Recognition Beyond the Desk Why Traditional Recognition Programs Fail Frontline Employees (And What Actually Works)

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Brittany Espinoza: Here we go!

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Brittany Espinoza: We're here!

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Alexia Bailey: Welcome, everybody!

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Brittany Espinoza: Alright, we got.

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Alexia Bailey: Should we go ahead and get started, or…

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Brittany Espinoza: Yeah, maybe, I see some people still trickling in, so maybe give it, like, 15 seconds, and then we'll get started.

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Brittany Espinoza: See some familiar… names here…

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Brittany Espinoza: As always, if you wouldn't mind, just pop in the chat where you're calling in from.

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Brittany Espinoza: Maybe tell us what company you're with.

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Brittany Espinoza: And let us know if it's your first webinar with us!

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Brittany Espinoza: Hey, Sarah! Hey, Patricia!

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Brittany Espinoza: We got Louisville, Austin…

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Alexia Bailey: Did I see Cairo, Egypt?

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Alexia Bailey: Wow.

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Brittany Espinoza: Honolulu… That's where we all want to be.

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Brittany Espinoza: We're going to the, Oregon coast this week. I'm actually leaving this afternoon, to the Oregon coast, and it's going to be rainy and cold, so…

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Alexia Bailey: Yeah, hey.

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Brittany Espinoza: Will not be like Honolulu.

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Brittany Espinoza: Alright, I think we're…

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Brittany Espinoza: slowed down just a little bit, people can continue to join, but let's get going. A lot to cover today.

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Alexia Bailey: Okay, great. Welcome, everybody. Today, we're going to tackle a real problem that a lot of organizations overlook.

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Alexia Bailey: And that's frontline workers. In manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, retail, they're the backbone of operations, but traditional recognition programs can completely miss them.

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Alexia Bailey: The gap is huge. While desk workers get praised in company-wide emails and awards ceremonies, frontline employees are often invisible in recognition efforts.

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Alexia Bailey: And it's about more than just being fair. It's about the same things, as all recognition programs. It's about retention, engagement, and in this case, actually acknowledging the work that keeps your business running 24-7.

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Alexia Bailey: Over the next hour, we're going to explore why standard programs fail these employees, and share some practical, proven strategies that actually work.

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Alexia Bailey: Whether you're an HR leader designing programs, a frontline manager trying to motivate your team, or someone building recognition systems, this webinar is for you.

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Alexia Bailey: The people you see on this slide here, they show up at every shift. Let's make sure they feel valued for it.

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Alexia Bailey: So, if you've been to any of our webinars before, you know we love polls. So, before we dive in, let's take a quick pulse check. Think about your own organization as you answer the poll.

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Alexia Bailey: If you're, less than 25%, deskless, you're primarily desk-bound. With some field operations, 25 to 50% would be significant frontline alongside office staff.

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Alexia Bailey: 50-75%. The majority of employees are either out in the field or on the front line, or if it's more than 75%, you're predominantly away from your desk.

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Alexia Bailey: And here's a fun fact, while we're doing the poll.

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Alexia Bailey: 80% of the global workforce does not sit at a desk, but most employee recognition programs are designed for the 20% who do. That mismatch is a major problem to address.

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Alexia Bailey: And requires a different approach. Let's see what we've got on our polls.

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Brittany Espinoza: They're pretty even split so far.

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Alexia Bailey: Interesting.

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Alexia Bailey: Are we still getting.

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Brittany Espinoza: I think we've kind of kept out. We can close her out.

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Brittany Espinoza: We got 70% participation. Good work, guys.

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Brittany Espinoza: Alright, can we see… can we see the results? Can everybody see them?

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Brittany Espinoza: There we go. Yeah, looks like a pretty even split. We've got, 26% do say that a majority are frontline workers, so… and everybody has a bit of frontline workers, so, this webinar is… is…

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Brittany Espinoza: gonna be super helpful for everybody, but yeah, I mean, 21% has over 75% of their population

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Brittany Espinoza: deskless. So, I think your… your statistic there is correct. 80% of the global workforce being deskless.

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Brittany Espinoza: I, I, I feel like this.

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Brittany Espinoza: phrase, invisible employees, is a little… is a little bit harsh. And they may not be invisible to… to us… to… to employers, but, a lot of times they can feel that way. And… and that's… that's really the problem that

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Brittany Espinoza: most recognition programs are trying to solve, but sometimes fall short. These frontline workers that are often overlooked or feel overlooked are actually creating real

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Brittany Espinoza: costs across your organization. You know, it's not just about weak culture. Yes, culture is not built in town halls, or annual celebrations. It's really built in those everyday moments between people.

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Brittany Espinoza: But the cost doesn't just come from weak culture. When these frontline employees feel burnt out.

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Brittany Espinoza: interestingly, you don't see your best performers complaining. They're actually the ones that will just quietly check out and leave. So that burnout isn't…

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Brittany Espinoza: Resulting in any positive

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Brittany Espinoza: forward movement, because those are the employees that just kind of quietly lead your organization. You're missing a lot of ideas if your frontline workers don't feel, like their work matters.

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Brittany Espinoza: The frontline workers often see things that leadership never will, but they're not going to speak up if they don't feel like they're heard.

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Brittany Espinoza: Safety is another… is another one that, we don't often think about in terms of disengaged employees. Disengaged employees tend to make more mistakes. They're more prone to, accidents and just the

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Brittany Espinoza: less attention to what they're doing, less attention and focus on what they're doing. But I think that the highest, cost of all, which is essentially a result of all of these other things, is turnover. We already know that frontline roles

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Brittany Espinoza: bleed talent at… On average, about 50% annually.

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Brittany Espinoza: And replacing somebody, typically will cost your organization 30-50% of the salary that you're replacing, and so that can add up fast. So, when you start to think about the cost of a recognition program, or the cost of

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Brittany Espinoza: making that recognition program visible and accessible to your frontline employees, you really have to think about

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Brittany Espinoza: the cost of not doing it, essentially. When your employees are feeling invisible, and… and turning over at a super high rate, it's costing you far more than any investment

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Brittany Espinoza: into your culture is… is going to cost you. So, again, it's not just about…

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Brittany Espinoza: culture and feeling good. It really is about

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Brittany Espinoza: Making people feel valued and visible, and overall, reducing the cost of burnout for your organization.

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Alexia Bailey: Like the headline says, people don't leave jobs, they leave when they feel invisible.

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Alexia Bailey: Disengagement typically follows a predictable pattern. Employees start their new job engaged, caring deeply about their work. They put in effort and commitment, they give it that 110%.

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Alexia Bailey: But over time, they stop feeling valued or noticed. That's when they check out or leave. Recognition addresses this cycle and helps to answer the fundamental human need at work. Does what I do even matter?

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Alexia Bailey: When people feel invisible, the consequences are real, just like Brittany was talking about. Higher turnover, increased absenteeism, overall disengagement. We've all heard the phrase, quiet quitting.

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Alexia Bailey: The good news is that recognition is simple and scalable. It's one of the most powerful tools we have. It directly answers that critical question, does what I do matter, with a yes.

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Alexia Bailey: And we can do it consistently across the organization.

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Alexia Bailey: And that's why recognition matters. It's not a nice-to-have, it's essential to retention and engagement. So let's walk through 5 principles of frontline recognition.

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Alexia Bailey: Principle number one.

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Alexia Bailey: Visibility creates culture. After all, how can you recognize great work if you don't even know about it?

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Alexia Bailey: There's a contrast between office versus frontline environments. In offices, the visibility is natural. It's through meetings, Slack, dashboards, and if you're in a traditional office setting, maybe you see each other in the break rooms, or you even go to lunch.

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Alexia Bailey: If you're on the floor, out in the field, at a patient's bedside, at a retail store, your work often happens in an isolation. You're by yourself, or you're with customers, or you're with patients, rather than your coworkers and managers.

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Alexia Bailey: Either way, you're away from organizational view, which means frontline workers' achievements are frequently invisible to leadership.

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Alexia Bailey: And to their peers.

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Alexia Bailey: The solution is intentional systems that surface and celebrate great work wherever it happens.

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Alexia Bailey: And it isn't just about morale, though it certainly does help with morale, but visibility drives culture by showing what the organization actually values.

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Alexia Bailey: When frontline work is celebrated and shared across the org, it reinforces priorities and inspires others by modeling through examples of the desired behaviors and traits.

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Brittany Espinoza: So, when we think about deskless employees, a lot of times, or frontline workers, a lot of times we put them in one bucket, but,

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Brittany Espinoza: depending on your industry, and your deskless population, reaching them can look different. Somebody who is,

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Brittany Espinoza: in the front line in the medical field, a nurse or, you know, that type of population, is going to have different accessibility to electronics, essentially, than somebody who maybe is a warehouse worker or a construction worker. So, we do have to think about deskless employees a little bit differently, depending on,

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Brittany Espinoza: depending on your industry and just your overall business, but there's a lot of different ways that we can reach those deskless employees, and we really need to think about how we can make that daily recognition visible to them. If the recognition… there's something to be said about public recognition. I mean, that's…

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Brittany Espinoza: A lot of the reason why we're all here running these recognition programs is to make that recognition not only easy, but also visible across the organization when people are not work… maybe they're working in different locations, or maybe they're working remotely, they're not sitting at desks all in one office.

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Brittany Espinoza: So, our goal is to make that recognition visible, but a lot of times, we do a really good job of making recognition visible to our folks that are sitting in front of a computer, but we really struggle to reach the people who need that visibility the most.

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Brittany Espinoza: Which are those deskless employees. So, again, depending on your

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Brittany Espinoza: industry. This may look a little bit different for you, but a few of the ideas that we have seen, be really effective. First one I'll talk about is kiosk mode, and for recognize, what that looks like is a live stream of the public recognitions happening in your organization, in places where your frontline employees gather. So.

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Brittany Espinoza: This might be break rooms or, just, you know, right when you walk into the office, public gathering areas, locker rooms, you know, whatever that looks like for you, where your employees gather. Having that live stream of the recognitions keeps that visibility

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Brittany Espinoza: for those employees that are not going to be frequently on a device, an electronic device, or a computer throughout the day. So you're still going to get that benefit of the visibility.

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Brittany Espinoza: For those employees that are… In the field.

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Brittany Espinoza: Mobile app is another really,

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Brittany Espinoza: solid tool if… if you don't already promote, the recognized mobile app with your employees, and you have employees who

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Brittany Espinoza: are going to have access to either their personal phone or work phone throughout the day. It's a really… it's a missed opportunity for that engagement. When recognition is right on their phone, it feels, immediate, and it feels personal, and it really reduces that… that visibility friction.

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Brittany Espinoza: Shift huddles. This is where we really rely on our managers and our leaders to help make, recognition visible.

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Brittany Espinoza: most of the time, we're already doing it. We're already doing quick little shift meetings, or, you know, end of shift huddles, things like that. We're already doing little gatherings. If we can really rely on our managers to spend 2 minutes at the start, or end of every shift to publicly acknowledge, somebody's contribution, no

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Brittany Espinoza: Electronics needed. This is just about managers helping to increase that recognition.

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Brittany Espinoza: Recognition boards. This is… I called it recognition boards, but, it's really an idea that I wanted to share, actually, that one of our… one of our customers does, that I just think was a really amazing idea to share. If you… if you don't already know, with the recognitions.

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Brittany Espinoza: on the stream page, you can print physical certificates, from any recognition, in Recognize, and something that one of

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Brittany Espinoza: Our customers, your peers, does.

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Brittany Espinoza: for their frontline workforce is they have a bulletin board, in the hallway on the way to their break room, and they will pick out a handful of their most meaningful recognitions every month, and they will print out physical certificates, and they will pin them on this bulletin board, and they'll sit there for the month.

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Brittany Espinoza: And then the next month, when they're ready to refresh, they will send those physical certificates home with the recipients. So, again, a non-electronic way to keep those recognitions visible, and then also add that extra value, because they have something tangible to bring home, that shows their contribution.

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Brittany Espinoza: So I love that idea. Another idea that, again, comes from existing, companies that are running highly effective recognition programs is, QR recognition cards. So, again.

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Brittany Espinoza: A lot of times, your managers and your leaders have better access to

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Brittany Espinoza: an electronic way to send a recognition. But unless your deskless employees are

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Brittany Espinoza: also frequently getting on an electronic to look, they may miss that you even sent them a recognition. So, I love this idea, to have

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Brittany Espinoza: QR codes printed out. I actually have a few customers that… that do this in a little bit varying ways, but, you can have a QR code, a card with a… with a QR code for each badge, or just, like, one generic one, and at… as managers send recognitions.

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Brittany Espinoza: in the platform, they will also go hand that employee that they recognized a card, which the employee can then easily scan and take them to their recognition page, where they can see the recognition that they received. So it's just that extra alert, like, hey, I sent you a recognition, to drive that… that traffic and that

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Brittany Espinoza: that employee into the platform, whereas otherwise they might not have seen it for a couple weeks, who knows?

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Brittany Espinoza: Another option for your employees who are…

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Brittany Espinoza: not able to be on a mobile phone, or like a… or like a personal device, very frequently is shared recognition stations. So, setting up

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Brittany Espinoza: stations throughout, you know, the warehouse or whatever the environment is for employees to be able to quickly send recognitions to their peers or managers to their direct reports without having to get on their personal devices. I've had a lot of customers express that they don't… they… because of, like.

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Brittany Espinoza: safety, they don't allow their employees to be just pulling out their mobile phones throughout their shift. So, you know, the mobile app may be helpful when they're not on shift, but when we're wanting that recognition to be

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Brittany Espinoza: timely, and to be happening kind of, like, during the shift, it's not really feasible if… if they can't really be pulling out their phones. So these recognition stations, you can set up tablets,

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Brittany Espinoza: in a little kiosk where employees can easily just go, couple clicks, send a recognition, and then get back to work. And then you can pair that with the kiosk mode to have a live stream of the recognitions that are being sent, showing up so people can

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Brittany Espinoza: easily recognize their peers or direct reports, but then also get that visibility.

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Brittany Espinoza: So those are a couple ideas. Again, recognition should live where employees work.

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Brittany Espinoza: So, it may look different for, for your organization, but one of these ideas, or a combination of these ideas, can really help just increase that overall visibility. And when recognition is, visible.

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Brittany Espinoza: It, it multiplies.

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Alexia Bailey: Principle number two, managers create consistency.

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Alexia Bailey: We all know about the outsized influence managers have on their teams, so this shouldn't surprise anyone. The 70% figure comes from Gallup Research, showing that roughly 70% of the difference in employee engagement

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Alexia Bailey: It's not HR programs, it's not company policies, it's direct manager behavior that drives that engagement.

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Alexia Bailey: And that, the data also tells us that when managers recognize employees, those employees are twice as likely to recognize their peers. Recognition creates a ripple effect, or as I like to call it, a virtual cycle.

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Brittany Espinoza: Yeah, and again, recognition doesn't need to be formal or elaborate. It's… it's about building consistent habits to… that will slowly reshape your team's culture. Weekly recognition, we've talked about this before, this is… this is your anchor habit.

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Brittany Espinoza: Setting a calendar reminder will…

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Brittany Espinoza: create that habit. Eventually, you won't even look at the reminder, because you'll just know that that's happening, but that's your first step. Set a weekly reminder, have your manager set a weekly reminder. One genuine recognition per manager per week will make a huge difference. Again.

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Brittany Espinoza: when a manager recognizes a direct report, that direct report is two times as likely to go send their own recognition. So it's a multiplier. And honestly, the simple practice of,

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Brittany Espinoza: expecting your managers to send one meaningful recognition per week, that will transform your team culture within 90 days. It really isn't about quantity, it's about

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Brittany Espinoza: it happening on a regular basis. It's about regularity.

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Brittany Espinoza: moving beyond the generic, great job, it is also really important. It's important to be precise about what you're recognizing. So, instead of a vague praise, you want to really make sure that you are giving specific details in the recognition. So, an example would be.

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Brittany Espinoza: You handled that difficult customer with patience and professionalism. Specific… specificity?

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Brittany Espinoza: Spec… specificity

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Brittany Espinoza: makes recognition stick in people's minds. And again, when we are talking about visibility, we're talking about public recognition. Don't keep it private. Share the wins openly. Again, team huddles.

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Brittany Espinoza: onboards, kiosk modes in your communication apps. When the whole team can see what's being recognized, it sends a signal about what behaviors and values, are actually valued, and what matter to… to managers and to the company. Consistency, this… this is critical. Recognition that only happens during

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Brittany Espinoza: like, annual reviews, it's kind of like too little, too late. You need to weave it in.

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Alexia Bailey: into.

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Brittany Espinoza: rhythm of daily work. And really, managers need to be making this part of how they operate every week. We've talked about the manager involvement before, we talk about it often, and the reason that we talk about it often is because it can be the single biggest driver of engagement in your organization. Again, I'm going to say it, I think it's probably a third time, because I think Alexia said it too.

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Brittany Espinoza: When a manager sends a recognition to their direct report.

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Brittany Espinoza: that direct report is two times as likely to send their own recognition. So, if we can get our managers involved, we're going to see the recognition multiply, and we're going to see the culture rapidly grow.

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Brittany Espinoza: Another really good point to make is, which I don't think that we talk about or think about very often, is that recognition actually matters most during the toughest seasons. It's really easy to and natural to recognize and reward and award, when those big things happen, when things are going really

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Brittany Espinoza: well, when we're really hitting our targets, when, the spirits are really high with everybody. Those are really easy, natural moments for recognition to, to flow, but it's actually most needed during the tough times. So, think about, like, holiday rushes.

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Brittany Espinoza: Staffing shortages, peak production, where people are feeling, like, burnt out, major projects, so when you have, like, big, big projects going on, recognizing that progress. Employees really crave appreciation when they're exhausted and stretched thin, and it's almost… you can fill their cup, right? Like, these tough times.

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Brittany Espinoza: It's like, we're draining the cup every shift, and one recognition can just fill that cup right back up. So, really think about, and train, again, train your managers to, make sure that the recognition is actually even more prevalent in, in times where employees are potentially feeling the most drained.

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Brittany Espinoza: And then again, celebrate progress, not just achievements.

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Brittany Espinoza: So, there's a, the Harvard Progress Principle, it's a concept that's based on research involving, employee diary entries, and it's involving thousands of employee diary entries, and, the principle

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Brittany Espinoza: states that of all things that can boost emotions, motivation, and performance at work, the most important is making progress and meaningful work. So, the research found that employees are most engaged, productive, and satisfied when they feel that they're moving forward, even through small wins. So, surprisingly.

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Brittany Espinoza: These day-to-day moments of progress actually have a greater impact on motivation than incentives or other workplace perks.

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Brittany Espinoza: And for frontline or deskless employees, progress often goes unnoticed because it doesn't look like a major achievement, but it really matters deeply to those employees for motivation and engagement.

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Brittany Espinoza: And for employee recognition programs, the takeaway is that organizations shouldn't, only celebrate major achievements.

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Brittany Espinoza: They should be recognizing smaller milestones or signs of progress, and that can be just as powerful. So things such as completing training, earning a certificate, reaching a safety milestone, learning a new skill, mentoring a colleague.

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Brittany Espinoza: Or even just as small as sending your first recognition,

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Brittany Espinoza: again, the Harvard Progress Principle tells us that people are most motivated when they can see that they're making meaningful progress, and recognition should celebrate the progress, not just the outcomes.

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Alexia Bailey: That brings us to principle number 3, remove friction.

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Alexia Bailey: Recognition should fit seamlessly into work without interrupting it.

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Alexia Bailey: The problem? Every extra step reduces participation. Research shows that if recognition takes more than 30 seconds, managers won't use it consistently.

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Alexia Bailey: So this is especially critical in fast-paced frontline environments, where spare few… spare moments can be few and far between.

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Alexia Bailey: As you can imagine, complex HR…

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Alexia Bailey: Complex HR portals are a major barrier.

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Alexia Bailey: The solution is to design for frictionless recognition. Make it easy to access, keep it fast to complete.

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Alexia Bailey: Integrate it into the natural workflow of the day. When recognition is simple and easy, adoption increases dramatically, and it becomes a habit or even a reflex instead of a chore.

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Brittany Espinoza: And so recognition… so we talked about the visibility, and now we need to talk about

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Brittany Espinoza: the ease of recognition. Like Alexia said, if it's too many steps, they're not going to do it. So, we really need to make recognition as easy and accessible as possible. And if possible, recognition programs should be, mobile first, in order to reach those deskless employees.

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Brittany Espinoza: those not sitting at desks all day. If your program only works on computers, you're excluding the people who need it most. So,

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Brittany Espinoza: Recognition anywhere means employees can give and receive kudos from the floor, any shift.

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Brittany Espinoza: any device. So again, if that means mobile app for your workforce, great. If that means recognition kiosks with tablets, great. It has to be easy and accessible for those employees that are not sitting in front of computers every day. Rewards anywhere. Again, if you're… if you're running a program with points and rewards.

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Brittany Espinoza: it needs to be easy for them to view and cash in and redeem those rewards. It's funny because, my husband, years ago, worked for a company where

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Brittany Espinoza: Actually, I feel bad, actually, because I… I, I dog on… on this recognition program from my husband's past employer. I think I've done it on previous, but it's like my… my cautionary tale, I feel like. There were literally employees who had

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Brittany Espinoza: so… had a lot of points, and they didn't even know how to… they didn't know how many they had, they didn't know how to access it, they didn't know how to redeem it, and that… I mean, what's the point? Where you're spending money on, giving out points and allowing your employees to redeem rewards, but if they don't even see it or know how to do it, then it's not…

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Brittany Espinoza: It's not really benefiting you.

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Brittany Espinoza: Surveys get the feedback from your employees on what really works for them. Pulse feedback reaches teams where they actually are.

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Brittany Espinoza: and not buried in emails. So, when you're getting that feedback, don't just send it to an email. It should be something that they should be able to access and complete

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Brittany Espinoza: on a mobile device. Again, if that's their personal mobile device or a mobile device set up for community sharing, either way, you should be able to collect that feedback, in a very easy way. Challenges, celebrations, communication, again, this should all be happening, in a way that makes sense for your deskless employees.

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Brittany Espinoza: If it's… if you can only complete challenges or, you know, see anniversary celebrations if you're on a computer, then you're missing a large portion of your workforce.

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Brittany Espinoza: So the bottom line being, mobile or shared device accessibility, it's not just a extra or nice to have. It really is the foundation that makes the entire program actually work if you have, a large percentage of deskless employees.

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Brittany Espinoza: And this also could look different for different populations. As we saw in our poll, we don't have 100%, deskless workers. In fact, I think, it was pretty evenly split, just from our participants here. We have, some companies that have 25%, 50%, 75%,

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Brittany Espinoza: So, you have to be able to hit all different areas and, make sure that participation is easy for everyone. So that might look different for one portion of your population to another, and that…

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Brittany Espinoza: And a lot of times when it's not easy, it's the peer recognition, that you're missing. It might be easy for leaders to, or managers to send recognition, but if it's not easy for your

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Brittany Espinoza: general population, then that peer recognition, which is what caught… which is what, multiplies and what really builds your culture, and that consistency and that frequency of recognition, that's what you're gonna miss. That's gonna be, a massively underutilized

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Brittany Espinoza: part of your recognition program.

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Brittany Espinoza: But those peers that are working so closely to each other, those are actually the ones that

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Brittany Espinoza: see all the great things that are happening. A lot of times, they're seeing the great work that their peers are doing, and managers are missing it. So if we're creating friction on, for those peers to recognize each other, then you're going to see

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Brittany Espinoza: a lot of misrecognition or wins going unnoticed. So it's really important to… we've talked about the manager piece of it, but making participation easy.

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Brittany Espinoza: we're not really talking… I mean, not in all cases, but I think in a lot of cases, it is easier for the managers to do it, but it's really hard for people to recognize each other. Or we see programs where the managers are really highly engaged, but your actual, like, end users are not super engaged.

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Brittany Espinoza: you may have, an issue with how easy it is for those people to recognize each other. And again, a lot of times, they're seeing, wins and great behaviors that managers and leaders are missing, and if we don't make it easy for peers to recognize each other, then those may be going unnoticed.

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Brittany Espinoza: And that can also just be… it might not even be, like, device-related, so maybe, it's not always about, like, do they have the mobile app, or do you have recognition stations set up? Sometimes it can be just the way that your program is set up, too. So think about how you have your badges set up, and are they set up in a way where

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Brittany Espinoza: where… Peers can easily choose a badge for

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Brittany Espinoza: something that they want to recognize. That might mean, do you have enough badges that are sendable by anyone, or that have low to no point values? But also, are they titled and described correctly for what your, frontline workers would be recognizing each other for? If they're, you know, solely based on, like, manager type…

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Brittany Espinoza: behaviors that managers would recognize, then they might feel a little bit weird using them. They might not feel, if they want to recognize a behavior, but they don't really see a badge that, that matches what they want to recognize, that can also cause some friction. So, again, we've talked a lot about, like, accessibility, and visibility, but it

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Brittany Espinoza: But also think about how that program is set up for them to feel like they can easily, choose a badge and, you know, within just a couple of quick clicks, send a kudos to a coworker.

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Alexia Bailey: Principle number 4. Give employees a reason to return every day.

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Alexia Bailey: Recognition is just the starting point. We need to keep employees engaged every single day. The key to creating is creating a rhythm that makes people want to show up, not just feel obligated to do so. And there are four pillars to make this work.

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Alexia Bailey: Challenges, by far my favorite. Time-bound competitions between teams and locations. These build energy and camaraderie while keeping people motivated to participate.

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Alexia Bailey: And they're fun. That's why I like them.

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Alexia Bailey: Nominations, structured peer and manager recognition tied to your values. This type of recognition feels especially meaningful and intentional.

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Alexia Bailey: Surveys, a quick temperature check shows, employees that their voice matters, and that leadership is actually listening to feedback. Our customers who take a pulse and then act on the resulting insights demonstrate that they care in a very real way.

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Alexia Bailey: And, mobile experiences. A personalized app right there on your phone keeps recognition and rewards front and center throughout the day. Together.

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Alexia Bailey: These create touchstones that give people reasons to engage daily. It becomes part of the rhythm of work instead of an afterthought.

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Brittany Espinoza: Yeah, I really, I really like this… this pillar here. Recognition programs create the most impact when they're part of employees' regular routines and not something that they only visit once in a while. The most successful engagement programs that we have seen

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Brittany Espinoza: create multiple reasons for employees to come back throughout the week and throughout the month. So if the platform is only used for occasional recognition, you're gonna see your participation become sporadic.

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Brittany Espinoza: The more touchpoints that employees have, the more likely they are to stay engaged.

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Brittany Espinoza: And every… every interaction that they have is going to reinforce your culture, whether it's

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Brittany Espinoza: someone recognizing a peer, or completing a challenge, answering a survey, celebrating a milestone, or even just browsing rewards. They're engaging with your organization's values and your organization's community.

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Brittany Espinoza: And that frequent participation, it helps keep recognition top of mind. So then that recognition becomes a habit rather than that sporadic event.

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Brittany Espinoza: And when employees return regularly, that recognition really becomes woven into the employee experience.

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Brittany Espinoza: Instead of it just existing as a standalone product.

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Brittany Espinoza: And the more participation that there is, the more visibility there is. Employees see achievements and milestones, and positive behaviors that are happening across the organization, and that really strengthens expectation, it strengthens connection, and overall, it strengthens employees' feeling of.

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Brittany Espinoza: Of belonging to a community and belonging to a company with a strong culture.

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Brittany Espinoza: So, think of your recognition program as a destination rather than a tool. The more value your employees find.

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Brittany Espinoza: in your program, the more often they'll return, the more recognitions will be sent, and the stronger your culture, will be. So, examples of reasons to return, Alexia talked about, four super strong reasons. Obviously, your peer-to-peer recognition, automated service anniversaries and birthdays, those are those,

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Brittany Espinoza: automated, you know.

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Brittany Espinoza: Admins don't have to worry about. These are just gonna happen, naturally. Challenges or engagement campaigns.

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Brittany Espinoza: So… so using those built-in recognition moments throughout the year, whether it be, holidays or celebrations, or just company-type milestones, those are those natural moments that we can weave into our… into our, recognition program with engagement campaigns, surveys and feedback opportunities.

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Brittany Espinoza: Company announcements, again, if they know that they're going to learn about what's going on in the company, by going to their recognition program, and they see those announcements happening right there on the stream page, you're creating a destination rather than just a recognition program, and you're gonna see your engagement, really,

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Brittany Espinoza: Exponentially increase if that becomes a destination for them, rather than a standalone program.

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Brittany Espinoza: Nominations, rewards, leaderboards, and again, new badge launches, keeping things fresh, keeping things fun, keeping things exciting.

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Brittany Espinoza: what we have seen is that organizations with the strongest cultures don't rely on a single avenue for recognition. They create consistent opportunities for employees to participate, and connect and contribute throughout the year. So every reason that we give them to return is another opportunity to strengthen culture.

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Brittany Espinoza: And the friendly competition really, creates energy in the tool. It transforms those routine metrics

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Brittany Espinoza: into goals that people will actually care about. So structure competitions at different levels. So, you know, depending on how… what would make sense for your organization, doing department-level competitions or location by, or competition by location, or even by shift, because that gives everyone a chance to participate.

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Brittany Espinoza: If you are an organization where, there's different shift work, a lot of times those shifts that aren't

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Brittany Espinoza: during the same hours that, like, leadership is working, those are the… those are your employees who tend to feel like they're not a part of the culture, or their efforts aren't seen. So this is something that can really help make sure that everybody is… is involved.

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Brittany Espinoza: And the prizes don't have to be, expensive, they just need to be meaningful, so things like maybe a pizza party for the winning shift, or, my favorite is, like, a traveling trophy that, you know, can be displayed if you're doing, like, location by location. That's always a fun, a fun thing to do.

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Brittany Espinoza: But remember, the prize really isn't the real motivator, it's… it's the story of how the team earned it together, and… and it's, again, building that community and that culture.

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Alexia Bailey: And last but not least, principle number 5, reward what employees actually value. The most well-designed recognition problem… oh my goodness. The most well-designed recognition program

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Alexia Bailey: fails if the rewards don't resonate with your employees. Frontline workers may have different needs than desk workers, so it's important to understand who you're rewarding and what will motivate them.

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Alexia Bailey: For company swag, it really is worth investing in quality items that people will actually want to wear, and to use, and to show off where they work. Not cheap promotional junk that sends a different message.

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Alexia Bailey: Everyday gift cards, like groceries and gas, those can help with real weekly expenses that matter to frontline workers. Amazon Rewards, this is very good timing. It is Amazon Prime Day, if you did not know this.

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Brittany Espinoza: True.

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Alexia Bailey: That gives opportunities, for choice and flexibility to pick what you actually need.

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Alexia Bailey: And it doesn't always have to be stuff.

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Alexia Bailey: Flexibility perks, things like the best parking spots.

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Alexia Bailey: Being able to leave early on a Friday. Schedule adjustments can often mean more than a gift card.

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Alexia Bailey: Family experiences, also. Tickets, outings can create lasting memories and show that you value their whole life, not just the work.

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Alexia Bailey: So convenience and thoughtfulness often outweigh the dollar amount. It's more about timing and relevance.

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Brittany Espinoza: Yeah, and again, the…

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Brittany Espinoza: the key here is people retain stories far better than, abstract points or generic praise. So,

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Brittany Espinoza: Really making sure that

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Brittany Espinoza: the recognition is meaningful and, and not generic. So, you know, again, a forgettable recognition might be something like, oh, hey, great job this week, but

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Brittany Espinoza: you know, that's not really something that's connecting to the specific person, or something that they did, or the specific outcome. And it doesn't really make them feel truly seen or valued for what they actually did. You know, so instead, doing something that is

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Brittany Espinoza: specific, for ex… for example, staying late to train a new team member, you're gonna have a clear impact, like hitting a production goal, or

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Brittany Espinoza: you know, avoiding a delay affecting 200 orders, or something like that. It connects to something bigger, something that demonstrates, leadership and that strengthens the team. And this sticks because it's concrete and meaningful.

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Brittany Espinoza: And once again, when you share specific recognition stories in team huddles or on boards.

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Brittany Espinoza: Others see exactly what excellence looks like. It creates inspiration and motivation for the whole team to replicate that behavior. Stories are contagious. They spread more…

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Brittany Espinoza: More effectively than, having, like, policies or generic expectations.

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Brittany Espinoza: So, to wrap things up,

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Brittany Espinoza: let's review the 5 things that you can do starting tomorrow to, transform recognition culture immediately. No new tools, no extra budget or lengthy rollout needed. These are 5 simple things, that you can do starting today, or tomorrow.

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Brittany Espinoza: Shift meetings, again, these are things that are already happening. Use those first 60, have your managers use those first 60 to 90 seconds in huddles to highlight one or two specific wins from the previous shift. This will set a positive tone.

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Brittany Espinoza: And it will help make that recognition visible to the whole team. Manager accountability. We've talked about this a lot. Ask managers to give one specific recognition per week.

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Brittany Espinoza: Track it, celebrate the managers who do it, and also make sure leadership models this behavior as well.

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Brittany Espinoza: Physical visibility. Whether for your organization, that means a public recognition board with the printed certificates, a smart TV with a live stream of, of recognitions happening with kiosk mode, QR code cards.

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Brittany Espinoza: You know, make that visibility, however it works for your organization. Break room, locker room, entrance, make recognition visible and easy.

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Brittany Espinoza: Fourth, engagement hooks go beyond just sending recognition. Give employees a reason to, make your recognition program a destination. Challenges, dominations, campaigns, surveys, give people more reasons to participate. And five.

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Brittany Espinoza: Co-create with your frontline workers. Don't assume what employees want. Ask them directly what recognition means to them, what rewards actually matter to them, and most importantly.

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Brittany Espinoza: ask them what's blocking their participation. You know, we can assume and we can share what we have heard from other organizations, but the best approach is to ask your deskless employees what is blocking their participation, and that's going to give you the easiest

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Brittany Espinoza: path forward to increasing engagement. These aren't theoretical, these are actionable items that you can start immediately. The goal is momentum.

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Brittany Espinoza: and culture shift, not perfection. So, these aren't things that have to be perfect when you start them, these are just things that we need to start.

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Brittany Espinoza: With that, we have about 9 minutes left.

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Brittany Espinoza: I want to make sure that we have time to answer some questions, if anybody has some, or if you have some ideas on how you have been successful engaging your frontline workforce that maybe we didn't mention, that would also be wonderful to hear in the chat. So, if anybody has any feedback, or ideas, or questions,

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Brittany Espinoza: Or wants to see anything in action, go ahead and pop that in the chat, and we'll just wait a couple minutes and see what we have.

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Brittany Espinoza: I'm gonna check the Q&A. Do we have anything in Q&A?

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Brittany Espinoza: I see no questions in Q&A. Anybody in the chat have… have anything?

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Brittany Espinoza: We covered a lot, so it's a lot to sink in.

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Brittany Espinoza: If those questions start flowing after the fact, please feel free to reach out to myself or, Alexia. I know we talk to a lot of you frequently. Of course, you can also reach out to support at RecognizeApp

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Brittany Espinoza: And, yes, Natasha, we will send out both the recording

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Brittany Espinoza: of the presentation, as well as the slide deck with all the useful information. So we will get that out to you guys later today. And again, if the questions come to mind after the fact, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.

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Brittany Espinoza: Otherwise, everybody have a wonderful rest of your day!

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Brittany Espinoza: And thank you so much for joining us. We'll see you in the next one.