Which characteristics of working conditions affect employee recognition? Case study of a French teaching hospital

In France, hospital employees have, for several years, denounced deteriorating working conditions resulting from budgetary restrictions, labour shortages and increased demands for quality of care. At the same time, many health professions ask for more recognition of their qualifications and activities. Can we highlight the link between working conditions and employee recognition ? The concept of workplace recognition has recently emerged in managerial literature. The work undertaken aims to clarify this multi-dimensional concept and to assess its impact on employee behaviour within the organisation. There are few studies that address factors in the need for recognition. Changes in working conditions have been addressed but are not based on empirical results. In this study, we explore four hypotheses on the relationships between certain aspects of workplace conditions and the forms of recognition. We processed 3112 questionnaires at a French university hospital in 2018. The findings indicate that doctors, health care personnel and medical technicians feel the most unrecognised. The primary deficiency is recognition of investment in labour. Executive management is not seen as a source of recognition. It also appears that working conditions exert a similar influence on all forms of recognition. Independence in the workplace, managerial support and resources to perform the work are characteristic of working conditions with the most positive influence on employee recognition.