How Employee Engagement Helped an Insurance Company Update Their Culture

How one organization used recognition to modernize their culture.

For this leading insurance company, tenure wasn’t an issue—numerous team members within the organization had worked there for many years. While this provided stability and experience, it also offered an opportunity to better align their culture with the behaviors that would attract new talent and help them remain competitive in their industry. Seeing this, the organization began looking for a way to spur initiative and reinforce their values, while creating a culture of recognition.

employee engagement and recognition platform on multiple devices

A Strong Recognition Brand Based in Company Values Was Key

For help evolving their culture, the company turned to long-time partner, ITA Group. We immediately went to work building a recognition program based on their five core values, which would help team members make the connection between those values and their behaviors. It was also important to create a fun, engaging program brand that emphasized performance: Spotlight, the program name, encouraged each individual team member to take center stage. This program brand was threaded through the recognition programs offered:

  • “Cheers” peer-to-peer non-point recognition
  • “Bravo” manager-to-team member point recognition
  • “Encore” anniversary awards

Early Training & Communication Made an Impact

Because recognition was a new concept for the company, internal buy-in and communication were key. To obtain buy-in early, we trained leaders and program ambassadors on the program, instructing them on how to use the platform and how they could support the program after launch. A robust, mixed-media launch communication plan also focused on the behaviors key to the core values and how to use the recognition platform.

Immediate Results Led to Continued Program Growth

After launch, the insurance company saw the majority of their team members begin engaging with Spotlight recognition over the first year—and those numbers grew even more in year two. Because of this success, the program was able to quickly expand to include additional programs for team member referrals and a spousal wellness program. As their culture continued to evolve, recognition provided a way to align everyone around new goals and ideas.