Seattle, WA (PRWEB) December 06, 2011

The latest research-based article from Impact Achievement Group reveals that employers continue to cling to the notion that happy employees are productive employees?which is why many morale and recognition programs continue to fail.

The article “The Morale and Motivation Myth ? No Strings Attached!” uses findings from a recent survey of human resource professionals to gauge current beliefs about the role happiness or employee engagement play in retention and productivity. In the survey, 85 percent of participants believed that increasing employee morale and happiness is the critical path to higher employee productivity. For over 40 years the tenet that “happy employees are productive employees” has been the driving force for employee motivation practices and management training?despite clinical evidence to the contrary.

Consequently, recognition and reward programs continue to fail to engage and retain employees. The 2011 SHRM/Globoforce Employee Recognition Survey revealed that although 80 percent of organizations have a recognition program, less than a third of human resource professionals believe that employees are satisfied with the level of recognition they receive for doing a good job. And the latest Gallup survey shows that only 29 percent of employees are engaged?leaving 71 percent of workers either non-engaged or actively disengaged.

Gallup’s assessment of engagement focuses on such factors as development opportunities, understanding of expectations, opportunities to do great work, and having one’s work acknowledged and validated. This confirms the decades-old pioneering work of psychologist Frederick Herzberg and supports Impact Achievement Group’s observation that happy employees are not necessarily productive?but productive employees are happy employees.