About the author: A seasoned technology and business executive focused on developing strategy and leading diverse, multi-disciplinary teams to create innovative products and elite customer-centric experiences, Jason oversees Product and Engineering at Blueboard. Jason speaks publicly at top universities and conferences and has appeared in Newsweek, BusinessWeek, Wired and other top technology publications.
Meaningful employee recognition is at the heart of a thriving company culture, fueling employee performance, engagement, and growth. At Blueboard, we believe in the particular power of experiential rewards and recognition—and leading organizations agree. To date, over 600 companies have joined us on a journey to send over 130K people on Blueboard experiences, moving away from only offering old-school cash, goods, or points as rewards in favor of the transformative power of higher value experiential rewards.
Today, we want to take it a step further and share an exciting advancement that will allow Blueboard clients to further amplify the ways they socialize their recognition programs and the employer brand values these programs represent.
Easily share genuine employee Afterglow stories to Slack and Teams with Blueboard.
Introducing the #Blueboarding Afterglow admin tools' latest integration: Effortless sharing of employees’ experience stories to Slack or Microsoft Teams.
Hold up, you may be thinking, what's employee recognition Afterglow? Outside of the intangible, feel-good feelings created by an experiential reward, Afterglow includes all of the post-experience photos, videos, and reward details Blueboard admins can use to celebrate employees and emphasize your company's employer brand across your entire organization. This employee generated content can also be used on social media channels like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram, as well as internal communication channels like email, all-hands, career web pages, newsletters, intranet, and more.
Why is it so crucial to capture and share Afterglow stories of employees enjoying their experiential rewards? And how can these visual stories drive desired behaviors, foster team alignment, and create lasting memories? Whether you're rewarding a loyal employee who's celebrating their 15-year work anniversary, or a top performing sales representative who went above and beyond to exceed quota for a new product launch, the Afterglow impact of Blueboard rewards on the overall employee experience is significant:
How employee recognition Afterglow positively impacts your business.
When it comes to impacting your business and company culture, sharing Afterglow content:
- Ensures visibility and recognition of employee achievements, amplifying recognition impact and inspiring others to strive for similar milestones
- Showcases real examples of success, driving desired behaviors and reinforcing a culture of excellence
- Fosters team alignment by uniting employees around shared growth goals and aspirations
How employee recognition Afterglow positively impacts your employees.
When it comes to impacting your people, sharing Afterglow content:
- Extends the celebration of the employee's achievements, creating an opportunity to receive additional recognition from peers, managers, and the broader organization
- Showcases their hard work, dedication, and the positive impact they've made
- Afterglow content becomes a source of pride and a tangible reminder of their remarkable accomplishments during performance reviews
Experiences > things when it comes to employee recognition.
New research from The Starr Conspiracy and Blueboard shows that experiential rewards have nearly 4x more impact on the employee experience than other types of rewards because they are personal, meaningful, and create a unique opportunity for employees to grow. Blueboard's new, easy-to-use Slack and Teams feature allows you to amplify these benefits even more. Simply select the most captivating post-experience photos, videos, and reward details to further celebrate employees and build employer brand across your entire organization, sparking excitement and fostering a culture of recognition.
The power of rich media in promoting a culture of recognition.
At Blueboard, we find that photos and videos are both highly compelling when it comes to capturing experiential reward Afterglow. Photos freeze moments in time: they're a record of the sheer excitement, pride, and gratitude associated with receiving recognition. They also support memory-making, reminding an employee of the value of the celebration, milestone, or adventure long after an experience has been completed.
Videos offer a unique and captivating experience, immersing viewers in the sights, sounds, and emotions of an experiential reward. Through video, every employee can be transported to the heart of a colleague's experience, giving them the chance to feel the impact and significance of the reward—and imagine earning their own reward. Check out this example from Clara, who earned a Blueboard reward from her employer Skydio:
By sharing these artifacts internally and externally, you can keep your recognition program top-of-mind for employees, reminding everyone what high performance looks like—and what's in store for employees who go above and beyond.
Social proof of successful employee experiences amplifies your employer brand.
To understand the true impact of employee recognition Afterglow, it's helpful to imagine a few scenarios. First, think about a top-performing salesperson who earns a personalized Blueboard sales incentives experience for winning a quarterly SPIFF contest to drive adoption of a new product. They use their reward for a well-deserved family vacation planned completely by a Blueboard concierge. On that vacation, they capture photos and videos, moments of celebration and enjoyment. These photos and videos can be used to create social proof that reinforces performance-driving behaviors and aligns teams on growth goals. These shared visuals become a wellspring of inspiration and motivation for others within the organization.
Another example: Imagine your number one sales rep wins a Blueboard personalized President's Club for exceeding goal. During their trip, they capture stunning photos of their family enjoying a luxurious resort, savoring precious time spent outside of the office. They also record videos of their family learning to surf. When they return to the office, they get a post-experience survey that not only allows them to give feedback on the experience, but also captures their sentiment about the impact of the experience on motivation, retention, culture, and appreciation. Last but not least, they also get a QR code to easily upload videos and photos from their President’s Club reward.
In both instances, Blueboard's enhanced Afterglow integration with Slack and Teams enables admins to effortlessly share employee-generated photos and videos across the organization's communication channels. This allows the employee’s teammates to celebrate their success, share in the Afterglow, and start dreaming of making President’s Club next year. The content can also be used on social media channels like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram, but also other communication channels like email, all-hands, career web pages, newsletters, intranet, and more.
Elevate employer brand visibility with captivating visual narratives via Blueboard.
By seamlessly sharing photos and videos of employees’ experiential rewards, companies can create a captivating visual narrative of employee achievements, fostering a culture of recognition to improve talent acquisition strategies, create a productive and great place to work, and elevate the company's brand visibility.
At Blueboard, we're steadfast in our mission to inspire people to challenge their comfort zones, indulge in their passions, and try new things through experiential rewards and recognition. We invite everyone to capture and share the #Blueboarding Afterglow moments that bring employer brand and culture to life. Together, let's inspire and motivate others to thrive in both business and life through the extraordinary power of experiential recognition.
Ready to see how Afterglow can elevate employee recognition moments that matter to drive motivation, retention, culture, and appreciation? Connect with our team to learn more today.
