When Employee Recognition Misses the Mark

Rob Sullivan is an international speaker, corporate trainer, and coach whose passion is helping people improve their presence, energy, listening, and communication. Rob contributes regularly to HRinsidr. Follow along for ongoing insights on leadership presence, communication, and professional development.

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“Hit 5 years at my job last week. Company gave me three things: a Slack shoutout that got like 3 emojis (half from coworkers who clearly just clicked the first ones in the picker), an engraved plaque, and some ‘recognition points.’ Did the math on the points — to save up for anything I’d actually want, like a sweater or a tent, I’d need another 15 years. Right now my balance covers a branded pen, or a tumbler if I’m feeling fancy.

So your options are buy something useless, or let it sit there for a decade. Most people just spend it because otherwise the points feel imaginary.

The Slack message scrolls past in 30 seconds and the plaque ends up in a drawer. Whole thing feels like it’s set up so the company can say they’re doing something without spending real money on it.

Is this normal at your company too? Or do places actually put thought into work anniversary gifts? Trying to figure out if Im being unreasonable.”

– Anonymous Story , Reddit

That experience is frustrating. But it barely scratches the surface of how badly recognition can fail.

The $50 gift card that cost a company its best engineer

The most egregious example I can recall came from an engineer at one of the Big 3 automakers in Detroit.

After a new model launched, dealerships started flagging a faulty part. Warranty replacements were costing the company over $1 million per month. Leadership hand-picked a senior engineer to lead the investigation — and gave him the rare privilege of assembling his own team. Within three weeks, they identified the real culprit: a software bug, not a hardware defect. They patched it. The bleeding stopped. Over $12 million in annual losses, prevented.

His reward? A $50 restaurant gift certificate.

Think about that ratio for a moment. The engineer saved more money in a single month than most people earn in a lifetime — and the company responded with enough for a dinner out. Not a bonus. Not a new car. Not even a meaningful acknowledgment of what he’d accomplished. Fifty dollars.

If I were in his position, I’d have sent it back. Clearly they needed the money more than I did.

Recognition isn’t just a perk — it’s retention

It will surprise no one that this engineer — one of the best at the company — started looking for a new job shortly after. Of course he did.

When companies fail to acknowledge meaningful contributions, talented employees don’t wait around hoping things will change. They leave. And with them goes institutional knowledge, team morale, and often the very capability that made the company competitive in the first place.

The problem isn’t unique to any one company or industry. It shows up in the Reddit post above, which resonated because it’s painfully common: recognition theater that costs the company almost nothing and communicates exactly that. Points that expire into branded mugs. Plaques that gather dust. Shoutouts measured in emoji reactions.

None of this means companies need to hand out cars for every good quarter. But there’s a large gap between a $50 gift card and a $12 million save — and organizations that can’t find something meaningful in that gap are sending a message whether they intend to or not.

That message, received loud and clear by your best people, is simply: we don’t really see you.

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