One in three British workers feels their efforts at work go unnoticed by their manager or boss.ย Research of 2009 UK workers by the One4all Rewards Spotlight Awards, which recognises and rewards workersโ contributions, found as many as 41% believe this to be true most or some of the time.
The data suggests that to get noticed, many workers feel they have to work outside of their normal hours of employment, with 21% saying this is how they get their bosses to notice their efforts.
Working extra hours was second only to exceeding targets (27.53%) as the reason for receiving praise. Delivering high-quality work (21.11%), good teamwork (19.86%) and maintaining a positive attitude fell into third, fourth and fifth place.
Employees taking on extra training or learning new skills are being overwhelmingly under-valued by UK employers, with workers believing their employers recognise this the least (just 5.62% of employers).
Almost one in three (30%) felt their boss didnโt recognise or reward any of these examples of good work.
Declan Byrne, Managing Director at the One4all Rewards says: โWhen you consider how few workers are being positively recognised or rewarded for demonstrating exemplary skills and efforts at work, itโs really surprising that the British workforce is as productive as it is.
โBosses need to do more to reward qualities like these to encourage more widespread uptake of them in the workplace. This neednโt be expensive or complicated; a simple meeting with the worker in question to express how their hard work has been noticed and has impressed, or an employee of the month scheme where one prize is awarded per month, will be enough to reinforce these positive efforts.
โBetter yet, in companies that can afford it, our data has shown tailor-made bonuses and rewards, which are based on individualsโ efforts, have the biggest impact on workersโ productivity and effort levels.โ
17% of those surveyed claimed that it was mainly senior workers in their company (e.g. managers and department heads) who received recognition for their efforts.
Workers in the financial services industry are the most likely to feel their efforts go unnoticed, with 70% believing this is the case, closely followed by those in the manufacturing (51%), healthcare (50%), local or national Government (49%) and education (43%) sectors.
While employees in companies with less than 50 staff were the least likely to feel their boss didnโt recognise their contributions (24%), those in businesses in the next stage of growth โ with 50-99 employees โ were the most likely to feel this was the case (61.29%).
The One4all Rewards Spotlight Awards give bosses and colleagues the opportunity to nominate staff who have made exceptional contributions at work for rewards. For more information and to nominate a worker, please visit spotlightawards.one4allrewards.co.uk/.
