Nowhere is this more important than in healthcare, where patients may be anxious, in pain, or unable to communicate their needs. Even if your facility employs top doctors, a 2013 study found that the average time a doctor spends with each patient is 8 minutes! That means interactions with nurses and other support staff like assistants or janitorial workers make up the majority of the patient experience.
Having committed employees who will do their absolute best to provide a positive and safe experience for your patients is essential. And recognizing those efforts goes a long way towards the engagement of those employees, ensuring that they stay with your organization and continuing to perform at a high level.
When you consider the impact recognition has on employee engagement, and in turn, the impact employee engagement has on the level of care your employees provide, the value of investing in a recognition program becomes evident.
A robust recognition program helps healthcare organizations:
1. Reinforce company values.
When employees are recognized for demonstrating company values that contribute to achieving goals, recognition helps celebrate meaningful results. When recognition is part of your culture, the power of each event—whether it’s online or in front of an audience—grows as others witness, share, and celebrate the great work their colleagues are doing. The exponential power when recognition “goes viral” helps reinforce your company values without any cost to the bottom line.
2. Reduce turnover.
Recognition that celebrates positive actions helps organizations retain top talent. According to research, “Companies that scored in the top 20% for building a ‘recognition-rich culture’ actually had 31% lower voluntary turnover rates!”
An ultrasound technician who never receives rewards or recognition for the outstanding care they deliver will still show up on time and get the job done. But when that technician is contacted by a competitor for a job with a slightly better schedule, or an increase in pay, they’re more likely to leave because there’s nothing encouraging them to stay. If you have staff members you want to keep, be sure you’re recognizing and rewarding them for their excellent work.
3. Build co-worker relationships.
Business gets done through people. When people work together, they build relationships. When they celebrate one another and recognize each other for their contributions via social recognition channels, it has a positive impact on results.
WorkStride client Orlando Health found that their Applause Central recognition program went beyond awards to create friendly competition between staff members. Lisa Cannata, Chief Learning Officer, commented, “People actually print out the Kudos awards and put them on the wall. They get badges for the number of recognitions they deliver. There’s a little bit of competition happening now where the more Kudos you give, the more you are recognized, so it’s really started to enhance our culture of recognition.”
4. Collect Patient Feedback
The most powerful positive feedback comes from the very people your employees are working so hard to serve. A robust recognition platform should provide a portal where patients can leave feedback for employees who provided exceptional service. Not only will workers love to read those comments, but it will help managers see who the top performers are and ensure that they are recognized, rewarded, and even promoted when appropriate.
5. Analyze results.
Business leaders may be hesitant about recognition programs because it can be difficult to prove ROI. This is absolutely true if you’re keeping a spreadsheet and handing out gift cards. With a software-based program, you should be able to analyze the effect recognition is having by department, manager, core value, or goal. You can easily track program results based on events and behaviors to see how recognition is motivating employees and contributing to the success of your business.
6. Create a desirable work environment
Let’s face it—healthcare workers have some of the most stressful, exhausting jobs because of the life and death situations they face each day. With this in mind, it becomes even more imperative that you do everything you can to create a desirable work environment, which includes a system for providing meaningful recognition.
“Lack of meaningful recognition can lead to discontent, compassion fatigue, burnout, and suboptimal care outcomes,” according to the American Association of Critical Care Nurses.
If you’re faced with team leaders or managers who feel that recognition is just “nice to have,” demonstrate the tangible ways recognition can positively impact your organization and the patients you care for by engaging employees with a systematic approach to recognition that supports performance, company culture, positive behaviors, relationships, and a great work environment.
For more information about how recognition helps engage healthcare employees, download, Creating a Positive Patient Experience Through Employee Recognition.
Author Bio:
Meredith Mejia is the Director of Marketing at WorkStride. She has worked in the recognition and incentive industry for more than eight years and has written extensively on the topics of employee engagement, motivation, management, and company culture. You can follow her posts on Twitter via @WorkStride.
The views, opinions and positions expressed within these guest posts are those of the author alone and do not represent those of Becker’s Hospital Review/Becker’s Healthcare. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with them.
