Here is an excerpt from an article written by Amy Whyte for Talent Management magazine. She discusses how and why recognition programs are among the top methods companies use to promote employee engagement. To read the complete article, check out all the resources, and sign up for a free subscription to the TM and/or Chief Learning Officer magazines published by Human Capital Media, please click here.

* * *

Acknowledgment for a job well done is more than a simple pat on the back — it’s one of the leading methods companies use to keep employees engaged.

Recognition programs are the top-used method organizations use to promote employee engagement, according to a recent survey by Human Capital Media Advisory Group, the research arm of Talent Management magazine.

HCM Advisory Group’s “2015 Employee Engagement” survey found that nearly two-thirds — or about 63 percent — of human resources professionals say they deploy recognition programs to promote engagement (Figure 1).

The survey, administered in February, included 146 respondents of HR professionals from companies of various sizes and industries.

In addition to recognition programs, half of respondents said they use wellness programs to promote engagement, while 46 percent and 41 percent said they use work-life balance programs and stretch assignments, respectively.

To a lesser extent, respondents said they keep employees engaged through charity-matching and compensation programs.

Roughly 15 percent of HR respondents said they did not offer any of these programs to promote engagement.

When it comes to defining employee engagement, most of the survey’s respondents — 78 percent — said they view engagement as “the extent to which employees are motivated to contribute to organizational success and are willing to apply discretionary effort to accomplish tasks important to the achievement of organizational goals.” About 22 percent of respondents disagreed with that definition.

Furthermore, about 19 percent said their organization does not evaluate employee engagement at all (Figure 2).

The values and behaviors most used to evaluate employee engagement are overall job satisfaction, opportunity to grow and improve skills, excitement about one’s work and confidence in senior leaders, according to the survey, with more than half of HR respondents saying that they examined each of these values and behaviors (Figure 2).

* * *

Here is a direct link to the complete article.

Amy Whyte is a Diversity Executive editorial intern.