognition.
You know, with recognition, we really need to follow best practices. And I think, you know, there's a whole slew of best practices that need to be followed in order to get the most impact. But I think, you know, thinking about our data from today, sort of the key best practice is to preserve the humanity of it. Right? Make sure that, and, you know, all of the sort of patterns that we talked about, that's really kind of the driving force behind all of them. Right? You know, personalization, talking about the employee journey, how folks are approaching AI.
The question of is it or is it not preserving the humanity of this experience? Is it the center of whether or not employees are receiving that well or not?
DANIEL: Yeah. Excellent, excellent points, Cristen. And I would just add to that too, to the guest's question, we do have a lot of data and metrics around, as Cristen pointed out, all the various advantages and some of those particular obstacles. And one in particular that I think of too, one of the obstacles to sort of recognition adoption, is poor past experience with recognition.
So as Cristen pointed out, if you've been part of an organization or a team or a department where recognition was either impersonal or transactional or inconsistent or inequitable, you know, where it's something that only, like, the select favorites get, you know, recognized. That creates, that is going to have an impact on the individual and their perception of, you know, the value of recognition.
And that's, you know, we've seen specifically in situations of onboarding. So when an employee joins a new organization, if they had, you know, let's say, Organization A, that they're joining, has a strong recognition program, but the previous company that they were at had a poor recognition program, their adoption and seeing the benefits from recognition, there's a kind of more of a learning curve. It takes longer to kinda change those perceptions.
So I guess I would just say to, you know, reinforce what Cristen said.
Personalized, human centric, consistent recognition, really is what is going to create that kind of impact and really allow people to to gain those kind of benefits from the program.
MODERATOR: Awesome. Thank you. We do have one more question. I know we're coming up on time, so I was wondering if maybe you wanted to advance to the credential side so that people can jot those down while you're answering this last question, which is, how do you keep the human touch in a work from home environment? If it is about the element of award plus experience, how can we approach that?
DANIEL: Yeah. Oh, go ahead, Cristen.
CRISTEN: Oh, I was just gonna say, you know, it's interesting. This actually reminds me of some research that we've done, that we've published, that kind of explored specifically that question of, you know, does working from home have an impact on feelings of belonging?
And, you know, maybe surprisingly, it's not actually--working from home isn't as detrimental to belonging as we would think. And I think what really matters is not just that we're face to face. You know, when we say, like, the human element, face to face is great, but it's not, that's not the only way that we can have, that we can convey, for example, that, you know, a leader knows an employee. Right?
It's really those everyday interactions that just add up over time. You know, if you're a remote employee who's working remotely, maybe you work remotely, you know, and you rarely, if ever, see your team in person. You know, if your team, if your leader, if they convey that they, in your recognition moments, that they, you know, see you, that they can tell the story of how you have contributed to, you know, helping the team, helping other humans out. It's really not necessarily about being face to face.
It's really about being able to articulate how this human has helped other humans through the course of their work. Right?
DANIEL: I agree completely.
CRISTEN: That can be done remotely. Right? It you don't have to be face to face. It's really about, you know, how is that message conveyed, if that makes sense.
DANIEL: Absolutely. And I completely agree, and we are out of time. So thank you everybody for participating today.
Again, keep your eyes out, and I know that there are gonna be some emails sent out to the participants in the webinar today to let them know when the report is going to be dropping.
Will be coming soon. But, again, thank you all very much, and have a wonderful day.
CRISTEN: Yeah. Thanks, everyone.
