Workforce strained under 'real, mounting pressure' amid lack of recognition
Organisations across the world are facing a "profitability paradox," where company growth soars while employee wellbeing suffers amid a lack of recognition.
This is according to a new global report from Workhuman, which polled more than 6,000 workers across 10 countries to look at the state of employee experience, trust, recognition, and readiness for AI.
The findings revealed a striking paradox in workplaces, where 72% of employees describe their company's profitability and growth as good or great, but tell an entirely different story about their wellbeing.
According to the report, 51% of employees feel higher pressure than a year ago, while 48% end most of their working days mentally exhausted and drained.
"The headline numbers on engagement and productivity look healthy," said Tom Libretto, President of Workhuman, in a statement.
"But when you look beneath them, you find a workforce that is straining under real and mounting pressure. Organisations are performing well. Their people are paying the price. That's not a sustainable equation, and the data tells us exactly where the fault lines are."
Why recognition matters
The lack of recognition appears to be a strong driver behind low employee wellbeing scores, according to the findings.
Less than half of the respondents (41%) said they were recognised in the last quarter, while another 36% strongly agreed that their contributions often go unnoticed.
"The geography of invisibility maps almost exactly onto the areas where an underinvestment in recognition exists," the report read.
"These overlapping deficits are not coincidental – they're the predictable product of a system that has not been designed to see its most essential contributors."
According to the findings, improving recognition is essential in enhancing employee wellbeing.
The report found that employees who were recognised in the last week are nearly twice as likely to feel a sense of belonging as those who have never been recognised.
"The same pattern holds for motivation, seeing a path to grow, and optimism about their future at work," the report read.
"Recognition frequency reshapes how employees experience their organisation across every dimension that determines whether they engage, contribute, and commit."
Additionally, most employees also believe that recognition will make valuable work visible (80%). They added that it aligns their work with the organisation's goals (77%) and makes them feel more likely to go above and beyond (77%).
"Feeling appreciated is important. Working better and going above and beyond is operationally significant," the report read.
To improve recognition, the report encouraged employers to ensure they have the infrastructure that can make employees feel appreciated and also seen.
It also suggested "making milestones matter," as it warned against relying on generic approaches to recognition.
"Adding peer voices, offering real choices, and naming a person's contributions can change everything at a moment when they're most likely to be reflective," the report read.
