Appreciating Employees’ Success Publicly Gives Boost To Overall Productivity In Offices, Says Study

The study found that even a 10 per cent escalation in the intensity of messages filled with praise resulted in workers making about one extra call on a daily basis

These findings reflected that positive reinforcement was effective only when employers and recruiters expressed appreciation for their employees’ efforts and not their abilities.

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Expressing praise for employees publicly for a job well done can help boost overall productivity in the office, a latest study found. It further found that this public appreciation can act as encouragement for other employees to perform better at their jobs.

Speaking to Business Insider, Wen Wen, lead author of the study, said that this morale boosting works even better with remote employees. “One important challenge faced by many companies is how to motivate remote workers and keep them productive. Our research gives practical advice on how to construct the right messages regarding peers and how to share them on digital platforms in order to achieve a significant productivity gain,” the author noted.

As part of the study, the researcher along with her colleagues analysed a Chinese tech firm where the staff was appreciated in public messages over an office messaging app, similar to Slack. The sales representatives in the company received a message from human resources every time one of their colleagues closed a deal.

This resulted in an increase in productivity not only in the employee who was at the receiving end of the praise, but also his co-workers. The study found that even a 10 per cent escalation in the intensity of messages filled with praise resulted in workers making about one extra call on a daily basis.

These findings reflected that positive reinforcement was effective only when employers and recruiters expressed appreciation for their employees’ efforts and not their abilities.

The research showed that the employees felt inspired and strived to work hard when their colleagues received praises for their efforts. However, if the praise focused on an individual’s ability, the results turned out to be different. While those close to the employee felt motivated, others didn’t necessarily feel the same inspiration.

Wen explained, “For a distributed workforce, managers should probably consider crafting effort-focused messages when sharing peer successes, instead of ability-focused messages... People can be influenced by effort-focused messages about peers whom they don't even know.”