Background/Significance: Employee engagement is a topic that has captured the attention of healthcare organizations for several important reasons. Research has revealed a strong link between high employee engagement and increased patient satisfaction, higher quality of care, greater productivity, better retention of nurses, and less absenteeism.

Purpose: This intent of this study was to examine specific strategies related to reward and recognition and the impact the interventions have on employee engagement. Innovative strategies were explored.

Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted to identify if employee engagement can be improved using specific strategies involving reward and recognition. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale was used for the pre-surveys and post-surveys. Registered professional nurses from two medical/surgical units were recruited.

Results: The sample included 18 RN’s with a mean age of 36.11 and 7.72 years of experience. The Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test (non-parametric version of paired t-test) was performed to test if there was a difference between Pre-scores and Post scores.

Conclusions: The finding may suggest that nurses under the age of 30 have an increase in engagement levels through reward and recognition. The subcategory of “dedication” was remarkably higher than vigor and absorption which may indicate that reward and recognition helped increase “I am proud of the work I do”. It is important that nursing leaders focus on ways to increase employee engagement of their teams into their daily routine as this will help improve patient outcomes.

The finding may suggest that nurses under the age of 30 have an increase in engagement levels through reward and recognition.