Five Ways a Healthcare Recognition Program Can Help You Win Back Disengaged Staff

Like Phil Jackson’s Chicago Bulls in the 1990s, program success hinges on rallying your team around your own winning philosophy, otherwise known as your core values. Core values are organization specific, and they are important because they rally healthcare teams around common goals.  

Consider the famous bricklayer allegory, which goes something like this:  

• A man visited a worksite and approaches three different bricklayers individually. He asks the first “what are you building?” The first replies, “I’m working hard to lay bricks. He asks the second, “what are you building?”, to which the second replies “I’m building a wall”. He asks the third, “what are you building?”. The last responds, “I’m building a cathedral”. 

Each of them is clear on their task at hand, however, only the last really understands what they’re really striving to achieve at the worksite.  

Recognition providers, like Dash Solutions, align and help you reinforce the values and meaningful behaviors at your organization through capabilities like branding, e-cards, spot awards, service anniversaries, and a variety of other monetary and non-monetary rewards, like external recognition. 

Disengaged staff may feel like their contributions are overlooked or undervalued, causing a loss of motivation and a disconnect within your healthcare organization. Recognizing their efforts in a way that’s personalized, specific, immediate, and drives home core values is imperative for a meaningful recognition program.  

Personalized recognition acknowledges individuals’ contributions, encourages repeat behaviors, and boosts retention, with Gallup finding that organizations who make recognition a priority have workers that are 56% less likely to leave. In other words, generic “Thank Yous” don’t cut it—make sure to acknowledge the individual impact of their work and make it easy for others (even patients) to do the same. 

Engaged employees are those who feel connected to the organization’s greater purpose. A personalized recognition program should align with the hospital’s mission and values, reminding staff of the meaningful impact they’re making. 

Over time, even recognition programs become a little stale, and while a complete overhaul every year is unrealistic, keeping it fresh is key to repeat engagement. Contemporary caregiver recognition providers allow you to easily incorporate monetary initiatives like service anniversaries, birthdays, Bee Awards, Daisy Awards, and other milestones into a singular program. This gives administrators control over budget, participants, reward types, and other unique permissions. This allows hospitals to be nimble in their recognition tactics to seamlessly add in new award types, more departments, and even staff that aren’t doctors or nurses- but play an integral role in the success of your hospital- like volunteers.  

Furthermore, dynamic recognition capabilities allow hospitals to incorporate nurse-to-nurse, manager-to-nurse, or even patient-to-nurse, to facilitate easy recognition for all levels of stakeholders. This gives recognition a holistic inclusive approach where people at all levels can be recognized and appreciated for superb work.  

For example, since hospital staff often connect and support each other in ways that can go unnoticed by leadership, peer-to-peer recognition creates a sense of community, and appreciation, empowering employees to celebrate one another’s successes, giving leadership visibility at the same time.  

Another major cause of a stale program that fails to resonate is one with infrequent and inconsistent recognition, often leading to more disengagement. One of the main issues with disengagement is the feeling of being undervalued over time, with Harvard Business Review finding that more than half of employees only feel somewhat valued or unvalued by their employer.  

Recognition shouldn’t only come during annual reviews or special ceremonies—it should be a constant presence for both the small and big wins at your hospital. Nurses and other staff frequently deal with emotional and mentally-taxing situations and because of these conditions, the American Nursing Association cites job cynicism, reduced efficacy, and distancing from job as consequences to their large workloads. This is why recognizing routine labor and teamwork is just as important as acknowledging lifesaving clinical skills.  

Similarly, disengagement can also stem from a lack of feedback or unclear communication from leadership. Consistency extends to all participants of the program, so be sure to consistently offer recognition and feedback when it’s due for both large and small milestones. 

Meaningful rewards tied to relevant milestones are a great way to motivate disengaged staff. Rewards should feel attainable and reflect the values of the hospital in order to gain appeal. For example, tiered awards at differing intervals with a monetary mix for different types of achievements (e.g., patient care excellence, team collaboration, leadership in difficult circumstances) with redemption options that are relevant and useful. This means that it would be ineffective to offer staff an In & Out Gift Card on the East Coast, since this is a West Coast brand. Similarly, other highly niche options include those with a vested interest, like a Nascar racing or other specific experience that does not cater to broader interests. 

Anecdotally, at Dash Solutions, we tie our annual Core Value Award to our own SPARK values, adding a monetary component with a flexible dashReward card. Our own hybrid workplace requires us to give freedom and flexibility while aligning our core values in offices throughout North America.