Member Article

A pat on the back from the boss? We’d rather have it from our colleagues!

In many companies, our performance is often calibrated and ranked against our peers. Typically your performance rating, pay rise, and bonus depends on how well you and your team performed against these counterparts. Working in that kind of environment can often cultivate the feeling that our peers are our competition, not our team mates.

Research shows that ‘appreciation for a job well done’ consistently ranks highly as a motivator for employees. Yet may findings will also show that most people don’t feel they get enough praise for the work they do. This is where companies have to put the ball in the court of the employee.

‘It can be challenging across many work environments to have a competitive, target-based culture without team rivalry or worst case scenario hostility. If your team is encouraged to praise each other this is a great way of breaking down these barriers’, argues Paul Tooth. ‘The best way to drive a positive and productive work culture is to get employees to recognise each other.’

By acknowledging each other’s great teamwork, best achievements or even brilliant office morale; it allows nothing to go missed. As a director or company boss you can’t, as much as you may try, see all the great things that are happening all the time. Paul Tooth believes peer to peer praise allows you to see who is making a difference to your team and also allows you to celebrate the successes of individuals.

Paul Harris agreed, ‘It is about trusting your employees to hand out rewards for the right reasons, empowering them within their role to drive brilliance.’

‘I think it’s fair to say in many work places we don’t hear ‘thank you’ or ‘well done’ nearly enough,’ says Paul Harris, ‘At BrightHR the culture is very much the opposite. People share in each other’s successes and it’s an embedded part of our culture to have peer to peer praise.’ From sharing professional and personal successes on the Yammer network, to rewarding your co-workers with collectable points on peer-to-peer website set ups such as Bonusly, BrightHR insists on these cultural values as it forms a drive for success within the team and the business.

Agreeing, Paul Tooth, ‘Brilliance, and employee achievements are critiqued the most by our peers, therefore the drive to achieve is greater, the success you drive is greater and a happy workforce means greater productivity.’

When dishing out praise it is important it is dealt with sincerely and appropriately – and nothing is more rewarding than the acknowledgment of those working alongside you day-to-day. Whether this means publicly noting all their hard work at your next executive meeting, or just dropping by their desk to thank them for helping you perfect your presentation, you’ll build trust and consideration from your peers with simple recognition.

Paul Harris added, ‘it is important to note that employees will grow in confidence as there is no accolade higher than someone you respect and admire taking the time out to say well done. If this culture is encouraged and set in stone from the beginning, this confidence and job satisfaction will boost results and drive those who are perhaps quieter to be more vocal about their creative ideas, because there is trust there.’

Businesses which have a healthy balance of praise and perks within their culture are more likely to maintain across the board a balance of happy, understanding and engaged employees. They are also more likely to retain staff. The difficulty, Paul Tooth argues, is ensuring all your staff feel valued. Some employees will be happy with the smallest of perks or praise, such as a fruit bowl in the office or a pat on the back, and will continue to work hard and deliver results. Other employees will want more noise and need more recognition.

‘It is about striking a balance between making work based perks and the opportunity for praise fair for everyone. The reward then lies in the acknowledgement of the individual,’ says Paul Tooth, ’Interestingly our It Pays to Play research showed 69 percent of Brits would work harder if they they received out of salary rewards.The office needs a base line of perks that are part of the culture, then and only then will you be able to offer separate rewards for productivity and strong results. ’

Paul Harris believes to be happy and engaged in a company you have to be a good cultural fit, therefore it is important not to overlook those who perhaps adopt the culture more easily. ‘Perks shouldn’t create office politics, they should be something that is part of the day to day, part of what everyone on your team expects from the workplace. Rewards and praise should be something that comes to those who deserve them, which is why peer to peer celebration is the most successful.’

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Paul Harris .