Aligning & Recognizing Front-Line Employees
How one client created a value-based culture in a healthcare environment.
Day in and day out, this client’s employees care for others and often save the lives of their patients. They are passionate, dedicated and often underappreciated. Added challenge? They don’t spend their time behind a desk, so they can be hard to communicate with (and recognize). For that reason, our client wanted to find an alternative way to recognize and celebrate their people, and ensure they feel central to the workplace culture.
A Successful Start Needed a Complete Team
As planning conversations began, it was clear that organizational leadership needed all of their stakeholders to come together and unify. ITA Group facilitated an employee engagement strategy session to gain a complete understanding of engagement challenges and define program goals. We brought new ideas and suggestions to the conversation that helped our clients collectively define KPIs and overall strategy. In just one live session, we developed a plan to improve the employee experience— a plan that all stakeholders were excited about and invested in. We agreed to first focus on the division most in need of engagement support.
Making Engagement the Goal
The assessment and discovery session led to a more robust employee engagement plan that went beyond recognition. Our solution focused on aligning and educating all team members around the organization’s core values, and offering tools to facilitate recognition among clinics. Unique strategies and recognition opportunities were developed to accommodate the non-traditional work environment and assorted employee roles. The result allowed for unique strategies for various audience types.
Communicate. Recognize. Celebrate.
We developed Stand Out, an inspired, bold initiative to help employees recognize teammates standing out by delivering exceptional care through displays of the organization’s core values.
Our strategy was comprehensive, including a kickoff campaign with a launch event to hype the refreshed employer brand message, and a variety of communications to inform, engage and inspire employees and managers. We helped leadership build authentic relationships with employees by instilling a culture of appreciation and recognition. And because our solution is flexible and scalable, we were able to support this strategy in a consistent way regardless of the client’s diverse employee base.
We developed the following recognition structures to give managers and employees numerous ways to recognize each other for living the organization’s core values.
- Peer-to Peer or Team
- Manager-to-Employee
- On-the-Spot Recognition Cards
- Nomination-Based Awards
- Milestones
Engaged Employees Led to Bottom-Line Impact
The results proved the value of a concentrated effort to align and recognize employees. A variety of ways to communicate with—and celebrate—employees worked well in their unique work environment. And the best part? Surveys comparing divisions showed positive correlation between participation in Stand Out and other business indicators like retention and satisfaction.
Results
5,018 participants
19.4% increase in employees feeling acknowledged as a contributor to organizational success
63.2% increase in employees who believe they are appropriately recognized and appreciated
11.4% increase in employees feeling motivated to do their best work