One of the biggest imperatives these days for HR managers is to attract, hire and retain the best employees in the industry. Most organizations and HR managers are not able to retain their present best talent, leave alone attract new resources from the market. In short retention of talent is something which has been giving sleepless nights to most HR’s of today’s day and age.

According to the November 2012 poll conducted by the Society of HRM 50% of the respondents ranked retaining their best talent as the greatest challenge by the year 2022- well we are already half way through 2017! (Link –http://www.hraffiliates.com/biggest-challenges-facing-hr-departments/)

Appreciated versus Non-Appreciated Employee :

Everyone tries to put in their 100% in the work that they do. However, when continued good work doesn’t yield appreciation it leads to a point where only basic effort is put in by an employee so as to float and not drown at work.It is enough effort to not get fired but much less effort than what is required to excel at work.

Whereas an employee who feels appreciated will always put in discretionary effort in whatever they do. They might even contribute towards helping others in the team.

Tiny Pulse –an employee engagement research firm conducted a study “The effects of Employee Recognition and Appreciation “involving 4500 employees from 500 organizations. Their conclusion was that retention is tied to recognition however noticeable is that 79% employees said that they don’t feel appreciated /valued at work. The survey also found a strong relationship between how valued an employee feels at work and the likelihood that he will reapply for his existing job.

5 Reasons why Recognition is the key to retention: 

1. Motivation Factor – Once they are recognized for a particular task /action employee are motivated and are encouraged to repeat the behavior or perform even better in order to be appreciated again.
   
   
2. Better Team bonding – Recognised employees equals happy employees. Happy employees are able to create a positive and friendly work environment which promotes good team culture. Employees who like their teams are less likely to look outside for jobs. Also, an employee’s perception of his / her work environment influences how happy or sad they feel at work.
   
   
3. Better relations with Manager- Gallup interviewed more than 2 million employees from various organizations and found that the quality of relationship with one’s manager is the Number 1 predictor of someone staying or leaving an organization. An employee who feels that his manager appreciates and values his / her work is more likely to go the extra mile at work.       
                                             
4. Happier Customers- Appreciated employees feel happy at work which in turn leads to increase in their productivity and better dealing with clients. It works like a chain reaction Recognised employee=Productive employee=Happy customer and organization.
   
   
5. Brand Ambassadors- An employee who feels appreciated will act as a brand ambassador for his existing organization by telling his family and friends how happy and valued he /she feels at the workplace. This, in turn, will help in attracting good talent.

While salary may be one of the main factors influencing an employee’s decision to join an organization it hardly ever remains the top reason to retain him/her in the same. It’s time for HR managers to partner with business to find innovative ways of rewarding and recognizing the employees if organizations are aiming at becoming “Most Wanted Employers” for “Most Wanted Employees”.