Improving the process of employee recognition: An exploratory study

Abstract

Background: Employee motivation, retention, replacement, and recruitment of human resources will be key strategic imperatives for health care organizations. Awards and recognition programs that build employee loyalty, overall experience and satisfaction are important requirements for any organization. We conducted a baseline analysis of employee recognition practice in a large hospital.
Methods: An exploratory study was conducted using data collected from health care workers, regardless of the category employed. Using web-based survey designed in Google R forms. Questionnaire responses were downloaded, and then analyzed.
Results: 331 completed online survey responses. Of these, 87% of the participants were females, 88% were from clinical disciplines, and 48% were working at the hospital for more than ten years. 65% of the respondents were frontline health care workers. 88% of participants indicated that it was meaningful to be appreciated. The employee net promoter score across the surveyed participants was 27% of the participants were categorized as promoters, whilst 47% were detractors. 26% were staff with more than 10 years’ experience had the highest employee promoter score, whilst non-clinical staff had the lowest (-51). Females had a lower net promoter score (-23) when compared to males (-2). Although on bivariate analysis of males (OR 1.42) and staff with a positive attitude (OR 1.09) were more likely to be promoters, these were not statistically significant. Clinical staff showed an increased likelihood of being detractors based on bivariate (OR 1.59) and multivariate analysis (OR 1.72), but were not statistically significant.
Conclusions: The study showed a low employee and a secondary finding of a gender difference in the net promoter score, with females scoring less. Further qualitative studies are required to explain the contextual factors surrounding these differences and low promoter scores.