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Contingent on the industry - Even in corporate I've seen the following:
VP of sales received the "National Sales Award" During a Conference. Quite the honor as he had to accumulate a higher percentage of "New Business" verses the Monetary goal of Beating 3 million.
He always came away with awards of some type. Not once did he ever boast about it. Rather he shared the Conference event and Thanked us all for our contribution to Hold him up so to speak. He was gracious on that matter.
Sure the more I excelled the more it became "the standard" to do. Received a full weeks paid vacation rental, 500$ visa card , a paid car rental and two theater tickets . All without having Uncle Sam dipping into that reward. Enjoyed every gesture of recognition they gave and sometimes I gave it to a fellow employee. One year a chap lost his wife to a battle with cancer. I had been awarded a weekend stay at a health resort. With massage's and evening fine dining. I handed it off to him. He needed that "retreat".
No matter what your title- you are entitled to be acknowledged when your contributions or even savings have moved the business forward. From janitor to Top dog. Acknowledge. Recognize.
Yup. Recognition is what makes you happy when you're low-level and being told "good job" or "we know you're a good worker" is all you have. When it's maybe your assurance that you're going to remain employed, or your hope that you might get promoted. The most "validation" I need from my boss, at any pay scale, is to know they know I do my work and am not a slacker so they don't want to get rid of me. Beyond that-- I don't go to work to get patted on the back. I go for a paycheck, and if I'm getting that, then I have what I want. The bigger that paycheck is, the happier I am, regardless of whether the boss hands out praise.
And that goes also for the practice of treating a person like crap but then talking about how great they are, which unfortunately happens to some people. Check out the secretaries at your company some time. Do they get dumped on and/or treated like second-class/inferior citizens, but then are expected to be placated by being told "you keep this place running!" or a box of chocolates on Secretaries' Day?
Or for praising someone but then not having their back when it hits the fan. Yup, I've seen that happen, too. Say you're great and then don't back you up when it comes to something tough or a conflict.
Nope, treat me well/fairly in general, pay me a nice salary, and I'll take that over empty "recognition" any day.
Recognition can be as "You are amazing, you are doing a great job, keep up the good work" without any raise. LOL. How do you feel? Do you prefer that over $$$$$$$?
I certainly don't. BS doesn't put food on the table.
I recently left a side gig that would dish out reward points as a mechanism (so they imagined) of employee appreciation, as if we were a bunch of trained monkeys. I always laughed when they said "good job, I'll issue you some points" because I'd point out I'm a contractor, so it doesn't apply to me. They were always so deflated when I did that!
I only cared about recognition and awards the first couple of years of my career. At 22-24yo, they made me feel validated, and confirmed that I was doing well in a very hard job. I was very insecure initially, so the public recognition encouraged me not to give up.
However, after those years, I had gained confidence and could not care less about plaques, certificates, and being mentioned at meetings. All I wanted was better compensation for my work as I moved up the corporate ladder.
Recognition can be as "You are amazing, you are doing a great job, keep up the good work" without any raise. LOL. How do you feel? Do you prefer that over $$$$$$$?
My husband is a SVP at a major corporation. His boss loved him and he always got the highest rating. His boss finally retired and he got a new boss who had more direct reports. A couple of years, he was not given the highest because someone else in the line got it. He still made the same $$ mostly. He would rather have the rating than the money. But I doubt he is typical.
You still get recognition and rewards. They're just in a different form.
And honestly - no matter where you are, the best "recognition and rewards" is respect. Being the go to person, the one everyone listens to, the one that is known to get it done. That never goes away no matter how high up you go.
This.
OP, I am unsure of what you are getting at. I am at a high(ish) level. I've received enough recognition, now I enjoy developing my teams so they can get the recogntition they deserve.That said, I get plenty of recognition. Some examples:
Tons of orgs reach out to me for research studies specific to my industry. I make a minimum of $300 and a max of $600/hr. for my thoughts and input. That is a high recognition of my expertise and knowledge. I frankly don't have time to accept all the offers that come my way.
I am quoted in publications or am part of a story in those publications.
I get awards from industry groups.
That's just off the top of my head. I feel very recognized and not in a fake way. My colleagues feel the same way. When people are clamoring for your time, you don't need awards to feel good. That's just my experience.
This post is mainly for upper level management. As you move up the chain (past first line managers), one thing that gets lost is recognition and awards. Yes I know there are exceptions, but it's not the norm. When you get so high up, it's your role to dish and give out recognition and awards, not receive them. Rarely do you see a VP of anything get applauded, it's always the IC that do the actual work (or first-line managers). For example, VP of Sales didn't close deals, they help (and get a quick shoutout), but it's the IC that actually closes it. etc etc etc many examples
The recognition is in the job title and the perks associated with it. A VP of sales typically gets recognition via more prestigious accounts, territories, product lines, etc.
Some people are addicted to rewards, plaques, prizes.
I worked with a guy that would easily give up $30K in pay to stand in the big room in front of everyone and win the $5K trip to Mexico.
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