Employee recognition programs are a key driver of engagement, culture, and retention, but designing and maintaining an effective program can be a challenge—especially for small teams. During a panel at Awardco’s RCGNZ Summit 2024, various HR leaders got together to discuss these challenges and effective solutions.
Meet the Panelists
Kari Carr, Total Rewards Benefits Manager at JB Hunt, oversees recognition for a workforce of over 34,000 employees, including thousands of drivers on the road. Her team successfully integrated recognition into their driver app, leading to increased engagement.
Sarah Stewart, Program Manager at Zelis, helped streamline recognition across the company’s U.S. and India-based teams. In just 11 months, their program achieved a 92% adoption rate, with employees receiving over 30,000 recognitions.
Britney Burns, Employee Experience Program Manager at WebPT, launched AwardCo for her U.S. employees in 2023, later expanding non-monetary recognition to their India team. Their first-year success included 10,000 recognitions, and they’ve since won industry recognition for their innovative strategy.
Malachi Hopoate, Head of Education at Awardco.
Each panelist has played a vital role in shaping Awardco’s Admin Community, a space designed for recognition program managers to share insights, troubleshoot challenges, and optimize their strategies.
Overcoming Challenges as a Small Recognition Team
Many organizations rely on a single person—or a very small team—to manage their recognition program. This can create challenges, from generating engagement to scaling initiatives.
Luckily, the panelists have gone through these challenges and share strategies to help:
- Lean on external support – Engaging with AwardCo’s client success team has been a game-changer for these admins, providing valuable insights and troubleshooting help.
- Use peer collaboration – The new Admin Community provides a place for recognition leaders to share best practices and get feedback from others facing similar challenges.
- Keep leadership engaged – Getting managers and executives involved can make a significant impact on adoption and participation.
Increasing Engagement Through Recognition
For many organizations, simply launching a recognition platform isn’t enough—employees need guidance on how and when to use it. Several panelists shared successful initiatives that boosted engagement:
- Theme-based recognition weeks – Sarah’s team introduced Mentor Monday, Teamwork Tuesday, and other themed prompts, leading to a 145% increase in engagement.
- Automated reminders – Britney saw a 3x increase in employee award nominations after implementing scheduled Awardco reminders.
- Tying recognition to performance – Kari’s team uses real-time reporting dashboards to help managers see the impact of recognition on employee performance and engagement.
The Power of Community: A Space for Collaboration
The Awardco Admin Community was built by admins, for admins, creating a dedicated space for recognition leaders to collaborate. Panelists emphasized how valuable it is to share experiences with peers, whether troubleshooting a specific challenge or brainstorming new ideas.
The Admin Community is for Awardco admins specifically—if you’re not an Awardco user, other collaboration strategies include:
- Attend networking events
- Put together a team of recognition champions
- Set up communication with local companies’ HR leaders
The AwardCo Partnership: A Commitment to Continuous Improvement
The panelists highlighted Awardco’s commitment to listening to customer feedback and continuously enhancing the platform. This bleeds into future releases, such as Awardco 2.0, where the updates have been directly influenced by admin and user feedback.
Awardco’s ongoing support includes:
- Customization – Flexible options that align with an organization’s unique needs.
- Scalability – Tools to support teams of all sizes, from startups to global enterprises.
- Proactive improvements – Features developed based on admin feedback and beta testing.
Final Takeaways: Advice for Recognition Admins
For those looking to optimize their recognition programs, the panelists offered some final recommendations:
- Don’t hesitate to ask for help – Whether it’s your CSM or the Admin Community, there are resources available.
- Utilize built-in tools – Features like scheduled reminders and customizable dashboards can streamline recognition efforts.
- Focus on sustainability – Recognition isn’t just a one-time initiative; it requires long-term planning and continuous engagement.
By leveraging best practices, tapping into community insights, and partnering with Awardco, recognition admins can build programs that truly make an impact—driving engagement, retention, and a culture of appreciation.
Hear more specifics from this breakout session, or watch other sessions, here.
An avid lover of fantasy books, a proud Hufflepuff, and a strong proponent of escapism, Jeff has a love of good storytelling. He relies on that for both his professional work and his writing hobby (don’t ask about the 10+ novel ideas collecting virtual dust on his computer).
