Employee turnover is expensive. To replace someone in a technical role will likely cost you 80% of their annual salary in direct costs and lost productivity.(1) The good news is that leaders can affect a massive reduction in employee turnover if they get one thing right: employee recognition.

Gallup studied 3500 employees over a two year period and found that those who were authentically recognized by their leaders were 45% less likely to leave the company after two years.(1) Furthermore, well-recognized employees are 3 to 9 times as likely to be engaged in their work.

David Rock reveals that negative feedback has seven times the cognitive impact that positive feedback has (2). This suggests that you need to give positive feedback far more often than negative feedback. If you think you were giving enough positive feedback, you might think again: only 22% of employees say they receive enough recognition for their work.(1)

Of course how you give recognition matters a lot. Gallop suggests these five pillars for effective employee recognition (1).

1. Authentic

2. Personalized

3. Equitable

4. Consistent

5. Fulfills employees expectations

One of the greatest examples of recognition comes from Doug Conant, CEO of the Campbell Soup company for a decade. He personally wrote five recognition letters every single day of his tenure and delivered them to employees who had done outstanding work.

How do you stack up on recognizing your employees?

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(1) Gallup: Employee retention depends on getting recognition right

(2) David Rock: Your Brain at Work.