The motivation of 'thank you' by Declan Byrne, UK MD, One4all Rewards on 08-Sep-2014

Our new report into the importance of two simple words shows that one in five people work for a boss who never says 'thank you'. At One4all, we produced the report, Power of Thank You to discover the effectiveness of rewarding staff and it shows that, as well as being impolite, not saying 'thank you”' enough can seriously undermine the success of a business, says Declan Byrne, UK MD of One4all Rewards.

The report shows that business leaders who do say 'thank you' have more motivated staff, higher rates of staff retention, find it easier to recruit and have better reputations. However, 20% of employees say they never receive any form of thanks from their employer.

Despite the importance of making employees feel appreciated, 75% of workers feel that they don't receive sufficient gratitude from their boss for the work that they do.

32% of workers said that the most common form of recognition they experienced was a simple 'thank you' from their boss when work is done well and 24% get a more tangible 'thank you' in the form of cash or gifts at least once a year.

11% of workplaces say 'thank you' using incentive schemes, providing a 'thank you' bonus or reward linked to hitting certain goals or milestones. The research suggests that these prove effective because people want their 'thank you' to feel that it has been earned by their individual efforts and not just given as a matter of routine.

In a busy working environment it's easy for bosses to forget to say 'thank you' as often as their employees would like them to, but failure to correct this will severely impact on performance and profitability.

Clearly, we all want to be rewarded forthework thatwe do, but ultimately it's the personal recognition that makes a 'thank you' so powerful. We want to know that we are seen as an individual, not just one of a number, and that the personal time and dedication we have committed has been noticed.

There is evidence that a simple 'thank you', delivered in the right way, can boost performance by as much as 44%, save considerable money through better staff retention and avoid the need to pay inflated salaries in order to attract people with the best skills.

Organisations that know how to say 'thank you' effectively find it easier to recruit and retain the best staff. Salary is just one of the factors people consider when weighing up what their job is worth to them. Feeling appreciated and wanted is a powerful part of job satisfaction.

We created the Power of Thank You report to help leaders to see this as well as provide guidance on how to best use 'thank you' as a motivational tool.

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