Encouragement at work is closely associated with how employees experience wellbeing, belonging, engagement, and their future with an organization. Gallup-Workhuman reports from 2022 and 2023 show both a recognition gap and substantial differences between employees who receive meaningful recognition and those who do not. The figures below are survey findings and reported associations, not proof that recognition alone causes every outcome.
Table of contents
- The recognition gap
- Encouragement and employee wellbeing
- Engagement, growth, and workplace connection
- Recognition and burnout
- Encouragement, retention, and job searching
- Equity, authenticity, and belonging
The recognition gap
The Gallup-Workhuman 2022 recognition report describes a workplace where leaders may value recognition in principle, while employees often experience it infrequently or inconsistently. In that report, 81% of leaders said recognition was not a major strategic priority for their organization. Nearly two in three leaders also said their organization did not have a budget allocated to recognition.
Reported recognition frequency varied by role. Sixty-seven percent of leaders said they gave recognition a few times a week or more. The comparable figures were 61% of managers and 42% of individual contributors. On the receiving side, 40% of employees said they received recognition from a manager, supervisor, or other leader only a few times a year or less.
Peer encouragement was also uneven. Twenty-one percent of employees said they received recognition from a manager, supervisor, or other leader at least a few times a week, while 27% said they received recognition from peers at least a few times a week. At the other end of the frequency scale, 34% said they received peer recognition a few times a year or less.
Formal systems were not common in the same 2022 findings. Only 23% of employees strongly agreed that their organization had a system to recognize work milestones, and only 15% strongly agreed that it had a system to recognize personal events in employees’ lives. Only 19% strongly agreed that recognition was an important part of workplace culture.
| Recognition measure | Reported result |
|---|---|
| Leaders saying recognition is not a major strategic priority | 81% |
| Employees receiving leader recognition a few times a year or less | 40% |
| Employees strongly agreeing that milestone recognition has a system | 23% |
| Employees strongly agreeing that personal-event recognition has a system | 15% |
| Employees strongly agreeing recognition is important to workplace culture | 19% |
The quality of encouragement mattered as well as its frequency. Only 23% of employees strongly agreed that they received the right amount of recognition for their work. Only one-third strongly agreed that the recognition they received was authentic, and only one-quarter strongly agreed that recognition was given equitably. Just 10% reported being asked about their preferences for receiving recognition.
Encouragement and employee wellbeing
Recognition statistics connect encouragement with how employees evaluate their lives and their organizations. In the Gallup-Workhuman 2022 recognition report, employees who received recognition were 44% more likely to be thriving in life overall. They were also 73% less likely to always or very often feel burned out.
The 2023 Gallup-Workhuman DEI report focused on whether employees felt they received the right amount of recognition. Employees who strongly agreed with that statement were 44% more likely to be thriving in life overall. Employees who did not receive the right amount of recognition were 62% more likely to be struggling in life overall.
Recognition connected with organizational care as well. The 2023 Gallup-Workhuman wellbeing report found that employees who received recognition for life events and workplace milestones were 3 times as likely to strongly agree that their organization cared about their overall wellbeing. Still, only 23% of employees strongly agreed that their organization had a system for recognizing life events and workplace milestones.
Broader wellbeing perceptions were limited in the same report. Only 24% of employees strongly agreed that their organization cared about their overall wellbeing, and only 20% were satisfied with their company as a place to work. Pay fairness was also not widely affirmed: only 31% of surveyed U.S. employees strongly agreed that their paycheck was fair.
The paycheck finding differed by life evaluation. Employees who were thriving strongly agreed that their paycheck was fair at a 60% rate, compared with 30% among those who were struggling and 18% among those who were suffering. These figures describe surveyed U.S. employees and should not be read as a worldwide estimate.
Engagement, growth, and workplace connection
The 2022 Gallup-Workhuman recognition report found large differences in workplace connection and engagement among employees who received recognition. They were 5 times as likely to feel connected to their culture and 4 times as likely to be engaged. They were also 5 times as likely to see a path to grow at their organization.
Recognition was associated with advocacy, too. Employees who received recognition were 4 times as likely to recommend their organization to friends and family. These findings suggest that encouragement can be relevant to how people interpret their place in a workplace: whether they feel connected, whether they see a future, and whether they would speak positively about the organization.
The 2022 global wellbeing report extended the connection findings to a 12-country study of more than 12,000 employees. In that study, fulfilling recognition was linked to as much as 10 times higher odds of employees strongly agreeing that they belonged at work. Fulfilling recognition was also linked to up to 90% lower burnout at work always or very often.
Relationships at work showed similar patterns. In the same 12-country study, employees who received recognition from peers a few times a month or more were up to 4 times as likely to feel confident that they had meaningful relationships at work. Employees who reported a recognition program were 3 to 5 times as likely to strongly agree that they had a best friend at work.
Public recognition was another reported factor. Employees who received mostly public recognition were as much as 3 times as likely to be confident that they belonged at work. The global findings cover multiple countries, while the other figures in this article include U.S. employee findings; the geographies should not be combined as if they measured one population.
Recognition and burnout
Burnout is one of the clearest outcomes associated with encouragement in these reports. In the 2022 recognition report, employees who received recognition were 73% less likely to always or very often feel burned out. In the 2022 global wellbeing report, fulfilling recognition was linked to up to 90% lower burnout at work always or very often in the 12-country study.
The 2023 DEI report found that workers who strongly agreed they received the right amount of recognition were 31% less likely to experience burnout very often or always. The association was especially pronounced in the reported comparison for women: women who strongly agreed they received the right amount of recognition had an 11% burnout rate, compared with 31% for women who did not strongly agree. The same report characterized the difference as women being 63% less likely to experience burnout.
Differences were also reported by racial and ethnic group. Black employees who strongly agreed they received the right amount of recognition were 43% less likely to be burned out. Hispanic employees who strongly agreed with that statement were 44% less likely to be burned out, and White employees were 20% less likely to be burned out.
These subgroup findings use the report’s own comparisons and labels. They do not establish that a single type of encouragement will produce the same percentage change for every employee or workplace.
Encouragement, retention, and job searching
Recognition was associated with employees’ plans to stay and their attention to outside opportunities. The 2022 recognition report found that employees who received recognition were 56% less likely to be looking or watching for job opportunities. At the same time, 49% of America’s working population was reported as actively job searching or watching for new employment opportunities in the 2023 DEI report.
The frequency of recognition from managers and leaders was important in the 2022 findings. Employees who received recognition from managers or leaders only a few times a year or less were 5 times as likely to be actively disengaged. They were also 74% more likely to say they did not plan to be at their organization in one year and 27% more likely to be struggling.
Peer recognition showed a related, though different, pattern. Employees who received recognition from peers only a few times a year or less were 3 times as likely to be actively disengaged. They were 39% more likely to say they did not plan to be at their organization in one year and 24% more likely to be struggling.
| Recognition comparison | Reported association |
|---|---|
| Recognition recipients and looking or watching for job opportunities | 56% less likely |
| Infrequent manager or leader recognition and active disengagement | 5 times as likely |
| Infrequent peer recognition and active disengagement | 3 times as likely |
| Infrequent manager or leader recognition and not planning to stay one year | 74% more likely |
| Infrequent peer recognition and not planning to stay one year | 39% more likely |
The 2023 DEI report likewise linked the right amount of recognition with job-search behavior. Employees who strongly agreed they received the right amount of recognition were 37% less likely to be looking or watching for jobs. Women in that group were 43% less likely to be actively looking or watching for job opportunities. Black employees who strongly agreed they received fulfilling recognition were 26% less likely to be actively searching or watching for another job.
Equity, authenticity, and belonging
Encouragement is not only about whether recognition occurs. Employees’ views of authenticity, fairness, and fit also appear in the reported statistics. Only one-third of employees strongly agreed that the recognition they received was authentic, and only one-quarter strongly agreed that recognition was given equitably at their organization.
The 2023 DEI report found that employees who strongly agreed recognition was authentic were 5 times more likely to feel that they belonged in their workplace. Among Black employees, strongly agreeing that recognition was authentic was associated with being 79% more likely to be thriving. Among Hispanic employees, the corresponding association was 69% more likely to be thriving.
The amount of recognition also related to engagement. Employees who strongly agreed they received the right amount of recognition were 4 times more likely to be engaged. Employees who did not receive the right amount were 8 times more likely to be actively disengaged. The same report found that employees who strongly agreed they received the right amount of recognition were less than half as likely to be looking or passively watching for job opportunities, while those who did not receive the right amount were 4 times more likely to be actively looking for another job.
The findings point to a distinction between occasional praise and a dependable culture of encouragement. In the Gallup-Workhuman reports, the strongest relationships appear alongside recognition that employees describe as authentic, appropriately frequent, equitable, and connected to milestones or life events. Yet only 23% strongly agreed they received the right amount of recognition, only 19% strongly agreed recognition was an important part of workplace culture, and only 10% said they had been asked about their recognition preferences.