Research from Reward Gateway also finds that nearly two-thirds of U.K. employees believe their well-being would improve if they received more recognition at work.
By Maggie Mancini
What makes employees feel more productive at work? A recent report from Reward Gateway finds that, for U.K. workers, the top five elements that impact productivity include fulfilling job responsibilities (45%); a strong and supportive manager (40%); receiving recognition and rewards (38%); seeing the contribution of their work (33%,) and learning and training (33%). The rate of productivity is relatively high across the U.K. workforce, with 66% of employees saying they frequently feel productive. This is slightly higher among HR managers, with 74% saying they frequently feel productive.
Among HR managers, the top five elements that make them feel productive include fulfilling job responsibilities (42%); receiving recognition and rewards (35%); learning and training (35%); a strong and supportive manager (34%); and team building (34%).
Given that recognition ranks among the top three productivity drivers for both employees and HR managers, it’s important to understand its power in the workplace. Approximately 38% of office-based and hybrid employees say that recognition makes them feel more productive, compared to 34% of deskless employees, 39% of remote employees, and 39% of frontline workers. Over half of HR managers find effective recognition challenging.
Despite its importance, one in four employees say they rarely or never feel appreciated or recognised, while 34% only occasionally feel appreciated or recognised.
More than one in two employees have considered leaving their job in the past six months, with 35% repeatedly considering it. The top five reasons for this are poor pay (42%); being overworked (28%); lack of recognition (27%); lack of work-life balance (24%); and lack of career advancement (23%).
Among the rewards that employees would like to see introduced are cash bonuses (38%); extra days off (37%); financial support to counter the cost-of-living crisis (33%); free food and drink (25%); and early finish or late start to the work day (22%).
While supportive leaders are in high demand, only 59% of employees would recommend their manager and 37% say they don’t feel appreciated by their manager. When dealing with workplace concerns, employees say they no longer go above and beyond (38%); say frequent stressors make them feel unsupported (32%); say they have lost trust in their employer (25%); and feel unclear about their company’s goals (20%).
When it comes to recognition, almost two-thirds of employees agree that their well-being would improve if they received more recognition. Late millennials (64%), graduates (68%), director-level managers (67%), marketing employees (73%), sales staff (64%), and frontline workers (69%) feel the strongest about this.
