Study on Employee Engagement Finds 70% of Workers Don't Need Monetary Rewards to Feel Motivated

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Make Their Day, leading employee motivation firm, and Badgeville, the #1 gamification platform, today released results from a recent Employee Recognition study of over 1,200 workers in the contemporary workforce. The study explored how management can drive top performance of employees today. Survey participants spanned across virtually every industry, from healthcare to retail to technology.  The 2013 survey found that employees are more motivated by recognition and virtual rewards compared to financial incentives. This number is on the rise. A similar survey was performed by Make Their Day in 2007, in which 57 percent of respondents reported that their meaningful recognition had no dollar value—today, that number has jumped to 70 percent.

"The value of non-tangible recognition is clearly identified in our findings," said Cindy Ventrice, author of Make Their Day! Employee Recognition That Works. "Workplace technology today, such as gamification, provides many new opportunities for non-tangible recognition. With nearly one-fifth of meaningful recognition being delivered virtually, it is clear that these methods can be effective."

Key Findings:

No-Dollar Rewards and Recognition Are the Most Valuable Motivators

• "Free" recognition and virtual rewards have become increasingly important in today's workforce over tangible, high-cost rewards.
• 83% of employees said recognition for contributions is more fulfilling than any rewards and gifts.
• 71% said the most meaningful recognition they have received had no dollar value.

The Type of Praise and Source Matters

• 69% said that being recognized as an individual over a team was more motivating.
• 76% found praise from their peers to be very or extremely motivating.
• 88% found praise from their managers to be very or extremely motivating.
• Only 14% said their best recognition or reward was of a gift over $1,000.

Keep Employees Happy with a Fun Work Environment

• 90% of respondents said that a fun work environment is very or extremely motivating.
• A fun work environment was ranked higher than other factors such as job titles, cash equivalents, and gifts, in regards to what motivates employees.

Opportunities for Growth Makes Employees Stay

• The top reasons people stay in organizations are working with people they like and opportunities for growth.
• 80% said that working with people they like is highly motivating (this increases to 90% for employees 36 and older).
• 76% of respondents said opportunities for growth was the top reason they stay in an organization (this increases to 90% for millennials under 25).
• In every age demographic, opportunities for growth were more motivating reasons to stay in an organization compared to other factors such as relationship with manager and pay increases.

This research corroborates a recent independent report released by McKinsey & Company that revealed praise, attention from leaders, and opportunities to lead projects were more effective motivators than performance-based cash rewards, increase in base pay, or stock options (Motivating People: Getting Behind Money, 2009.) In the report, Martin Dewhurst, Matthew Gurthridge and Elizabeth Mohr note that companies around the world are cutting back on financial incentive programs, but few have used other ways of inspiring talent. The McKinsey report recommends looking at non-financial incentive programs for this purpose.

"The results of the study align to what we've seen across our customers deploying gamification solutions for workplace engagement, as well as numerous reports over the last few years on the changing face of what motivates employees today" said Ken Comee, CEO, Badgeville. "Workers of all ages, especially the rising millennial population, are motivated by real-time feedback, fun, engaging work environments, and status-based recognition over tangible rewards. Gamification programs powered by Badgeville have empowered hundreds of companies to reward employees for the right behaviors, showcase their reputation and enhance employee motivation across their workforce."

"The results of the Make Their Day study align to what we've seen across our customers deploying gamification solutions for workplace engagement, as well as numerous reports over the last few years on the changing face of what motivates employees today" said Ken Comee, CEO, Badgeville. "Workers of all ages, especially the rising millennial population, are motivated by real-time feedback, fun, engaging work environments, and status-based recognition over tangible rewards. Gamification programs powered by Badgeville address the challenge of a scalable system to motivate the modern workforce across all of the business's digital touch points."

The study is summarized in an infographic that can be found here.

About Make Their Day
Make Their Day studies workplace trends in recognition in order to improve business productivity and employee satisfaction. The Make Their Day philosophy of recognition is based on employees' definitions of what provides meaningful recognition. Rather than simply ask employees what they want, the firm explores the elements of previous recognition experiences, learning what the employee truly values.

About Badgeville
Badgeville, the #1 gamification and behavior management platform, enables companies in every industry to increase high-value user behavior. World-class businesses in more than 20 countries use Badgeville's Behavior Platform to increase customer loyalty, user engagement, and employee performance across an organization's websites, mobile apps and enterprise applications. With over 200 customers, Badgeville brings Game Mechanics, Reputation Mechanics, and Social Mechanics to industry leaders and innovators including Deloitte, EMC, Oracle, Citrix, Autodesk, Bell Media, NBC, Universal Music, VMware, and more. Founded in 2010, Badgeville is based in Redwood City, Calif., and has offices in New York and Europe. (To learn more follow @Badgeville or visit www.badgeville.com)

SOURCE Badgeville