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3.5x
Recognition sent year-over-year
22.3K
Recognition moments recorded
94%
employee base active on platform
49%
Recognition moments sent by frontline employees
3%
increase in employee survey results
Balfour Beatty Investments develops, finances and operates public and private infrastructure assets across the UK and U.S.
Its portfolio spans healthcare, transportation, energy, housing and education, including Balfour Beatty Communities, which develops and operates privatized military, student and multifamily housing, and Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions, a leading provider of capital project financing and development solutions for higher education. Balfour Beatty Investments is part of Balfour Beatty PLC, a leading international infrastructure group.
With approximately 1,600 employees spread across the country, Balfour Beatty Investments is always looking for ways to increase connection and retention with their frontline employees.
Industry:
Housing
Number of employees:
1,600
Work modes:
In-office and on-site
Platform features:
Employee Reward & Recognition
In 2024, Balfour Beatty Investments’ online employee experience platform, Bravo, transitioned ownership from an operational team to the HR team. At the time of the shift, recognition was happening and was demonstrating value for those that received it, but the team decided to more intentionally use their Reward Gateway | Edenred employee experience platform to create greater connections within and across these frontline teams.
Within one year, Nicole Gibb, Employee Relations Manager, and the team were able to use simple strategies to boost recognitions from about 6,000 per year to more than 22,000.
They also saw the percentage of recognitions given by frontline employees rise from 28% to 49% - a huge jump in just one year that has been accompanied by increased in employee survey results. These meaningful changes in employee involvement and were made easy to track using their platform reporting.
While recognition was having an impact in the organization, it was often seen more as a leadership tool, with about three quarters of recognitions recorded in the system given by managers to team members.
With the power of manager-led recognition established across the organization in this way, HR could begin to extend the program and its benefits to boost connections among frontline staff.
“With recognition in Bravo, we want people to feel valued and appreciated. I’m speaking as a person who received them herself. It means a lot that you’re seen and that you’re heard and that you feel taken care of by your management team.”
Employee Relations Manager
Strategies to increase usage:
1. Increase awareness
Gibb collaborated with the marketing team to enhance internal communications around Bravo and recognition. This included text messages and engaging visual promotions via digital signage and screensavers to maintain employee interest.
2. Focus on easier access
Another key was ensuring the frontline teams – groups such as maintenance and facilities – were aware of the Reward Gateway | Edenred app that allows them to read, send and receive recognition as they move about their day.
“I sent out a quick SOP for them to show they can send Bravos from their phone. It's not that you even have to sit behind the desk to do it, you can do it on the walk around!”
– Nicole Gibb, Employee Relations Manager
3. Enhance activity within Bravo
Nicole knew that when recognition happened, it made a difference to their people, so she looked for ways to make the program even more meaningful and compelling so more frontline employees would use the program more frequently over time.
Add in Spot Awards
Key to increasing interest in the program was the ability for managers to monetize the recognition for high achievers. Managers continue to send eCards – with themes like Communication, Sustainability, and Putting People First – for those that are setting the standard for others, but they now have a second level of recognition to provide.
For those employees that are seen working hard to embody the company’s values and principles, managers can give them rewards – redeemable at a wide range of retailers, including an integration directly with Amazon.
Intentional acknowledgement of new employees
Nicole and the team are intentional about using the Bravo platform to welcome to new employees as well as celebrating important milestones, like reaching 30 days of employment with the company. These simple gestures can ensure employees form a connection to the larger organization instead of just their immediate colleagues.
Quarterly initiatives that push outside the platform
Nicole Gibb and the team are especially proud of the quarterly programs they delivered in 2025 to bring more fun and attention to the program.
For one week each quarter, the team promotes a special push for employee shoutouts within the platform by running a themed campaign with its own monetary awards and recognition. These include raffling off Bravo rewards to employees who send recognition during the week-long event, drumming up some friendly competition with a leaderboard of the top Bravo users, and “MVP” awards for the leader at the end of the week.
Themes of the events have included showing love on Valentine’s Day, shouting out “teammates” in a sports-themed campaign, highlighting the luck of telling coworkers how lucky you are to work with them during St. Patrick’s week and more.
“We create different categories based on the theme for that week and our employees are able to shout out their mates and their managers or whomever they so choose, and their names are put in a raffle every single day, and we do a raffle for $25 every single day.”
4. Lean on leadership advocates
Finally, while the HR team had some great ideas, it was important to secure commitment from senior leadership so that the increased employee engagement would be made more meaningful with visible support from senior leaders.
Successes achieved:
1. Increase in employee recognition moments
The amount of formal recognitions submitted into the Reward Gateway | Edenred platform, Bravo, jumped from above 6,000 in a year to more than 22,000, with the average number of annual logins jumping from 12 per employee to 17 per employee.
2. More recognition involving the frontlines
Amidst this increase in recognition quantity, the proportion of employee-initiated recognition shifted dramatically from only 28% to nearly 50% with a total of 94% of employees being involved in recognition. This change highlights a more balanced acknowledgment of contributions among all team members.
3. Employees feeling more valued
Employee survey results regarding how valued employees feel showed a 3% increase on customer satisfaction survey results.
4. Increased connection
The HR team’s collective efforts has made the Cultural Framework at Balfour Beatty Investments more tangible for employees across the company.
Planning the future
Balfour Beatty Investments’ focus on enhancing employee recognition through targeted initiatives has resulted in a remarkable cultural shift.
Going forward, the company aims to continue refining its recognition programs by incorporating more diverse themes and expanding on the existing framework based on feedback and participation rates.
By maintaining an employee-centric approach, Balfour Beatty Investments aspires to foster an even more engaged and supported workforce.
