Would it surprise you to learn that the WorkHuman Research Institute found that 21 percent of respondents have NEVER been recognized at work and 33 percent have not been recognized in 6 months? That doesn’t mean the boss is saying, “Wait a minute…uhhhhh…Terry, right?” Come on, even those who don’t thrive on recognition need more attention than that!

Can you ever thank an employee too much? Not if you are specific and sincere. If you finish reading this article thinking, “That woman Lisa said I have five people to thank today, phew.” “Thank you”, “thank you”, “thank you”, “thank you”, “thank you”. Ready! That’s done. You’re right; It doesn’t work. Your employees will see through your lack of sincere effort.

On the other hand, keep in mind that what is recognized is repeated, so the more specific you can be, the better. I can say, “Good job, Maria.” or “Maria, you did an excellent job handling that call with Ms. Smith today. She was tough in her demands and you calmed her down, handled her professionally and resolved her issue, and allowed us to keep her a satisfied customer. You have great customer instincts. Thank you!”

You may think of engagement strategies as a soft skill, but they produce hard results. By studying the communication habits of a team, Marcial Losada discovered that high performing teams have a positivity ratio of 6:1. That means for every negative comment heard by a team member; they hear at least six positive responses. On an average performing team, the ratio drops to 3:1. This ratio means that your commitment barely survives. Your employees are doing enough work that they don’t get fired, and you’re probably paying them enough that they don’t quit. They are rowing fast enough so that the boat does not sink. It’s an even balance. We have an underperforming team, the ratio is 3:1. This means that they hear 3 times more negative comments than positive comments. It’s like being in bumper-to-bumper traffic. For every person who says “Go,” THREE people honk and point their fingers at you!

If you need more numbers, the Gallup Organization finds that only 30% of its employees are actively engaged. These are the people who bring more value to your organization than the salary you are paying. They’re your rock stars, and you know who they are. About 50% of their employees are offline. Once again, they are doing precisely the amount of work for which they are paid: nothing more, sometimes less. And, of course, you have your bottom 20%: the actively disengaged employees. These are the poisonous, toxic, horrible people working for you… the people who can overpower your favorite Yankee Candle just by walking across a room. Just as Rockstar employees light up the room when they walk in, toxic employees light up the room when they leave. Not only are they a pain to be around, but they are also expensive – costing you up to $3500 for every $10,000 in salary. Ka-CHING!

Who gets all the attention: rock stars and problem kids, right? Let’s take a minute and consider the forgotten group: the middle 50%. I like to call this group the Steady Eddies. Eddie may not be a rock star, but he’s not a problem child. He doesn’t hit every note, but it’s still noticeable that he’s playing “Brown-Eyed Girl.” He comes to work, plays his song and goes home. What if one day his manager said to him, “You know, Eddie, I just want you to know how much I appreciate you being here every day, singing your song for us.” Eddie might be thinking, “Hmmm, how do I get more of that?” So he works a little harder because he likes the positive attention. And you’ve opened the door for him to perform BETTER… and you may have given him what he needed to be a rock star. (Maybe next week I’ll start playing Stairway to Heaven!) Where do your actively disconnected employees get their recruits? The middle 50%. The 50% is the group you can have the biggest impact on, with the right encouragement. This is the group where you can make the most significant difference.

If your employees haven’t heard a positive word from you in the last week, find something specific that you can recognize. Who knows, you may prevent that person from clicking “send” with your resume to another potential employer.