Over 50% of New Zealand employees cast doubts on rewards, recognition strategies

More than half of employees in New Zealand have doubts on the fairness of their organisation's rewards and recognition programme.

Some 28% of employees in New Zealand said they are "uncertain" that the rewards and recognition in their companies are fair and unbiased.

Another quarter of employees said they don't believe that it's fair and unbiased, according to the TELUS Mental Health Index for January 2024.

The report found that 47% believe that the rewards and recognition programme in their companies are fair and unbiased. They also have the highest mental health score of 64.4.

Employees who feel uncertain have a 56 mental health score, while those who entirely disagreed reported even lower mental health scores of 54.4.

Problems with rewards, recognition

The findings come after recent research uncovered the rise of "shadow contributors" in the workplace, or those who have never been recognised at work.

According to data from the Achievers Workforce Institute, shadow contributors around the world went up 17% in 2024, up from the 10% in 2022.

AWI's findings indicate an issue on recognition programmes, where 40% of employers admitted not getting any business gains from them.

"HR pros: if your recognition budget is robust but you're not seeing business benefits, reset your programme," said Hannah Yardley, Chief People and Culture Officer at Achievers, in a statement.

"To do so, identify your business objectives, align recognition with them, and then measure the impact," Yardley said."

TELUS Health's full white paper on New Zealand's mental health scores can be accessed through this link.