Page 243 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

230B RE-ENGAGE

opportunities to invest in and energize employees, which, as we know,
leads directly to more enthusiastic customer service and better follow-
on performance.

: WHY MANAGERS AND LEADERS FAIL TO RECOGNIZE
EMPLOYEE CONTRIBUTIONS

Of all the ways of failing to value employees, there is one that proba-
bly accounts for the greatest number of missed opportunities to pump
up engagement: recognizing an employee’s accomplishment or contri-
bution as soon as it occurs.
There are understandable, though unacceptable, explanations for
why managers and leaders fail to do this:

: They believe they are too busy to take the time.
: They actually have the time, but are not paying enough at-
tention to the employee’s performance to notice the contribu-
tion.
: They believe “if you don’t hear from me, it means you’re do-
ing a good job.”
: They believe “employees shouldn’t expect me to pat them on
the back all the time for just doing their jobs . . . their pay-
check should be enough.”
: They are unsure about how best to recognize, so they do
nothing.
: They never received much praise or recognition themselves,
so they aren’t inclined to give it to others.
: They believe employees will think they are phony and insin-
cere if they suddenly start praising them.
: They are concerned that if they give special recognition to
some, others will feel unfairly overlooked.
: They harbor a fundamental disrespect for some types of work
or workers.