Employee Appreciation Day is on Friday March 1st, a day created for employers to give thanks or recognition to their employees, but the best companies have recognition front of mind throughout the year.
Why Invest in Employee Recognition?
A lot of companies invest in appreciation and recognition all year round because they appreciate the many great returns they receive for investing time in their employee’s well-being and happiness.
- Almost half of U.S. workers (46%) left a job because they felt unappreciated. According to a survey by OnePoll, almost half of U.S workers left a job because they felt unappreciated, and a further 65% felt they would remain in a position with an unappreciative boss if their co-workers appreciated their work.
- Companies with engaged employees get 2.5% more revenue when compared with their competitors with low levels of engagement. According to Medium, companies with engaged employees get 2.5% more revenue when compared with their competitors with low levels of engagement.
- Employees who are not engaged or who are actively disengaged cost the world $8.8 trillion in lost productivity. According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2023 Report, employees who are not engaged or who are actively disengaged cost the world $8.8 trillion in lost productivity. That’s equal to 9% of all overall domestic production.
Much like a domino effect, better engagement can make a considerable difference in productivity and, therefore, a company’s bottom line. An all-round culture of gratitude, reward and recognition amounts to the most connected and prosperous workplaces.
Bringing Recognition to Your Teams
In the last few years teams have become more widely dispersed; with on-site, hybrid, office-based and front-line staff across all industries, it’s difficult to create a connected and collaborative culture. This is where technological systems are key. Rather than having a separate app or offline program, integrate recognition initiatives directly into the comms systems your staff are already using. Millions of people using Microsoft Teams, Workplace from Meta and Slack, and implementing a recognition initiative within these tools is a massive opportunity for companies.
But how can you create a recognition initiative using the tools that staff are already using? That’s where bots come in!
Why use Bots for Employee Appreciation?
Using bots to power your Employee Recognition programs ensures that workers feel valued and heard, whilst also giving them the ability to single out their peers for praise, no longer having to only rely on upper management to give commendation when it is due.
How Can We Help?
Using our platform to build your own Employee Recognition program helps companies reiterate their core company values while also providing a platform for staff to nominate their colleagues for Employee of the Month or other similar work recognition programs.
Recognition bots are a great tool because…
- They are available and accessible to everyone 24/7 and 365 days of a year
- They reward all staff – office and frontline
- They raise awareness of company values, behaviours or awards
- They drive participation in recognition programs via automated prompts and broadcasts
- They are directly integrated with the channels staff are already using (Workplace, Slack or Microsoft Teams), also helping to increase channel usage and engagement
Due to the flexibility of The Bot Platform, you can bring various types of recognition programs to life in one seamless experience. For example…
Peer-Led Recognition
Peer-to-peer recognition encourages employees to make deeper, personal connections with their team members and to thank them for their contributions, either privately or publicly.
Build a bot that allows staff to share personalized thank-you notes with their colleagues or pick from a series of pre-approved company recognition templates, whilst easily keeping track of staff who have received and given the most recognition.
These votes can be kept private and logged, or automatically shared to Groups or Channels, helping to further drive awareness of the program and drive appreciation messaging.
Value-Led Recognition
According to Workhuman, 89% of HR leaders agreed that ongoing recognition tied to core company values is the most effective. Having staff think about company values when recognising their colleagues not only makes those values seem more real and tangible, but also better integrates them into everyday working life.
Using bots on Workplace, Slack or Microsoft Teams you can easily ask staff to assign specific company values to their nominations. In doing so, you not only raise awareness of your core company values but also create real world examples of those values coming to life.
Company Awards
Create a more pointed moment of time when employees are rewarded and recognised with a bot that allows staff to nominate colleagues for specific awards.
Staff can nominate colleagues and include additional details as to why they deserve the reward or vote on a shortlist of candidates. Award categories could include stand-out team, best project, inspiring leader, unsung hero, outstanding contribution, or any others you could think of!
Staff awards work as a recognition activation at any point throughout the year – be it financial year end, calendar year end, tied to Company anniversaries or key corporate moments.
Real Life Bots In Action
Virgin Media O2 - Shout
Shout bot provided Virgin Media O2 employees with a spotlight way to say thank you and share appreciation with teams and individuals across the entire company.
The bot works by allowing an employee to select a person or team to recognise for their great work. Once this option has been selected, the employee can input a summary about why they are shouting about this particular team or person, and when it has been submitted, it’s automatically uploaded to their Shout Recognition Workplace Group, which is shared with the entire organisation. The post tags the person or team that has been ‘shouted’ about, so they can be notified that someone is loving their work and showing their appreciation.
Since launching there have been over 8,700 Shouts submitted by employees at Virgin Media O2 and 36% of all staff have given a colleague a Shout. Each Shout submission is posted to a recognition group on Workplace which has generated over 14,000 reactions and 4,200 comments so far.
Virgin Media O2 also utilised Shout to embed their new all-company purpose, ‘See What You Can Do’, which launched in February 2023. Each month during their all-company event, their CEO and the broader Executive team share top shouts with the wider business, recognising employees’ contributions as well as encouraging others to Shout.
Feedback from staff has been overwhelmingly positive, with staff saying the Recognition Program is “simple, straightforward and easy to use”, “great for instant peer-to-peer recognition” and “good for highlighting company-wide recognition and achievements”.
Globe Telecom - Wanda
Wanda allows Globe Telecom employees to easily nominate their colleagues who’ve gone above and beyond and is available to use directly within Workplace from Meta, meaning staff don’t need to download or use a 3rd party application to recognize their peers. As a result of these improvements, staff nominations increased by 900% year on year.
As well as helping with ongoing recognition, WANDA was also used to celebrate Globe Telecom’s anniversary on the 17th September. For their 917 day, special eCards were created for staff to send to each other and broadcasts were sent out recognising teams that had gone above and beyond. These anniversary Thank You’s were sent by over 1,000 people in just 2 days.
Get In Touch!
If you would like to build an amazing recognition initiative with The Bot Platform, then get in touch today and we’d be happy to help! Want to find out more? Download our Recognition Playbook here.
Let’s take the first step towards more productive, happier and engaged colleagues together.
