Over three-quarters of surveyed companies have some form of best-of-the-best or above-and-beyond formal recognition award program going on.

This is great for those employees who seem to excel and shine at everything they do. They end up enjoying the celebratory experience at the annual awards event.

But what about employees who don’t get an award?

Award programs can appear to create an exclusivity that pits one person winning over and above their fellow employees.

So how do peers perceive formal award winners? What are the benefits for companies of doing formal awards when so few employees actually end up receiving them?

I am going to explore this topic through the lens of some recent academic research I discovered this week.

Spoiler alert: The outcome is positive as the title of this post implies.

Let’s dig in! (more…)