A peer-to-peer e-thanks app is live, but managers almost never add their own recognition. What should HR treat as the program?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
A suggestion box the bosses never read is still just a box. The app is plumbing; the program is whether a supervisor actually says thank you. Make that a leadership expectation, not a software setting.
Full Explanation
Recognition platforms do not substitute for manager behavior in a municipal hierarchy. Peer e-thanks can supplement, but employees still read supervisor silence as the organization's real message; HR should set and measure manager recognition as a leadership expectation—frequency, quality, and equity—rather than treating app login counts as a complete program. Accountability closes the gap the software cannot close alone.
Requiring peers to send twice as many e-thanks to offset silent managers overloads lateral gratitude and still leaves the boss mute. Sunsetting manager involvement because the platform "already counts" as complete misreads what employees experience as organizational thanks. Turning off peer e-thanks until a new vendor is selected for the same behavior gap swaps tools without changing leadership norms.
Exam caveat: manager expectations should be realistic for span of control and must not coerce inauthentic public praise; quality and fairness matter as much as count. Operational check: include recognition behaviors in manager performance standards, sample equity of who is thanked across crews, and review dashboards that separate peer versus manager activity monthly.