Measuring Appreciation
How Do You Know If What You Are Doing Is Working?
A key issue for the world of employee recognition and employee engagement is the question: How do you know if what you are doing is having any impact? Organizational leaders are saying:
“We are spending all of this money on employee recognition and rewards, yet employee engagement continues to be low. Why should we continue to invest our time, energy, and financial resources when what we are doing doesn’t seem to make a difference?”
It’s a reasonable question. The answer? Measure the desired behaviors and outcomes.
Years of research show that traditional recognition / reward programs aren’t effective at changing culture, increasing employee engagement, or retaining employees. The Appreciation at Work training has been found to be an effective, interactive, and transformational process. We enjoy hearing from our Certified Facilitators and our clients about the positive changes in employee behavior toward making others feel valuable.
One of the core strengths of the Appreciation at Work process is that it is easily implemented. The resources are adaptable to different settings and roles, and are able to be used by front-line employees, supervisors, and managers immediately. Additionally, our being able to deliver the Appreciation at Work training has given our recognition team credibility, being able to deliver value to our organization. We are now offering practical skills that impact leaders.
Andy Bailey, Certified Recognition Professional, Employee Recognition, Events & Corporate Citizenship Manager, DirecTV, LLC.
Before assessing desired organizational outcomes (for example, reduction in staff turnover), logic suggests that one should first measure whether the interventions (like training) actually make any difference in individuals’ behaviors and perceptions of their colleagues’ actions.
But we also want to provide the resources to obtain objective feedback as well. That is why we developed the Appreciation at Work Rating ScaleTM (AAWRS) along with an online reporting package. The rating scale is an easy way to assess whether the training (and subsequent follow-up activities) are having any impact on employees’ experiences in day-to-day work life. The Appreciation at Work Rating Scale is a 20-item self-report scale that assesses items directly related to the level which employees are experiencing and showing appreciation with one another, as well as assessing other behaviors related to employee engagement.
The AAWRS can be used as a pre and post-training assessment to establish the effectiveness of Appreciation at Work training. In fact, we have published research demonstrating the effectiveness of our training, using the AAWRS. The AAWRS reporting package makes it easy and cost-effective for an organization to collect their results, identify progress, and coach toward greater success. The process includes collecting data at three points in the training process (pre-workshop, immediately post-workshop, a few weeks post-workshop). Three separate reports are generated which identify the most improved areas through training, summary data about the overall work environment, and ongoing coaching opportunities.
In addition to measuring the impact of training on employees’ behaviors, the next step is to track the impact of training on important measures within the organization – like the rate of employee turnover, customer service ratings, and employee engagement scores. We recently have obtained access to a tool which help organizations correlate measured outcomes with training participation and acts of appreciation demonstrated.
CAUTION: If You Are an Organizational Leader or HR Professional Overseeing a Recognition Program and You Can’t Demonstrate the Outcomes, Your Funding is at Risk
More and more executives are asking: “What are the benefits of this money spent?” This is especially true as employee engagement continues to be low and employee turnover is a major problem, even as the company is spending a lot of money on rewards.
Take the steps now to begin to show the impact good training and implementation can have on your organization’s culture and relationships. First, focus on training team members how to show authentic appreciation from person-to-person. Second, measure the impact of the training on employee’s daily behavior. And finally, set up a system to show how these actions positively impact the organization’s functioning. If you need help implementing this process, contact us for assistance.
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For a limited time, we are sharing a copy of the AAWRS for free. This is only the assessment form itself and does not include generating reports and summaries. Email admin@appreciationatwork.com for more information about receiving a free copy of the form or to learn more about purchasing the full AAWRS system.
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