Does Praising An Employee Elevate Their Performance? This Study Has An Answer

Criticise in private, praise in public, they say. Nothing is more gratifying than realising how much your efforts are valued. Giving compliments in public is a simple, quick and efficient way to inspire others, boost motivation and increase engagement. A recent study analysed the influence of public praise on workers’ productivity in a Chinese technology firm.

Researchers determined that it was highly advantageous to frequently appreciate the employees for their performance, particularly through the mediated communication channels within the workplace.

The Business Insider India featured a study in which Wen and their colleagues explored a Chinese tech firm where the employees were praised in the public channels of an internal messaging app.

Whenever one sales representative sealed a deal, the human resources department was informed to relay the good news to everyone in the group. When such messages were sent in public, not only was the said employee happy, but it had an impact on the productivity of the co-employees as well.

The research showed that as little as a 10% boost in the ratio of messages containing praise to the ones with constructive criticism meant the workers were making roughly an additional call per day.

“One important challenge faced by many companies is how to motivate remote workers and keep them productive,” explains the lead author of the study, Wen Wen, to Business Insider.

Wen also noted that their study provides pragmatic guidance on how the correct messages about peers should be shared resulting in efficient gains.

When co-workers were recognised for their efforts, everyone received motivation. It made no difference whether the recipient of the appreciation was a friend or a stranger to the colleague. Anyone, who was at the workplace during that period, could testify that they put in some extra effort.

However, when the praise was directed towards someone, the effects varied. The co-workers directly related to the praised worker reported the feeling of inspiration, while others that were distantly related did not report the same feeling.

It may be because effort seems within our reach, while abilities can appear as an innate talent.

In fact, compared to employees who work in offices, research indicates that it is more simple for workers to get demotivated while working from home.

“For a distributed workforce, managers should probably consider crafting effort-focused messages when sharing peer successes, instead of ability-focused messages,” Wen explained to Business Insider.