Derek Irvine of Workhuman tells us it’s time to double down on what makes us human
Boosting an employee’s sense of value through recognition can be more valuable than a pay rise, according to Derek Irvine, senior vice-president of client strategy and consulting of Workhuman, speaking at REBA’s recent webinar: Reward and benefits trends for 2023.
Irvine was talking about the importance of psychological support, self-reinforcement and social recognition and how this ties in with employee engagement.
Financial vs psychic income
He highlighted that front and centre of everyone’s concerns right now is the cost of living crisis. For many, people, any pay rise this year won’t match inflation, but there are other things employers can do.
‘Psychic income’ is a term for your sense of value: who you are, what you do and what you contribute. Irvine said: “Survey after survey shows that obviously pay is important, but people will stay in a job that pays less if they feel that they have a wonderful boss and a supportive community around them. If they get feedback on the skills they are displaying, they genuinely appreciate it.”
Employees don’t get enough thanks
Irvine noted that statistics show that 80% of workers don’t feel like they get enough of that sense of being valued as a person or enough feedback on a job well done.
“Here’s another incredible statistic,” Irvine said. “Those that feel they have that psychic support, 90% of those people are more likely to be thriving and less likely to be suffering burnout. They just feel more connected to their place of work.
“It’s very easy in this time to become a bit blue, thinking about the economics, the uncertainties. To me, this is the moment to double down on all of the other elements that make us human.”
All HR professionals should be encouraged to focus on that sense of human connection, psychic income or wellbeing, he said. But culture is not just an HR responsibility.
It takes a village
Irvine believes that company culture and positive reinforcement was everybody’s responsibility. Businesses should ask themselves if they have the structure and support in place to allow everyone to assume that responsibility.
Social recognition is about saying: ‘We are a community working together. We want our community to be positive, to be self-reinforcing’. Therefore, we want everybody in our work community to feel that they’re enabled to spot when good things happen, argued Irvine.
“You’d be amazed at the ROI that this can generate,” said Irvine. “A lot of our data shows that, for example, for every £50 that you spend on recognition, you’d probably have to be spending about £500 to £600 in pay or bonuses. So, this is something with a 10 times higher return in boosting somebody’s sense of wellbeing, making them think ‘I feel more engaged today. I feel valued today’. Seems like a no-brainer to me.”
