Employee Appreciation is part of the foundation for many thriving businesses. When employees feel that their work is appreciated and that they are valued, they tend to provide better work.
Looking at the psychological side of employee appreciation goes back to the fundamentals of psychology. Applying known psycyhology in your business practice can help amplify your employees work and the workplace life.
Opperant Conditioning is how many people come to work hard and strive to be the best. Opperant condition coined by B.F. Skinner is behaviour that is a result of a consequence.
Conditioned Reinforcers can be items like money, gifts, recognition and prizes that people can win/earn because of their work(Staddon & Cerutti, 2003). Conditioned Reinforcers are important when looking at how employee appreciation can be used and more importantly the most productive way in using employee appreciation.
These conditioned reinforcers can be examined in how far apart, what kind of reinforcers and is recognition enough. Employee Appreciation can come in many forms, looking at how a company can show appreciation while also creating incentives to work harder is part of what makes a company strong and filled with hard workers.
Employee appreciation is hard in the sense that too much of it and people will think its regula and no longer strive for greatness and too little where people do not feel valued. Another question comes forth when how many employees get recognized and appreciated and if everyone is than do employees feel seen or just another number.
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Research
In Opperant conditioning it is important to look at a few aspects with reinforcers and how they can be the most effective in employee appreciation. It is important in considering the consistency of this appreciation and how big of a reward can provide change in employees work.
In a study done on the impacts of green culture and sustainability in a workplace, there is a lot of discussion on how when creating initiatives opperant condition played a large role in the success of some of these initiatives (Abbas & Dogan, 2022). Rewarding employees with positive consequences in the workplace led them to participate and contribute more to these initiatives (Abbas & Dogan, 2022).
This kind of study shows how employee appreciation and positive consequences can help employees work harder and strive for better inside their workplace. Another study looked at Reward preferences in the workplace and at home.
A study done in 2022 by the University of Tennessee found there was a difference based on gender adn whether the employee is a parent or not (Ronchetti, 2022). The study had found data that can look into preference of reward. Gender or parental status did not play a role but age and location had correlation with different kinds of rewards.
This study shares how employee appreciation needs to fit the demographic around age and what people want the most (Ronchetti, 2022). There is importance in the type of reward based on the person receiving it.
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Also, another study focussing on pro-environment behaviour and how it can be influenced by employee appreciation was done looking at opperant conditioning. For this study they looked at environmental activities in workplaces with external rewards and leadership.
This study showed that not only does leadership play a ro,e but having a role model is necessary in these activities and workplaces. They also found the importances and the extra motivation that rewards and recognition gave employees to participate in incentives.
Placing employees in positions of leadership and giving them rewards for doing good work promotes hard work and enjoyment in the workplace.
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Conclusion
Throughout these studies we can see the importance of employee appreciation and how it plays a role in the daily lives of many inside a workplace. Understanding simple things like position of leadership and recognition as a great motivator can be implemented into any workplace.
In these studies we can see the major impacts of external rewards in workplaces. Sometimes recognition is not enough and employee appreciation must turn to gifting.
Gifting cna be the foundation in also creating workplace competition and competition is known to lead to harder better work from employees. Offering rewards and bonuses is only a small parti n showing employee appreciation.
Employee appreciation can be ued to the advantage o those in charge for initiatives and work to be done.
Employee Appreciaition comes with every business that is successful and provides insight into the importance of hard work for employees.
In further research, one can look into how we can provide better gifts for different age groups and what kind of rewards have the largest effect with the smallest cost.
Isabella Singh
Psychology Blogger,
The Shared Secrets Lab,
GiftAFeeling Inc.
Read The Official Research Paper On - The Importance Of Employee Appreciation- The Psychological Side
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