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Employee recognition is a growing issue in the work world. Workers are expressing a pressing need to be fully recognized, and managers are trying to put a human face on human resource management practices. But why is recognition so important for workers, managers, trade unions, and other stakeholders? The answer to this question seems to lie in the social and organizational environment.

• Social environment

Today's social environment is characterized by increasing individualism, crumbling social networks, and a lack of individual and collective guideposts. People are finding themselves without anchor points to give their lives direction and meaning. Work is one way people define themselves and establish personal reference points. It fulfills a variety of needs and helps people attain certain personal and professional objectives. It is also part of identity building and self-actualization. In this regard, the need for recognition would appear to be growing as the social support system collapses. Employee recognition is becoming increasingly crucial and important.

• Organizational environment

The work world has undergone a number of transtrainings in recent decades. These include the advent of new technologies, the rise of capitalism, the growing knowledge economy, globalization, and international competition. A performance-based corporate culture has emerged, with changes in work organization, pace, and patterns, as well as job descriptions. The importance of people within organizations, and thus their contribution to the work process, is underestimated. Many workers also feel an increasing sense of insecurity due to corporate instability and the constant threat of job loss. People are questioning their roles and importance within companies, and are taking a step back. They are breaking their emotional ties to organizations and no longer feel the motivation they once did.

The work environment also forces managers and employees to submit to often contradictory requirements and constraints. They must adapt to these many changes and work harder to perform more difficult tasks that are in constant flux. This intensifies and justifies their need for genuine employee recognition every day. The organizational environment makes employee recognition essential.

Employee recognition is vital in today's social and organizational environments. With a view to meeting the various needs for recognition in the work world, we will demystify the topic by offering a definition of employee recognition. We will also suggest strategies to help you put work and management practices in place that draw attention to the contributions employees make.