According to the Aspen Institute, 89% of organisations have value statements, however, it seems that in many cases these values aren’t being cascaded down - research shows that only 23% of employees feel completely informed about the values of the organisation they work for, and only 27% strongly believe in their company’s values.
Organisations that don’t focus on engaging their people with their values could be missing out. Gallup suggests that just a 10% increase in employees’ connection with the mission or purpose of their organisation would result in a 4.4% increase in profitability, 8.1% decrease in staff turnover and 12.7% reduction in safety incidents.
So, where is the link between an effective employee recognition programme and aligning people with organisational values?
Increase the visibility of and interaction with your values
How can you expect your employees to engage with your values, if they don’t know what they are or why they are important?
According to a global study by Right Management, 54% of respondents who didn’t know their company’s core values, reported being engaged, while 88% of those that did know the core values reported engagement.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of assuming that just because you’ve covered your values during inductions, or they are laid out in your company handbook, that everyone knows what they are. By making them part of everyday office life and aligned with an employee recognition programme and performance reviews, your employees will start to live and breathe your values.
Align personal performance goals with your values and mission
Focusing performance reviews around your values is a great way of making sure they deliver business value. Employees will better understand the purpose of their work and how it contributes to the wider business goals. According to a report published by LinkedIn employees who understand the purpose of their work are nearly 10% more satisfied in their roles than those that don’t, and 85% of companies who clearly articulate this purpose experienced positive revenue growth.
That being said, organisations shouldn’t only bring values into the conversation once or twice a year. Whilst it’s important that all goals are aligned to values, according to Deloitte, only 8% of organisations believe their performance management process is effective in driving business value.
Instead performance reviews should be used in conjunction with regular and widespread recognition throughout the company, which leads on to our final takeaway.
Regularly recognise and reward behaviour that aligns with your values
It’s imperative that employees understand why their work matters and how it contributes to the organisation’s purpose by regularly recognising and rewarding behaviour that aligns with your values.
According to Deloitte, only 60% of organisation tie their recognition programme to business goals, despite the fact that 86% of HR professionals say that values-based recognition programmes make their employees happier.
Allowing both managers and other employees to “shout out” behaviours that link to specific values can help further reinforce those values – in fact, studies show that companies that promote peer-to-peer recognition are 28% more likely to reinforce corporate values.
The more you recognise and reward people for value-based behaviour, the more likely they are to repeat that same behaviour, ensuring continued engagement with your values.
Visit the Access Applause Hub to find how social employee recognition software can help you to align your team with your values.