Article by Victor Lipman on Forbes.com

Managers often view “appreciation” as one of those soft HR concepts that in the hard business world doesn’t matter much.

That is, until you see research stats showing that approximately two out of three employees would quit if they don’t get enough of it.

This is a key finding of a new study from Office Team examining the impact of appreciation, or lack thereof, in the workplace.

It’s a subject I write about with some frequency: managerial issues related to employee recognition, appreciation, communication, etc.  I just did a piece a few days ago on the management effects of what I call chronic emotional stinginess. Then I came across this current study; in essence, it puts hard data against a “soft” concern. But it’s a concern that on closer inspection has plenty of hard dollars behind it, as dissatisfied employees and turnover are issues costing companies hundreds of billions of dollars on an annual basis.

Let’s take a closer look at the key data points of this new research.

• 66% of employees say they would “likely leave their job of they didn’t feel appreciated.” This is up significantly from 51% of employees who felt this way in 2012.
• Among millennials, the number of employees who’d leave if unappreciated jumps to 76%.  This helps account for the overall increase from the 51% figure in 2012, as millennials are becoming the dominant generation in the workforce, with a unique set of characteristics and needs.
• From a management standpoint, 54% of senior managers feel “it’s common for staff to quit due to lack of recognition.” Though this is a reasonable number, there’s a still a sizable disconnect between management’s perceptions and the 76% of millennials who report they’d respond this way.

Read the rest of the article here.