Everyone is aware that these are tough economic times. Many managers want to pay their staff more, but often the money just isn't there. Leaders know their employees are stressed, but they don't know what to do to encourage them.

But there is a growing chasm between employees and managers. Research consistently shows that the vast majority of employees don't feel appreciated at work. In one study, 55% of the workers reported they had received no recognition for doing good work in the past 12 months.

When employees don't feel appreciated bad things happen, including:

• Higher rates of tardiness and absenteeism

• Increased clerical errors

• Higher turnover

• More conflict among team members

• Decreased productivity

• Lower customer satisfaction

All of these results contribute to higher costs for organizations. Finding and training new employees has been found to be one of the most expensive non-productive costs to organizations. And absenteeism can be up to 30% of a company's payroll expense.