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Most employees, including those at MIT, do their work and, if they're lucky, get an evaluation once a year which is somehow, usually in an unknown fashion, connected to a salary raise. Over and above that, we have some Institute-wide and in some cases School-wide awards given for exceptional service. These are wonderful and begin to recognize some of the contributions made by employees. But it's the immediate recognition of an especially important contribution, of an extraordinary effort, that is often missing in MIT's "praise-free zone."
In recognition of this lack, and based on evidence collected by the Human Resource Practices Design Team, the Human Resources Department is introducing a number of new reward and recognition opportunities. Some augment the already existing annual awards to allow more people and more teams within MIT to be recognized. But a number are also geared to immediate recognition of work particularly well done. These are not large, and are more symbolic than material, but are meant to give an employee or groups of employees a real lift: dinners, perhaps, or tickets and other small gifts.
MIT attracts an extraordinarily loyal workforce, despite, in many cases, salaries that are lower than employees could get in other arenas. But as research in psychology and organizational behavior has long shown, money is not the only motivator. The ability to do good work and to get it recognized, to feel valued for what one is doing – these are key aspects of what employees want, and their presence supports the kind of environment that creates an employer of choice. And that is what this new program is aiming towards. By augmenting the opportunities for recognition and allowing special contributions to be rewarded at the time they are made, it helps MIT create a "praise-full zone."
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