The Power of Kudos For Motivation: What the Data Tells Us

What does kudos do for employee motivation and productivity? We asked Behavioural Scientist Lindsay Kohler to explain the science behind giving kudos at work.

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What motivates employees to work hard? It’s not as complicated as you might think. In fact, at its core, motivation is quite simple. As Lindsay Kohler, an expert in employee behaviour, explains exclusively to Mo, workers are only motivated to take a certain action if one of the following three conditions are met:

• They can take action
• They believe our actions are going to have a certain effect
• They believe that there will be a reward for their actions

It’s the third area – rewards and kudos – where employers can have a real impact on rates of motivation and productivity.

Rewards and kudos don’t always mean more money in the form of either a raise or a timely bonus; in fact, research shows that money is not necessarily the most motivating reward.

How Does Kudos Motivate Employees?

Our idea of what we think employees want and what they want doesn’t always match up. For example, what do you think would be the most motivating reward to employees if certain goals are met? The options are: getting free pizza; receiving a “thank you” message from the boss; or cold hard cash.

As it turns out, we like to hear “thank you” the most. But how do we know that?

The Power of Kudos: A Study

This study is taken from Dan Ariely’s book Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations. In a week-long experiment, employees were offered either free pizza, a “Well Done!” text, money, or nothing at all.

At the end of the week, pizza was in the lead as the strongest motivator, showing a 6.7% increase in productivity over the control group. A “Well Done!” text saw a 6.6% increase. And money claimed a measly third place, with just a 4.9% increase in productivity over the control group.

Here’s the kicker: As the week finished up, money continued to be the least motivating source, performing 13.2% worse than the control group.

At the end of the study, kudos was the ultimate winner. Free pizza came in second and the control group was third. Money finished behind them all — yes, even the control group — with no extra motivation or productivity.

Kudos can make all the difference for employee retention

Make Kudos Your Secret Weapon for Motivation

Kudos is a strong motivator of performance. Here’s what you need to know to use it effectively:

1: Praising ability versus praising effort

In children, much research has been done around whether praising ability or praising effort is better, and it’s generally agreed that praising effort is the better route to go. However, there is much less research on the effects of praising ability versus praising effort in adults. Therefore, don’t be afraid to experiment with your praise messages and see which ones have the most desired impact.

2: Understand what message your kudos sends

What you choose to praise and reward as an organisation sends strong signals to people about what is valued and expected. Are you always praising those who make quick decisions — even if they don’t do their proper due diligence? Are you withholding praise from those who move less quickly, even if they are more thorough? Consider conducting a quick audit of recent public praise messages to see which praise themes emerge and check that they match up with your company values.

3: Kudos should be sincere

It’s easy to get into a habit of unconsciously praising every single job well done — to the point where praise can become meaningless. Setting shared ideas about what behaviours and outcomes should be praised can help to modulate praise in an organisation so that when it does occur, everyone knows that the result being praised is truly exceptional.

4: Kudos doesn’t have to be over-complicated

There are many quick, easy and informal ways to praise your employees. First and foremost: simply say ‘thank you!’ more often. You can encourage the use of the praise function on your chosen enterprise social network or employee engagement platform.

Create a suite of thank you cards that employees can easily customise to send to their colleagues. Gather nominees for a series of categories that reflect your values and have a year-end reward party. Or streamline the whole process by using a reward and recognition tool like Mo.

5: Kudos doesn’t have to come from the top

There’s no hard-and-fast rule on who the praise needs to come from. One of the biggest mistakes we see is companies bringing too much hierarchy into their recognition mechanisms. Instead, encourage an organic praise habit at all levels of the business to deliver on our desire for sincere and authentic praise. Positive feedback needs to come from every part of an organisation.

Kudos: Transform Your Culture with Mo

Mo is an employee recognition and engagement platform that can help leaders improve collaboration and morale, reduce employee churn and drive change.

Our platform creates a vibrant culture by developing team habits, encouraging people to celebrate success, recognise results and appreciate colleagues. Your complete toolkit for connecting and motivating teams in the new world of work. Book a demo with our team today.

About the Author

Lindsay Kohler is an applied Behavioural Scientist who holds an MSc in Behavioural Science from The London School of Economics and is the lead behavioural scientist at employee engagement consultancy Scarlettabbott. She is a Forbes contributor, and her writing appears in various industry publications, such as Harvard Business Review, Workforce, HRDirector, Corp Comms Magazine and more. She co-authored the best-selling book Even Better If: Building Better Businesses, Leaders, and Selves.