In Defense of Praise: Addressing Performance Management Challenges In the Public Sector

Performance management is near the top of the list of challenges that must be addressed in the today’s public sector workplace. Constantly expecting public employees to deliver more results with fewer resources does more than discourage workers. It can also make it more challenging for managers to find ways to motivate and engage employees.

We all know employee engagement increases productivity. Further, engaged employees outperform their peers. The question these realities raises is how managers can increase engagement. Offering employee recognition and rewards are popular techniques.

Public sector managers need to find creative ways around roadblocks to deploying those techniques so they can provide employees with the recognition and relationship-building they crave. After all, workplaces are one of the primary sources of socialization for adults.

It’s All About Engaging Employees

The correlations between recognition, workplace relationships, employee engagement and performance have been demonstrated many times. Gallup research reported in articles such as “Why We Need Best Friends at Work” has consistently shown a concrete link between workplace friendships and employee productivity.

“For example,” the January 2018 article notes, “women who strongly agree they have a best friend at work are more than twice as likely to be engaged [at work] (63 percent) compared with women who say otherwise (29 percent).” A follow-up study revealed “women who strongly agree they have a best friend at work … are more likely to have a positive experience during the day, such as enjoying what they do, making more progress and getting recognized for successes.”

As an aside, a study refenced by Emily Efshani Smith in a 2013 article for The Atlantic found that strong workplace friendships were more indicative of employee happiness than was earning an additional $100,000 per year. Five years later, Zameena Major reported on CNBC, “Having friends at work is not only key to your personal happiness, but it’s vital for having a successful career. In fact, it makes you seven times more likely to be engaged in your job.”

Despite such compelling evidence for the importance of engaging employees to boost performance, the percentage of employees who report feeling valued at work has gone down year after year. Gallup’s 2016 State of the American Workplace showed just 33 percent of workers in the United States felt engaged. In 2017, Victor Lipmann used a Forbes article to highlight steady declines in employee engagement.

A Lack of Appreciation Leaves Employees Feeling Undervalued

Many organizations fail to implement a recognition program that encourages the exchange of appreciation and praise. This ends up costing them.

In the public sector, where employees see themselves serving society, workers often feel underappreciated by peers, bosses and others who interact with them. This lack of appreciation then leads to a lack of motivation, which dramatically impacts employee performance. In order to overcome this negative reinforcement, there must be an internal focus on the actual act of giving recognition.

One of the “Four Lessons From Companies That Get Employee Engagement Right” detailed by Santiago Jaramillo in a June 2018 Forbes articles is that employees who regularly receive authentic recognition for their efforts and accomplishments are more productive, more loyal and generally happier. Once they feel engaged at work, employees are more likely to stay with their current employer long-term.

And engaged employees do not merely feel good about going to work. They take their good vibes home, which improves their lives overall. The benefits to the organization are increased retention of the most-productive team members and fewer regrettable departures.

Praise Is the Reward

Adopting techniques to recognize employees can be a huge challenge for managers in the public sector. Traditionally, recognition has related to tenure (e.g., work anniversaries) and effectively meeting selection criteria (e.g., passing a promotions test, earning a certification). What is needed is free-flowing, frequent and in-the-moment recognition.

Considering the importance of workplace relationships for engagement and performance, it is critical that employee recognition be adapted effectively for the public sector. Several tried-and-true methods used in the corporate world will need to be adjusted. For example, most modern employee recognition platforms are overly focused on giving impersonal rewards like stuff. Authentic, relationship-building recognition in the form of genuine praise produces more engagement.

Another problem identified by Alfie Kohn as early as 1993 is that points-based recognition reward systems cause a variety of issues. Writing for the Harvard Business Review, Kohn described sudden surges of pseudo feedback from managers right after they received emails reminding them to allocate points across team members.

To be valued by employees and valuable for boosting engagement and performance, feedback needs to arrive each day or week. The feedback must also be aimed at building a relationship and communicating authentic recognition. When recognition is consistent, relevant and personalized, employees will feel more appreciated, which drives happiness, engagement and productivity.

The research is clear: Employees are more motivated and engaged when they receive regular, relationship-building recognition. Unlike points-based rewards systems which may deliver temporary boosts, authentic recognition programs are more likely to result in increased motivation and stronger performance long-term.

Humans are social beings. Employees seeking approval from their peers and bosses is a prime example of this. Rather than work against human nature, managers should tap into existing behavioral patterns to optimize employee engagement, performance and happiness at work and beyond.