✨ Celebrate, Reflect, Refresh: Your Year-End Recognition Playbook

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Brittany Espinoza: Hello, everyone!

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Brittany Espinoza: I'm gonna give it just a minute for everyone to join, and then we'll get started.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Hello, how's everyone doing?

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Samantha Liravongsa: Awesome to see some familiar faces.

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Brittany Espinoza: Okay, we have, quite a,

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Brittany Espinoza: bit of content to cover today, so I'm gonna go ahead and get started. Yes, thank you everybody for joining us. We are really excited to spend time with all of you today talking about, how to celebrate your people, how to reflect on the year, and really how to give your recognition program a refresh heading into 2027.

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Brittany Espinoza: So, as I'm sure everybody can agree, November and December can get busy fast. A lot of us are already seeing that happen. We were just talking about that before we started this webinar. You know, between wrapping up projects, juggling, time off.

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Brittany Espinoza: planning celebrations, there's always a lot going on in Q4.

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Brittany Espinoza: Today, we want to share ideas, that you can take away, make your own, and really fit into the time that you have.

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Brittany Espinoza: We are also welcome, excited to welcome Kendra Pickett, Employee Experience Manager at Visions Federal Credit Union. In a little bit, she's gonna share how Visions keeps recognition meaningful, and what they have learned along the way. And then we're gonna take a closer look at

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Brittany Espinoza: your Recognition Program.

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Brittany Espinoza: Who's participating? Who might still need support?

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Brittany Espinoza: Kind of reviewing your 2026 badges, rewards, are those still connecting with employees, taking a look at what your data and employee feedback is telling you. And we're gonna use our year-end checklist and workbook that we created to help you think through what's working, what could use a refresh.

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Brittany Espinoza: And really where to focus in 2027. So we hope you will leave with a starting point for, at least a few clear priorities, and an action plan to move them forward.

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Brittany Espinoza: So, I want to start with a quick poll.

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Brittany Espinoza: And I want, to hear what is your year-end priority? What is on your year-end priority list?

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Brittany Espinoza: Is it engaging employees during the holiday season? Is it celebrating achievements? Reviewing how your program is performing? Planning for next year? And you can select more than one. So, go ahead and check everything that applies.

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Brittany Espinoza: And if that's all four, we're right there with you. And these priorities do tend to overlap.

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Brittany Espinoza: So, you might be planning a year-end celebration, and at the same time thinking, are we recognizing contributions from across the whole year, or looking at your remaining rewards budget while deciding what you want to offer next year? So, really, these different priorities definitely tend to overlap.

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Brittany Espinoza: And sometimes, planning a holiday campaign brings up an even bigger question, like.

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Brittany Espinoza: how do we get more managers involved? And so that's really why we wanted to bring all of these topics, together today.

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Brittany Espinoza: Let's see, where are we at?

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Brittany Espinoza: Maybe I'll give everybody just a few more seconds.

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Brittany Espinoza: To get the answers in, and as you're choosing, think about where you could use the most inspiration or support, because that's a good place for us to focus as we go through the session.

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Brittany Espinoza: I think we've got pretty much…

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Brittany Espinoza: Everybody answers, so we can go ahead and end the poll now.

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Brittany Espinoza: So yeah, I mean, it looks like, a majority of people are planning for next year, while also focusing on engaging employees and celebrating achievements.

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Brittany Espinoza: Interestingly, reviewing program performance was not selected, and that is… that's actually a good, a good thing to focus on, because it's kind of the starting point of planning for next year. So, I really hope that, during our session today, we can give you some good tips, on

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Brittany Espinoza: What to review in your recognition program, because that piece of it is really what's going to help you in your planning for next year, which is what most people said their priority is.

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Brittany Espinoza: Thank you guys for, participating in that.

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Brittany Espinoza: Okay, so,

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Brittany Espinoza: When you sit down to review your recognition program, it can be really hard to know where to start, and so that might be a lot of times why we just kind of move into planning for next year and maybe skip the review part. There's participation to look at, employee feedback to consider, rewards and budget to review, probably

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Brittany Espinoza: ideas that maybe you've been meaning to come back to. So, what we have done is we've put together two resources to really help you work through those questions. We have, a year-end Recognition checklist.

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Brittany Espinoza: And then a companion workbook.

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Brittany Espinoza: So, the checklist is going to guide you through 8 areas of your program. That will include things like who's participating, how your managers are involved, whether your rewards are still connecting with your employees, and what you want to plan for next year.

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Brittany Espinoza: And then the workbook is where you can, really capture what you're finding, and it has questions to really get you thinking. It's got space for you to write notes.

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Brittany Espinoza: And an action plan to really help you decide what to tackle next, and what the next steps are, and who the owners are.

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Brittany Espinoza: So we are going to post the links to both the Year-End Recognition Checklist and the workbook in the chat. You're not gonna leave with them completely filled out today, but I do think it would be a good idea to open them up and, just have them available to follow along and kind of take notes.

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Brittany Espinoza: Jot things down that come to mind, and then that way, when you're ready to kind of sit down, and really review and plan, you'll have some key takeaways.

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Brittany Espinoza: And again, don't worry about filling out every box. If something comes up that you don't know the answer to, you can write down that question, too. That's a useful starting point, for you to kind of start your review. Towards the end, we'll come back to the action plan, and we'll kind of help you narrow things down to a few priorities.

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Brittany Espinoza: And again, making sure that we're assigning next steps and owners and things like that. So let's start with what's coming up first.

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Brittany Espinoza: Which is, keeping employees connected and appreciated during a busy holiday season. And, employee engagement and celebration during the holiday season.

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Brittany Espinoza: was high up there on the list of whatever Brittany's priorities for this year are as well. So, we're gonna start there.

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Brittany Espinoza: These… there are plenty of opportunities to bring appreciation into the months of November and December. Very natural ways to bring in recognition and appreciation in these two months. So while it's busy, it can also be really easy to naturally add that into the flow for these months.

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Brittany Espinoza: gratitude campaigns, year-end celebrations, people are wrapping up projects, they're also covering for their coworkers who are taking time off during the holidays, and they're also juggling plans and life outside of work as well. So, as you think about what to offer your team, really start with what will fit into their day. A quick recognition prompt program.

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Brittany Espinoza: apps that they can respond to during work. Give leaders something specific to notice.

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Brittany Espinoza: So, who made handoff easier? Who stepped in to help with the customer? Who's kind of quietly keeping things moving while others are out on PTO? Those everyday contributions are what will give leaders, and…

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Brittany Espinoza: peers.

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Brittany Espinoza: plenty of reasons to say thank you throughout November and December. It's also worth thinking about who can realistically join in. So, if you work at a different shift, or based in a different location, or remote, or can't make the live event, is there still a way for those employees to participate? So, thinking about leaving recognition campaigns or challenges open for several days, or events

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Brittany Espinoza: Available through different channels, really can give more people a chance to get involved and make sure it's accessible to all employee groups.

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Brittany Espinoza: Lastly, I want us to think about what would actually help your team through the season. So, maybe it's clear coverage plans, or manageable priorities, or shorter meetings can go a long way. Pairing that with appreciation for the people that are really making it all happen.

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Brittany Espinoza: So, with those key points in mind, I want to hand it over to Alexia.

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Brittany Espinoza: She is going to walk us through ideas for November and December, anywhere from gratitude campaigns to

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Brittany Espinoza: to Year-End rewards. As she shares, think about what would fit your team, and what you could get started before the holiday rush really picks up. So, Alexia, over to you.

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Alexia Bailey: Okay.

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Alexia Bailey: November.

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Alexia Bailey: next week can be a really good time to make everyday appreciation more visible. Here are 3 ideas you can use or adapt to make them your own.

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Alexia Bailey: Thankful Tuesdays is a simple recurring prompt. Just thank someone who made your work easier that week.

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Alexia Bailey: Encourage people to describe what the person did and why it helped.

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Alexia Bailey: Cross-team appreciation asks employees to recognize someone outside of their usual team. It can surface the kind of contributions that connect departments, such as a timely answer, a helpful handoff, or support on a shared project.

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Alexia Bailey: Behind the scenes, thanks, focuses on work that rarely gets the spotlight. Think about the colleagues who prepare information, solve problems, or make sure the details get handled.

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Alexia Bailey: Choose just one approach your team can manage. Give it a clear window, a short announcement, and a reminder.

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Alexia Bailey: And then afterwards, you can look at who participated and which teams were reached, so you can learn from the campaign and adjust for next time.

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Alexia Bailey: Think about these three ideas, and, which one would work for you, and if you're comfortable sharing, put it in the chat. We like for these things to be, team participation as much as possible.

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Alexia Bailey: We can acknowledge the people who help appreciation to spread.

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Alexia Bailey: Hmm.

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Alexia Bailey: By rewarding the recognizers.

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Alexia Bailey: Some employees help a recognition culture by regularly noticing other people's contributions. A sender campaign is one way to acknowledge that effort. For example, during a gratitude campaign, an employee who sends a meaningful recognition could receive maybe 5 bonus points.

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Alexia Bailey: Thanksgiving week.

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Alexia Bailey: Even though it's a short week, could be a good campaign window if that fits your workforce.

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Alexia Bailey: Keep the rules clear.

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Alexia Bailey: Who's eligible? Which recognitions would qualify?

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Alexia Bailey: When does the window open and close?

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Alexia Bailey: How will participation be tracked, and when will they get their points?

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Alexia Bailey: A manageable starting rule is one bonus award per participating sender. That gives employees an invitation to take part without creating a race to the… send the most messages.

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Alexia Bailey: You can include an example of a specific appreciation in your announcement.

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Alexia Bailey: And that's the campaign concept.

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Alexia Bailey: Confirm how you track and fulfill before you launch, whether it'll be automated, or if it requires manual steps. And don't forget to make sure that you have budgeted for the sender award points as well.

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Alexia Bailey: Challenges, my favorite thing, are a great way to make the invitation concrete.

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Alexia Bailey: A challenge makes the action clear. It's very simple and clear. Employees should know what to do, when to do it, what counts, and whether a reward is attached.

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Alexia Bailey: Gratitude Bingo can invite people to complete a row of appreciation activities.

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Alexia Bailey: Across Team Thanks, Campaign can ask them to recognize a contribution, again, outside of their department.

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Alexia Bailey: Or a Team Win Challenge could ask employees to reflect and share a moment that was worth remembering.

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Alexia Bailey: For these, or really any challenge, simply decide what someone needs to do to submit or complete the challenge.

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Alexia Bailey: And how the submissions are going to be reviewed.

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Alexia Bailey: Do you need a screenshot, or a photo, or a date and name of the person that they recognized?

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Alexia Bailey: Are you going to go on the honor system, or do you want to verify the submissions?

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Alexia Bailey: You'll want to keep that admin effort proportionate to the impact of the challenge. A simple campaign should be straightforward, both for the participants, but also for the people managing it.

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Alexia Bailey: And there's some good news on that front, because we just added an auto-approval option to challenges, so it really is up to you how you want to manage your challenge.

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Alexia Bailey: Once you have the challenge concept in mind.

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Alexia Bailey: And what actions and proof you require to complete the challenge, and how you're going to verify and award any points. Then, the main design questions are, how are you going to communicate the challenge so employees know that they have an opportunity to participate?

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Alexia Bailey: And whether the challenge itself is clear and detailed enough that an employee can understand how to take part without needing a separate explanation. A tip for a good challenge is to keep it simple.

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Alexia Bailey: Challenges can also support the work teams are already finishing.

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Alexia Bailey: For a Year-End challenge that helps teams to finish well.

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Alexia Bailey: A Year-End challenge can acknowledge work that helps the team finish out the year strong, and then return smoothly after the holidays.

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Alexia Bailey: One option would be documenting a useful process. Another might be completing a project or preparing a handoff with enough detail that a colleague can pick it up.

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Alexia Bailey: Teams could also share a lesson that they learned, or submit an achievement that deserves recognition.

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Alexia Bailey: Whatever you choose, make the requirement concrete.

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Alexia Bailey: For a handoff, you might ask for the current status, next action, and the contact person.

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Alexia Bailey: For a lesson learned, a few sentences about what happened, and what the team would do differently

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Alexia Bailey: may be enough.

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Alexia Bailey: Choose something employees can complete within their normal responsibilities. Consider the workload before adding another task, and make sure the criteria fit the different roles.

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Alexia Bailey: Recognition can also describe the benefit.

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Alexia Bailey: This documentation saved time.

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Alexia Bailey: This handoff supported coverage, or this lesson learned helped another team avoid a problem by providing an example they could follow.

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Alexia Bailey: Think about which activity would make your team's return in January easier. Feel free to put it in the chat.

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Alexia Bailey: December also gives us A chance to celebrate the people behind the year's work.

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Alexia Bailey: For December, consider a small number of activities to help people feel seen.

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Alexia Bailey: For example, a 5 days of appreciation could use a different prompt each day. Maybe day one is a helpful colleague, day two, a team accomplishment, day three, behind-the-scenes support.

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Alexia Bailey: Day 4, lessons learned, and maybe 5 would be a contribution that reflects the company's core values.

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Alexia Bailey: Keep each prompt short and simple, and allow people to join where they have an idea for someone that they can recognize who fits the prompt.

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Alexia Bailey: Another optional recognition exchange could invite colleagues to share a note of appreciation, even without requiring an exchange of points.

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Alexia Bailey: Leaders can add specific thank yous that name the work and its impact.

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Alexia Bailey: You could also collect team memories, short stories, milestones, work highlights from across the year. Offer a written contribution option so that participating doesn't depend on having a photo or attending an event.

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Alexia Bailey: But don't overload yourself. Choose just one activity, and plan how employees across shifts and locations can join.

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Alexia Bailey: Set a collection deadline early enough to prepare the celebration before vacation schedules make coordination harder.

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Alexia Bailey: We'd love to hear your thoughts, so if one of these options would work at your organization.

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Alexia Bailey: You know what to do. Put it in the chat.

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Alexia Bailey: For more formal year-end recognition, a thoughtful nomination criteria.

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Alexia Bailey: Can be exceptionally helpful.

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Alexia Bailey: Awards… annual awards, give you a chance to tell the stories behind important contributions.

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Alexia Bailey: The categories on this slide are starting points. Values in Action, Unsung Hero, Customer Impact, Team Impact, Culture Builder.

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Alexia Bailey: Choose categories that match your organization, and explain what each means.

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Alexia Bailey: Ask nominators to describe a specific contribution and its impact.

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Alexia Bailey: A short example is more useful to reviewers than a general statement that someone's a great colleague.

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Alexia Bailey: Decide who can nominate, who's eligible to be nominated.

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Alexia Bailey: How submissions will be reviewed, and when results will be shared.

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Alexia Bailey: Make the criteria for nominating and for selecting the winner clear, so everyone has a fair opportunity to participate. Once all nominations have been collected, make sure to give reviewers clear criteria and enough time to consider the examples.

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Alexia Bailey: Remind your co- remind your employees to look across the full year and across teams, roles, locations, and shifts.

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Alexia Bailey: Work completed earlier in the year can be easy to overlook when recent projects are fresh in everyone's memory.

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Alexia Bailey: And when you celebrate.

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Alexia Bailey: share the contribution behind the award. That helps employees understand what your organization values, and it also gives the recipient a more personal acknowledgement.

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Alexia Bailey: For example.

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Alexia Bailey: Maybe a credit union awards their annual customer service star award to an employee who has more than once gone above and beyond for their customers.

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Alexia Bailey: in one case may be preventing an elderly customer from falling for an internet scam. That's a hugely meaningful act for the customer, and it also showcases characteristics that probably coincide with one or more company values.

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Alexia Bailey: Rewards can lay… add another layer to that appreciation.

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Alexia Bailey: If you're planning to award points with a special holiday badge, make sure the message you pair it with is sincere.

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Alexia Bailey: Explain what you're acknowledging, the points value in your program, and how employees can use them.

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Alexia Bailey: You may want to review your reward options before you announce the award. Maybe there's something festive and new that you can add.

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Alexia Bailey: Even if it's just for the holidays.

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Alexia Bailey: If you offer custom rewards, which means fulfilled directly by your organization, make sure you confirm how they will be fulfilled and whether they can be delivered during the season.

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Alexia Bailey: One of our newer offerings, live events, it can provide another type of rewardive experience, such as theater, concert tickets, or sports. The Nutcracker would be a great example of a seasonal search idea where tickets might be available.

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Alexia Bailey: If you are going to highlight a particular event.

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Alexia Bailey: You'll probably want to check and make sure it's, available in the live events catalog in your area.

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Alexia Bailey: Remember that different employees will value different options, so use what you've learned from their feedback and previous reward redemption activity to refresh the selection and communicate practical details so the rewards are easy to enjoy.

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Alexia Bailey: Last but not least, appreciation can also be made visible in shared spaces.

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Alexia Bailey: A Recognition display, Can bring appreciation into the places where people gather.

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Alexia Bailey: In November, that could be a gratitude wall for Thanksgiving.

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Alexia Bailey: During a busy period, maybe a holiday helper wall could spotlight colleagues who are supporting the team.

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Alexia Bailey: Think about visibility across shifts as well. A display seen only during office hours won't reach everyone.

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Alexia Bailey: Choose locations and times that fit your workforce, and make sure your employees know how to contribute.

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Alexia Bailey: For an annual town hall, you can pair our Kiosk Mode's live Recognition stream with a separate, curated collection of milestones and stories from the year.

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Alexia Bailey: Prepare that retrospective in advance, rather than just assuming the livestream will automatically create an automated annual summary.

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Alexia Bailey: As you select examples, ask which contributions deserve more visibility.

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Alexia Bailey: Include the quiet work as well as major achievements.

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Alexia Bailey: And follow, obviously, your organization's guidance for publicly shared information.

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Alexia Bailey: And now, I'm going to hand it over to Sam, who can introduce our guest speaker.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Awesome, thank you so much, Alexia, and now it is such a pleasure to introduce Kendra Pickett, Employee Experience Manager with Visions Federal Credit Union.

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Samantha Liravongsa: I just want to say it has been an honor

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Samantha Liravongsa: for Recognize to work with Visions for 10 wonderful years. A decade, guys. A decade of appreciation, connection, and putting people first. You know, that's 10 years of great culture, and that's something worth celebrating, so, I mean, I'm gonna clap to you, Kendra. That's amazing. And you guys really put the member experience, first, and you know that, you know, your employees need to feel valued.

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Samantha Liravongsa: and through Recognize, you make appreciation part of your everyday work.

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Samantha Liravongsa: So, everyone give Kendra a round of applause here, and let's welcome her to today's webinar, and I'll go ahead and let you take it from here.

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Kendra Pickett: Thank you, Sam. And thank you again for inviting me to be a part of today's session. These are always very helpful. I find a lot of great things that I can take away from it. And I'll just say, you know, thank you to the help from Recognize, because without the partnership.

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Kendra Pickett: Being available, asking those questions, you know, we can't… we can't do that alone. So to have that support from you, really shows through our success as well.

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Kendra Pickett: So, being a part of Visions, I'm going to speak a little bit about Visions first. Visions Federal Credit Union, as you can see by my background, exciting year, because not only did we hit 10 years with Recognize.

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Kendra Pickett: We are celebrating 60 years of service.

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Kendra Pickett: We are a credit union that has over $5 billion in assets, 250,000 members across New York, New Jersey, and PA, over 60 branches with high school branches as well.

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Kendra Pickett: And, most importantly, what builds our organization are employees. So we have over 900 employees, again, across New York, New Jersey, and PA.

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Kendra Pickett: We have used Recognize, as Sam said, for over a decade, so our story is less about launching a platform, but more about keeping the recognition meaningful as the organization evolves.

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Kendra Pickett: Today I'm going to talk about the practices that have helped us connect recognition to culture, engagement, and better decisions for our employees.

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Kendra Pickett: So our goal today is to focus on four ideas, keeping it simple. Designing recognition around meaning.

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Kendra Pickett: Create daily practices, and participation for habits.

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Kendra Pickett: Using data, something that we love to look at, to improve our program and utilization, and to keep refreshing the experience, rather than treating this implementation as a one-time event.

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Kendra Pickett: So encouraging you as you utilize the program, to take a look and review how the program is doing. You know, if there's things that you want to try out that are new, that is something that has helped us, having that open mind and not being afraid to try something new, if there's something new within the program, to bring to our employees.

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Kendra Pickett: So our program has matured in stages. 10 years takes a lot of…

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Kendra Pickett: A lot of time for us to re-evaluate as our organization grows, and our employees grow. So our early success came from the visibility and access. That was our biggest thing, looking at launching the program.

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Kendra Pickett: And over time, the program expanded to support everyday appreciation, our values, milestones, nominations, and department-specific needs as well.

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Kendra Pickett: One example of that I'll give is our risk department. We, as a credit union, we really want to make sure that we are protecting our members, so we have a risk champion badge. So anytime a member

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Kendra Pickett: A member-facing employee in a branch, catches that, we want to reward them and recognize them publicly for protecting our members and protecting the organization.

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Kendra Pickett: We looked at simplifying as well, so the maturity step of simplification, making sure that our badges were clear and had purpose, making sure that if there were some overlapping options, that we were really defining and redefining what options are available to employees, so it made it easier for them to pick that recognition.

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Kendra Pickett: Reviewing sender privileges, so what badges might be available for just our leaders in the organization, or a specific badge for

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Kendra Pickett: Maybe one, one-time badge that we're giving out, for a promotion or a service that we're looking, for employees to provide for our members.

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Kendra Pickett: And then today, really, our focus is optimization. So we're looking beyond just the volume to ask.

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Kendra Pickett: whether the right recognition reaches the right people for the right reason. What we're looking at, is our recognition really reinforcing the culture that we want today?

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Kendra Pickett: So, first.

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Kendra Pickett: Our four practices that have kept recognition meaningful, I think, for us at Visions is tying our recognition to the culture that we want our employees to experience. So, at Visions, that includes our values, our behaviors.

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Kendra Pickett: Such as teamwork, care, allyship, growth, and member service. So really making sure that our badges are really tied into what VISIONS stands for.

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Kendra Pickett: An example of that is our Values and Action badge. We used to have our Values and Actions, badge separated into our individual badges, where we thought consolidating that and making it more meaningful, where employees can choose up to 4 of our, values.

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Kendra Pickett: What they want to recognize a coworker for.

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Kendra Pickett: That was something that really helped, make that recognition and that utilization of using that badge easier for our employees.

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Kendra Pickett: Secondly, getting specific. Taking a minute and really looking at the recognition messages.

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Kendra Pickett: names of what has happened and why it's mattered. So, at the beginning of, this year, we did a revamp from, for our employees when it came to the program.

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Kendra Pickett: And some of the things I was talking about with our badges and consolidating, we're looking at that at the end of last year to bring that and start that off fresh for this year. Really helped with our utilization.

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Kendra Pickett: Helped with making sure that those badges are tied nicely to the recognitions that our employees want to give, and making that really

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Kendra Pickett: Have more meaning throughout our platform.

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Kendra Pickett: Third, matching the badges to the moment. So, not every thank you might need a point, and not every exceptional contribution should feel treated maybe like a routine, appreciation.

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Kendra Pickett: So having that organically, making sure that it's tied into the things that we are already celebrating as an organization, and tying that into our recognition program.

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Kendra Pickett: So we're big on development, for our employees. So having a skill development badge is something that we wanted to highlight, to reinforce that for our culture, but also bring that visibility and that recognition to recognize as well.

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Kendra Pickett: And then lastly, designing for access. This is something really important to us because, as I mentioned, our employees are in New York, New Jersey, and PA. Both member-facing, back office, we have some remote employees.

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Kendra Pickett: We have also some hybrid. So really making sure that we are creating that access for all, across the region is super important for us. But also, too, I'll mention that, like I mentioned, we've been around for 60 years. We have employees that have been with Visions for over 40, 45 years.

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Kendra Pickett: We also have those that are continuing to come in that are just reaching their 1 year, or maybe their first six months.

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Kendra Pickett: So really being mindful of the seasonality of our employees and how long some of them have been there to make sure that this access and utilization of the program is easy to use, clear, and like I said, keeping up with our growth as an organization.

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Kendra Pickett: So at Visions, we strive to drive engagement by connecting recognition to those real employee moments. Everyday appreciation is creating that base.

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Kendra Pickett: As many of us know, our organizations wouldn't be what they are without our employees, so making sure that the appreciation is happening, not just within our platform, but just as strong in those day-to-day interactions, in our one-on-ones.

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Kendra Pickett: In our events that we're having. Making sure that that is showing up in any place possible that we can.

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Kendra Pickett: Secondly, having those quarterly focuses out of fresh energy and helping employees notice specific groups or behaviors. There's a lot of campaigns that we do as an organization, like…

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Kendra Pickett: When we're focusing on food drives or anti-hunger games, making sure that if we're doing something as an organization, we are also showing up and recognizing that within the platform as well.

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Kendra Pickett: Leader activation, I like to call this as our ambassadors. Our leaders are really driving the way, but they are the ones that are also really living as those daily ambassadors, recognizing their leaders, their other leaders, recognizing their teams. And so.

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Kendra Pickett: An idea for you is we've had a monthly leadership series, it's virtual, and what that does is it highlights our leaders across the organization, and tying into different topics, some just leadership, topics, and then a lot of them are the engagement and employee experience.

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Kendra Pickett: Hearing from our leaders is really leading the way and modeling what we as an organization want to see from everyone. It's already been a part of our culture, organically, making sure that employees feel seen, heard, welcomed.

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Kendra Pickett: It's in our inclusion statement on our external website, so we offer that not only to our members, but to our employees.

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Kendra Pickett: So making sure that those conversations are happening, and that our leaders are leading that way.

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Kendra Pickett: And then lastly, being intentional about promoting recognition across our locations and functions, so that this platform strengthens connections, and not just the relationships that are already the closest.

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Kendra Pickett: So, connection is a big piece. As many of you probably know, if you have organizations that are spread out, or many locations throughout different states.

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Kendra Pickett: Connection is a big thing, and so this platform really has allowed us to not just recognize, but continue to strengthen those relationships across our organization.

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Kendra Pickett: As I mentioned, we had a revamp that we launched this year, with help from Sam as well, and that's what I feel is one of our strongest improvements, has been creating a clear recognition that everyday badges that can help employees say thank you often.

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Kendra Pickett: Having those purpose-specific badges that require clear evidence, and that the behavior that's fitting to that intent.

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Kendra Pickett: And then our monthly spotlights that are highlighting and recognizing, those that are going above and beyond, but also nominating for an Employee of the Month, a branch, a department of the month.

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Kendra Pickett: So I threw in here some of what our badges look like in Visions, and we have ones, you know, for, like, our values in action, allyship badge, our nomination badge, and our daily badges, like our high five and our You Care.

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Kendra Pickett: Something that helped us with this is this decision of what is the intent of the badge? Is there overlap, and how can we make this as easy as possible for our employees to use, so there's not any barriers when it comes to recognizing one another?

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Kendra Pickett: So we don't look at recognition data in isolation.

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Kendra Pickett: We do start with the platform activity, and then we look at the patterns. We've combined that with looking at our employee survey data, comments, leader feedback. We also have an employee engagement committee, so this is conversations that are happening to really check in

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Kendra Pickett: And pulse check to see where we are in that moment when it comes to recognition and engagement.

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Kendra Pickett: This isn't just done one time a year, but we've really focused the last 3 years, I would say, to make this a 365-day approach.

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Kendra Pickett: Decisions can be included, can include badge isolation, criteria, sender permissions, campaigns, or new education. When we're looking at those, decisions and aligning them, making sure that they are a reflection of the feedback that we are hearing from our employees.

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Kendra Pickett: And last, but most importantly, I would say, is closing the loop by explaining what has changed and measuring it again. So if we've ever made changes,

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Kendra Pickett: that are employee-facing when it comes to anything with Recognition or engagement, specifically with the Recognized program.

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Kendra Pickett: We're clear and transparent with our employees. We want to tell them what's changing, what's good for them, what's going to help them, and how we can continue to support them, their growth and development, and most importantly, their recognition.

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Kendra Pickett: So Recognition operates, Recognition operates inside a broader employee engagement system. So, we actually have an employee, engagement, an employee experience, strategy plan.

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Kendra Pickett: What I've included in here is, I was just mentioning earlier, before the call, we just finished up our annual employee engagement survey, and I have some of this data that I wanted to bring forth today.

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Kendra Pickett: But what I want to tie that to is this wouldn't be done without the support of having something in place like Recognize.

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Kendra Pickett: Having a full participation for our engagement survey as an organization, we had over 800 employees that were eligible, that took the survey, that shared their feedback.

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Kendra Pickett: And as you can see, our key drivers of engagement, like manager effectiveness and team, those scores really are a reflection and a testament to where Visions really puts

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Kendra Pickett: Our focus on our employees.

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Kendra Pickett: We've used these insights to shape our commitments, strengthen what works.

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Kendra Pickett: Growing without limits and leading with connection.

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Kendra Pickett: Recognition supports all three of these by making progress, contributions, and values visible. It's also given us another source of ongoing employee experience data between survey cycles.

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Kendra Pickett: That's something I love, and I highly recommend to utilize, is all the data that's available to you in our Recognize platform. There is so much that I could spend days and days on looking through, and breaking down, and filtering.

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Kendra Pickett: And that has really helped guide us, and when we do make changes, using that as the foundation to say, look at the data that we've collected, not just from our surveys or from informal, surveys that… or feedback that we've gotten.

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Kendra Pickett: But, looking at our recognition platform that is open, available, and utilized, every single day of the year.

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Kendra Pickett: So, if I could summarize, 10 years of working with Recognize into just 5 recommendations, this is where I would start.

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Kendra Pickett: To begin with behavior and not just a reward. To treat leaders as multipliers, as those ambassadors.

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Kendra Pickett: Watch how Recognition is distributed, and not just how much is sent. So looking at the meaning, the quality, where that recognition is being utilized, and maybe where it's not, and where we can give some more support or guidance to those leaders and teams.

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Kendra Pickett: And then, as well as looking at those recognitions being distributed, looking at

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Kendra Pickett: as well, how they're being sent, and the quality of the badge and the fit. So, don't be afraid to, you know, review your badges, look at that. That's something, again, that has helped us as an organization evolve with the culture, make sure that it's aligned to our strategy, our focus.

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Kendra Pickett: And… Our 365-day year-round, continual commitment to our employees to recognize and support them.

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Kendra Pickett: And then, lastly, recognition is a culture of practice that's not just a points program. And that's that last piece on the end. That's something really important to us, you know, that this is not just a check the box, it's not just,

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Kendra Pickett: you know, to say, yep, I've sent my 5 for… for the week. It's really to have that

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Kendra Pickett: precedence sat outside of the program, and that's helped us. And, if you want to go to that last slide, really, I hope that what I spoke on today, our journey, our 10 years of, Recognize, helps you

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Kendra Pickett: And reinforces that the long-term success does not come from just leaving a recognition program unchanged. It comes from protecting what makes recognition human, while also continuing to simplify, measure, and improve the systems around it.

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Kendra Pickett: And again, one big thank you again to Sam, who works with us and has worked with us, and all have recognized, because really, having that support, having them to lean on, having them to share different ideas that other customers have used.

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Kendra Pickett: Has really helped us not be afraid to try different things, look at things and refresh them, and make sure that we're offering the best experience possible that we can to our employees, because employee engagement, employee recognition is going to translate and show how we show up and serve, not just to our members.

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Kendra Pickett: But in our communities as well. So…

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Kendra Pickett: Thank you again, and I'd be more than happy to take any questions.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Awesome. Thank you so much, Kendra. I mean, what an inspiring look at a decade of… I mean, that's crazy to say, a decade of recognition done right. So everyone def… you know, send some hearts, some thank yous, round of applause,

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Samantha Liravongsa: And, of course, we'll have a Q&A at the end as well, so if you have any questions that come up throughout the webinar, we'll get those answered for you.

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Samantha Liravongsa: So now that we,

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Samantha Liravongsa: discussed, celebrating, we're gonna go ahead and do something just as powerful. We're going to reflect. So, just a quick gut check. Imagine your CEO pings you tomorrow and asks, you know, how's your recognition program actually working? What are you gonna say?

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Samantha Liravongsa: You know, you… most of us may…

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Samantha Liravongsa: type back, like, yeah, I think it's working, but by the end of this section, I want every one of you to be able to say yes, and here's exactly how I know it's working. So that starts with your Year-E-R reviews, and that's going to be four moves. So one.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Look at your participation and reach, not just volume. A big total number, can really hide a small story. So, let's just say you have 2,000 recognitions that came in from the same 40 enthusiastic people. That's… that's a fan club, right? That's not really the culture. And Kendra said it perfectly, watch distribution, not only value.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Ask how many people sent recognition, how many received it, which teams lit up, and which stayed quiet.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Number two, compare periods and hunt for gaps. So, this quarter versus last. This year versus last. Did activity dip during peak season? Did a whole department go silent after maybe a reorg? The gaps are where your opportunities are hiding.

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Samantha Liravongsa: And then 3…

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Samantha Liravongsa: Bring in nominations and challenges. Those are some of your richest signals, because they show people going out of their way to participate. And for the most important one, ask what explains the pattern behind the totals. Numbers tell you what happened, people tell you why, and that, you know, never stops at the number.

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Samantha Liravongsa: So, as you look at your own numbers, ask yourself, where's the quiet space? That's where the next big win is waiting.

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Samantha Liravongsa: All right, so… as you're looking at this slide, let's think of it like running a restaurant. Can you… you can study every receipt and know exactly what was sold, but if you never ask any… anybody how the meal actually tasted, you're missing that most important part. So let's ask those… these four questions.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Excuse me.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Do employees feel appreciated?

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Samantha Liravongsa: Not did they get recognized, but do they feel it?

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Samantha Liravongsa: Those aren't the same thing. You know, do you understand how to participate? If someone wants to recognize a colleague, but they're not sure where to click, you've really lost that moment of appreciation.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Do your rewards reflect what actually matters to them? What excites you might be different from what excites, you know, a night shift team, or a new employee?

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Samantha Liravongsa: And then my favorite, what gets in the way? This is the, like, a goldmine question. Is it time? Is it confusion? Feeling awkward? The answer will tell you exactly what you need to fix.

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Samantha Liravongsa: So, you don't need a 40-question survey. You know, 3 to 5 short questions, or 10 minutes at a team meeting. You know, simple and honest really beats long and ignored.

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Samantha Liravongsa: So, I do have a question for all of you. When was the last time you asked your employees what gets in your way, or what obstacles are you facing? You know, and if the honest answer is not recently, that's a really easy place to start, and a really easy fix.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Alright, and now, let's talk about your closet. You know, not your actual closet, your recognition closet. So, every program

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Samantha Liravongsa: can collect stuff over time. As Kendra said, you know, it took 10 years of them constantly evolving, and making changes. So badges someone created 3 years ago. Maybe it's a campaign that was huge one spring. Maybe it's features you turned on and then you forgot about.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Year-End is really the perfect time to open those doors and take a look. And, you know, going back to that poll in the beginning, that was one of the interesting, one of the items that, you guys didn't check. So first, let's think about which offerings do employees actually use.

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Samantha Liravongsa: These are your winners. These are… this is what's driving your participation, so learn from them. What makes them work?

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Samantha Liravongsa: And then second, this one surprises people. Which offerings need clearer communication? Here's a secret. A lot of unpopular features aren't unpopular at all. They're just unknown. Before you write something off, ask, did people actually know it existed? You may be surprised.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Third.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Do your recognition options reflect your company values? If your organization stands for innovation, collaboration, customer obsession, then your badges should make it easy to recognize exactly those things. So your badges are your values and action every single day.

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Samantha Liravongsa: And finally.

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Samantha Liravongsa: What should you keep, improve, or retire? Hold on to that question, because we'll come back to that in just a few minutes, and it's going to drive some real decisions.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Now, if there's one lever that moves a recognition program, as, again, Kendra spoke about, during her presentation more than any other, it's managers and leaders.

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Samantha Liravongsa: So Kendra called managers multipliers, and she's exactly right. When a manager recognizes consistently, their team follows.

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Samantha Liravongsa: when a manager stays silent, the team usually does that too. It's… it's rarely because people don't care, it's… it's because they don't take their cues from the top.

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Samantha Liravongsa: So, four things to look at here. Look for consistency, review recognition patterns across teams, and you'll probably see a few teams glowing and a few that are dark. That's not a judgment, it's a map.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Identify support needs. The managers on the quiet teams. Most of them aren't against recognition, they're, you know, they're probably busy, they may be unsure, they don't know what good looks like. You know, a one-page tip sheet, a five-minute huddle, you know, mentioning it on your one-on-ones or monthly reminders can really change that.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Model-specific appreciation. So, listen to the difference in this recognition. Great job, team. That sounds nice, right? Now.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Maria, the way you rebuilt that handoff document really meant the night shift started on time all week. Which one would you remember?

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Samantha Liravongsa: So, and, you know, recognize the full year.

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Samantha Liravongsa: So, it's so easy to only remember what happened in the last 6 weeks, but someone may have carried the team through a tough March. Someone saved a customer in June. Year-end is really the moment to look back across all 12 months.

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Samantha Liravongsa: And here's the good news, you know, one well-supported manager can change the recognition experience for an entire team.

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Samantha Liravongsa: And that's a lot of impact for a little effort.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Now, you can build the best recognition program in the world, and if nobody knows about it, it's invisible. Communication is really the bridge between a great program and a used program. So, you know, here's 3 checks. Review your announcements and messaging.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Read your last few campaign messages, and if you were a brand new employee, are they clear? Is it exciting? Do they tell people exactly what to do, or do they just say, Recognition is important, and you just stop there?

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Samantha Liravongsa: Check frontline access. Now, this is a huge one, because a lot of people don't sit at a desk.

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Samantha Liravongsa: They don't live in an email. You know, some people are working nights, weekends, they're on the floor, they're in the field. They're definitely not on webinars like this. So, if your communications only reach the people at laptops, you've accidentally built a program for half of your company. Ask, ask yourself this.

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Samantha Liravongsa: How does a frontline employee actually hear about, recognize?

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Samantha Liravongsa: And then make instructions easy to find. You know, here's my rule. If someone has to ask how to redeem their points, the instructions are not easy enough. You know, just try this little test. Give a new hire 60 seconds to find out how to send a recognition and how to redeem a reward.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Or, you know, how do you nominate, or how to do a challenge. If they can't, then again, that's an easy fix, or a problem that you may have uncovered.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Now, let's pause for a moment, and then look at the question on the screen.

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Samantha Liravongsa: I want you guys to take 30 seconds and type it into a chat. I'd love to see what's on your mind.

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Samantha Liravongsa: What question about your program do you want to answer?

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Samantha Liravongsa: And you know, if you… if you don't have any right now, download that workbook. If you have it opened up, write that in your notebook, and again, you can visit that later.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Oh, that's always a good one, looking for caps.

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Samantha Liravongsa: All right, and now the next slide actually might help you answer your question that you may have on your mind.

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Samantha Liravongsa: So, when we're talking about points, rewards, and budget, maybe your team cares most about these things.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Again, here's four… four steps for you. So, review your points activity. You know, three numbers. Points awarded, points redeemed, and points outstanding. Together, they tell you how appreciation is flowing through your organization. You can, you know.

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Samantha Liravongsa: compared to budget, how did your actual spending line, how did your actual spending line up with what you allocated? Is it under? Is it over? Is it right on target? Either way, it's information that you can use.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Then you want to encourage redemption. You know, here's a way to think about it. Points sitting, unredeemed are appreci… is appreciation that hasn't fully landed yet.

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Samantha Liravongsa: So, year-end is a great moment to send a friendly reminder, you know, surface rewards that fit the season, too, and help people actually enjoy what they've earned.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Inform next year's budget.

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Samantha Liravongsa: So, use what you found to plan ahead, and if you're thinking about creative options, like approved raffle entries or clearly defined group rewards, this is the time to plan them.

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Samantha Liravongsa: And a few important notes, that I want to point out here is

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Samantha Liravongsa: First, redemptions are not attributable to the specific recognition that earned the points. You can see redemption activity overall, but you can't trace one redemption back to one particular thank you. Second, you know, confirm that the accounting effort of outstanding balances with your team

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Samantha Liravongsa: Don't guess on this one. Loop them in early. And third, raffles and group, rewards need defined companies' rules and a fulfillment process before you launch them. You want to set the rules first and then have fun.

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Samantha Liravongsa: So, now we're gonna look at the data, the employee voice, you're… you may be offering, your managers, your communication, your budget, you know, it's… it's time to really make decisions as we approach the end of year.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Alright, so… Everything we've reflected on comes down to 3 simple words. Keep, improve, retire.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Keep the activities that serve your employees well. These are your proven winners. Protect them, build on them. Improve, you know, improve the barriers, the gaps, confusing processes, the things people love but can't find, the campaign that works but takes too long, the step that keeps generating questions. Fix what's in the way.

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Samantha Liravongsa: And then retire. This one is the hardest, and the most freeing. You know, outdated badges, tired campaigns, activities that made sense 2 years ago, but may not make sense anymore.

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Samantha Liravongsa: consider this your official permission to let them go with the end of the year and start fresh into the new year. You know, every outdated item you remove makes the good stuff easier to see.

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Samantha Liravongsa: So here's the key, you know, record the finding behind each decision in your workbook, not just retire this badge, but why. You know, why, you know, why did you retire this badge?

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Samantha Liravongsa: That way, when someone asks, you have the answer ready. So keep, improve, retire. Three words and a whole lot of clarity.

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Samantha Liravongsa: And now, welcome to the refresh. This is where everything comes together. You're gonna choose up to 3 priorities. Not 10, not 7, 3. And that, you know, that limit isn't a restriction. It's, you know, a little secret. Three priorities you can actually finish will always be 10 that you never start.

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Samantha Liravongsa: So for each one, capture four things. The action, the owner, the due date, and the success measure. If a priority doesn't have an owner and a date, it's not a priority, it's a wish. A simple formula to get you started, one seasonal initiative, one program improvement, one goal for next year. You know, let's look at the example on your screen.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Celebrate now a November gratitude campaign. How do we know it worked? You know, unique participants and reach, not just volume. Remember, our year in review.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Improve the experience, you know, refresh rewards and redemption instructions. Measure feedback and redemption activity.

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Samantha Liravongsa: And then plan ahead, you know, get manager support, measure your progress at a scheduled check-in.

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Samantha Liravongsa: And then see how each one connects directly to something we reflected on today. You know, that's the whole point. So…

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Samantha Liravongsa: I'm giving you one minute, you know, if you want to open your notebook or write down your first priority, or drop it in the chat, with a clear owner and date.

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Samantha Liravongsa: And again, if you don't have one in mind, just jot it down in your workbook, and you can always come back to it.

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Samantha Liravongsa: All right, so I definitely want you guys to… to kind of think of… think of this activity.

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Samantha Liravongsa: Yep, refresh badges and rewards.

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Samantha Liravongsa: That is a great goal, Sarah, I love it.

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Samantha Liravongsa: And that, you know, really, guys, this… that is just, like, the start of a real plan.

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Samantha Liravongsa: So, now we're gonna talk about exactly what to do next.

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Brittany Espinoza: Thanks, Sam. And I was not joking when I said we had a lot of content to cover, so I'm aware that we're down to 2 minutes, so I will wrap us up here. And as Sam mentioned, don't make it too difficult. Start small, think of 3 priorities to start with. So, what we want you to walk away with today is

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Brittany Espinoza: your next steps.

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Brittany Espinoza: being schedule the next review. Put it on the calendar now, so that it doesn't get pushed aside when the November, December, end of year, other priorities start to creep in. Get it on the calendar before you leave work today. Number two, share priorities with stakeholders. So once you have identified those top three priorities.

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Brittany Espinoza: Communicate that, with the stakeholders that are going to help plan and execute, each one.

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Brittany Espinoza: And then prepare and communicate manager support. So, get your messaging and resources ready now, before the busy season begins. And, another great feature enhancement that we just launched is scheduling announcements. So you can now create, an in-app announcement, whether that be an email or a post announcement to the stream page.

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Brittany Espinoza: Get those communications ready, drafted, and scheduled to go out now, and then that way, you can sit back and enjoy your November, December, and rest well knowing that those are already scheduled to hit and go out to your employees.

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Brittany Espinoza: We are going to share, after the call, in an email, we'll share the slide deck, the year-end checklist and workbook, as well as some November and December campaign and celebration ideas,

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Brittany Espinoza: And, of course, if you have any, questions, I don't see any questions in the, in the chat right now, but if you do come up with questions as you start to dive into the Year-End Checkbook, or checklist and workbook, please do not hesitate to reach out to your CSM,

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Brittany Espinoza: or our support team would also be more than happy to help you. So I'm gonna pop those contacts in the chat. And if anybody has any additional, questions in the last

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Brittany Espinoza: few seconds here. We would love to get to those.

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Brittany Espinoza: I also want to, make sure to give one more big, huge thank you to Kendra for joining us and sharing what recognition looks like at Visions, the evolution of your program over the last 10 years. It was so inspiring and helpful to hear, what your team has done

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Brittany Espinoza: And tried and, and learned along your journey.

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Brittany Espinoza: So thank you, everyone, for spending part of your day with us. We know this is a busy season, and we really hope that you are leaving with something that you are excited to bring back to your team. And again, if questions come up as you start to put your ideas into action, don't hesitate to reach out to your CSM or our support team. We would love to help you think through.

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Brittany Espinoza: your plan. So, everybody enjoy the rest of your day, and thanks again for joining us!

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Samantha Liravongsa: Thank you!

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Kendra Pickett: Thank you.