Do you need some inspiration to increase your employee recognition? Then read our top 20 insightful quotes about employee recognition from the top CEOs, entrepreneurs and authors.
1. “I have always believed that the way you treat your employees is the way they will treat your customers, and that people flourish when they are praised.” – Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group
Takeaway: Treat employees the way you would treat your customers.
2. “Motivating employees to work at their full potential is the main premise of successful management.” – Eraldo Banovac, Croatian author and professor
Takeaway: Company success depends on maximally engaging employees.
3. “If you do not treat people with the respect they deserve, do not expect any kind of commitment to your productivity goals and target.” – Ian Fuhr, founder and CEO of the Sorbet group
Takeaway: Respect and hard work go hand in hand
4. “Realize that employees and customers both have to be engaged, at the same time, to move your business forward for sustainable success.” – Robert G. Thompson, author of Hooked on Customers: The Five Habits of Legendary Customer-Centric Companies
Takeaway: Long-term success depends on both employees and customers.
5. “If you don’t create a great, rewarding place for people to work, they won’t do great work.” – Ari Weinzweig, co-founder of Zingermans Deli
Takeaway: Recognition, as well as a supportive environment, lead to excellent work.
6. “Take time to appreciate employees and they will reciprocate in a thousand ways.” – Dr. Bob Nelson, best-selling author and motivational speaker
Takeaway: Recognition yields high returns.
7. “People may take a job for more money, but they often leave it for more recognition.” – Dr. Bob Nelson, best-selling author and motivational speaker
Takeaway: By recognizing, you retain.
8. “Nothing is more effective than sincere, accurate praise, and nothing is more lame than a cookie-cutter compliment.” – Bill Walsh, American football coach
Takeaway: Provide truly thoughtful compliments.
9. “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” – Ken Blanchard, American writer
Takeaway: Feedback feeds greatness.
10. “Great companies don’t hire skilled people and motivate them, they hire already motivated people and inspire them.” – Simon Sinek, author of Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
Takeaway: Inspire your motivated workers.
11. “Employees are a company’s greatest asset – they’re your competitive advantage. You want to attract and retain the best; provide them with encouragement, stimulus, and make them feel that they are an integral part of the company’s mission.” – Anne M. Mulcahy, former CEO of Xerox
Takeaway: Make employees feel as important as they are.
12. “You become strong by lifting others up, not pulling them down.” – Matshona Dhliwayo, author
Takeaway: When you support others, you benefit as well.
13. “When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.” – Simon Sinek, author, motivational speaker and organizational consultant.
Takeaway: Emotionally invested employees are your strongest contributors
14. “There are only three measurements that tell you nearly everything you need to know about your organization’s overall performance: employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and cash flow. It goes without saying that no company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it.” – Jack Welch, a famous business executive and author
Takeaway: You should care about your employees as much as you do about your customers and your revenues
15. “Employee engagement is the art and science of engaging people in authentic and recognized connection to strategy, roles, performance, organization, community, relationship, customers, development, energy, and happiness to leverage, sustain, and transform work into results.” – David Zinger, work engagement and experience expert
Takeaway: Employee engagement can be complicated, but once accomplished it leads to great results
16. “People want to know they matter and they want to be treated as people. That’s the new talent contract.” – Pamela Stroko, VP, HCM Transformation & Thought Leadership at Oracle Corporation and a recognized leader in the talent management arena
Takeaway: Treat your employees as humans, not as numbers in a spreadsheet
17. “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” – Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States
Takeaway: by involving and recognizing your employees, you increase their engagement and learning
18. “Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.” – Stephen R. Covey, an educator, author, businessman, and keynote speaker
Takeaway: satisfied employees lead to satisfied customers
19. “Appreciate everything your associates do for the business. Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen, well-timed, sincere words of praise. They’re absolutely free and worth a fortune.” – Sam Walton, a businessman and entrepreneur best known for founding Walmart and Sam’s Club
Takeaway: Employee recognition costs you nothing but it’s great for your business
20. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. ” – Steve Jobs, American business magnate
Takeaway: inspire your employees to love their job and you will be surprised by how devoted they will be to their work
