When was the last time someone recognized your hard work?
With any luck, it happened recently, maybe even earlier today. But more likely — especially for the millions of employees still working from home — the regular acknowledgement that used to happen at the office is no longer a common occurrence, and its absence is contributing to employees’ burnout and dissatisfaction.
“We’re hearing a lot about the great resignation, but there’s a lot of swapping of talent happening as well,” says Chris French, EVP of customer strategy at Workhuman. “What’s driving that is in part the isolation, loneliness, and erosion of company culture that’s happened in a remote and hybrid setting.”
Workhuman is a human capital management company that provides businesses with software to enable workplace recognition, and allow peers to acknowledge and celebrate one another’s work, in addition to receiving praise from their managers and leaders. The tech-driven solution is currently helping workers connect remotely throughout 180 countries, via simple notes and videos of thanks, or digital awards of excellence.
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Those moments, French says, have the power to recreate the social interactions that happened within company offices pre-pandemic. And while employees may not even know that they’re missing them, increased recognition can lead to higher levels of engagement at work, as well as lower turnover. French spoke with EBN about what Workhuman has observed throughout 2021, how companies are responding to the permanence of hybrid work, and how all workplaces can be more supportive in 2022.
What are your employer clients most worried about as we approach the end of 2021?
How to create social connection and human moments in a hybrid world, because those things impact feelings of belonging and even turnover. Last year was about just dealing with the crisis and getting through the year. But 2021, we’ve been under a different kind of stress, and we’ve seen the systemic erosion of culture and connections. And when people lose the connection between themselves and work, it makes it easier for them to look for greener pastures.
It’s so interesting to hear you say that we’re less connected to work, because at the same time, it’s become harder to separate work from life in a remote world.
It’s true. How can it be that we don’t feel connected to work, and yet, we’re working more than ever? But the answer is, the office was always about more than just the work. You go into the office, you go get coffee or go to the cafeteria, and there are connections with other people. You’re not a robot that goes to the office, performs work units, and then shuts down and becomes a human being only around family, right? You’re interacting with people — and someone might notice you having a bad day, and ask how you are? That’s not happening right now.
And there are certainly groups of individuals who reach out to connect within companies, and even for us at Workhuman, we have huddles and social events, but it’s all more logistically complicated. Before, the physical infrastructure of the office filled in a bit of that gap for social connections, and it helped people deal with stress and build resiliency, because at least everyone had each other. Now, it’s just a relationship between you and the employer. And if that’s all you get from work, you can imagine why people feel isolated.
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So how can people recreate that community in a hybrid world?
Well, HR can’t do it all. Never mind all the logistics of work and school and rules about vaccines and health and safety, and the logistics of getting together for a meeting— let’s leave that all aside — although, of course, that is all extra work. So HR is being asked to figure all that out and fill the giant gap that used to be solved by being in a shared space. One way to do that is by empowering employees to recognize each other’s work. It's one of the few ways where, in this remote and hybrid setting, the people at the company can be part of the solution.
Still, recognition within a hybrid space, even among employees, must be harder to create, right?
Historically, companies looked at recognition as, the company thanks the person. If you have that antiquated view, it becomes more logistically difficult because first of all, managers never saw anything, and in a hybrid setting, they really can’t see everything. So when you put the power in the hands of employees, it’s those people that are on Zoom meetings together. They’re seeing each other work. They’re seeing opportunities for moments of recognition. And that’s where the magic comes from — the frequency of recognition. And that’s why the design of these programs — and how they’re carried out — is critical to the success of them.
How is recognition, like what’s enabled by Workhuman, different?
For example, a company can’t say, “We’re giving everyone $1,000,” because that will get you maybe three weeks of good will, right? But with Workhuman, we’re putting tools on people’s computers or phones — they can access it wherever they happen to be — and let them use pictures and videos. And it’s designed in a way that the primary givers of recognition are going to be regular employees, not managers. Managers are encouraged to recognize their team, sure, but the ideal combination is when it’s coming mostly from peers, and that it’s spontaneous, authentic moments of connection.
But how does recognition make up for all those in-person moments of culture and connection?
It’s similar to when you’d have lunch together, and talk about family and life. Or someone would walk by your desk and say, “Hey, that looks like great stuff.” Those are the reasons why companies invested in real estate. Humans connecting together is powerful and motivating. So that’s why we talk about recognition between colleagues being part of the solution. It turns employees into a collective.
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Do you think employees are aware that they’re missing those moments, or do you think it’s just something that they’ll maybe relish more if and when they’re back in a physical space?
It’s similar to any kind of benefit, right? Like you don’t know that you’re missing benefits if you’re not actually using them, or don’t have an immediate need for them. People are focused on themselves, and their particular situation. But if you ask any employee if they feel differently about work or good about work when other people in the organization see what they’re doing and acknowledge that work, there’s not a human in the world who would say, nah, I don’t care about that. That’s just not how we operate. But it is difficult to put your finger on something in the absence of it. And again, that’s why people are feeling burnt out, underappreciated, and why psychological safety is taking a hit.
Is the idea of peer-to-peer recognition taking pressure off employers and putting the onus on workers?
As a company, this actually allows you to look at data to understand and do more. What is actually happening? What language are people using when they talk to each other? Who’s being lost — is there a high-performing person that no one is noticing at all? For example, we could work with banks to find female executive candidates that are both highly recognized but also maybe being ignored. Or we’ll work with a software company that wants to look at the language males and females use in these moments, within the engineering department, because they know they’ve got glass ceiling problems. So this is able to deliver data to help you find the bright spots within your company, and the dark spots.
What will this look like as we move into 2022?
We just cannot allow opportunities for social, human connection to pass because we’re not in a shared space. Creating loyalty amongst employees, helping them feel like they belong here — without that, you’re going to remain stuck in an environment where people are thinking of leaving. And other employers know that — and they’re recruiting really hard, and they’re calling all of those workers. We need to use recognition, use data, and manage in real time to be proactive and predictive, and find new ways to support our workers. The companies that don’t will be big losers in this great resignation.
