AI, employee recognition,and wellbeing: Unveiling the future of HR in 2024
4 min read
Industry:
Healthcare
Number of employees:
4,000+
Number of locations:
27
Platform features:
Employee communications, employee reward and recognition, employee wellbeing
Shannon Medical Center first approached Reward Gateway at the end of 2020 to design a centralized hub that would sit at the heart of their people management strategy. Its HR team underlined two clear goals from the start: to achieve seamless internal communications and stronger engagement across all levels of their organization.
Shannon had found it challenging to unite its dispersed workforce spread across 27 separate locations. Many staff members, particularly those working on the front line, were barely engaging with communications and had no channel through which they could connect with senior leaders. A lack of company-wide visibility and overreliance on email meant that key messages often fell by the wayside or, in many cases, didn’t reach their target at all.
The organization has grown quickly in recent years, so HR also wanted to ensure the new platform was scalable and agile enough to handle further growth in future. Shannon needed something that would last for years to come, not a limited platform that would soon run past its potential.
The HR Director at Shannon Medical Center says:
“Before partnering with Reward Gateway, we had a basic recognition platform but it could only be utilized by senior management and not the majority of our staff. Peer-to-peer recognition wasn’t an option. It was a limited system that didn’t allow us to achieve our main goals of efficient internal communications and greater engagement across our organization. That’s when we started searching for a partner that shared our vision and could help us get there.”
Working closely with Shannon’s HR team, Reward Gateway set about creating a tailored, branded platform – Shannon Hub – that would become a one-stop shop for internal communications, employee recognition and awards.
The first step was to install a live company news feed, so that staff could stay up to date on exactly what’s happening across the organization at all times. The feed features a wide range of content, from important announcements to blog articles and expert tips. Shannon also wanted the ability to engage employees with video content, especially talking-head videos published by managers and senior leaders.
“The Reward Gateway team have been fantastic to work with. They talked us through some great ideas early on, which meant the implementation process went very smoothly and allowed us to get far more employees signed up than we initially thought. We held day-long training sessions at different times and locations, and that really helped us to secure maximum buy-in among our staff.”
The Shannon team was also eager to offer a Wellbeing Center on the platform, giving staff access to expert health tips, recipes, fitness videos and other resources designed to support their physical and mental health.
“It was also a plus that our senior management, particularly our CEO, saw the value in the platform early on. He quickly became one of the top contributors on the hub. This has been fantastic for employees because it gives them the opportunity to connect with business leaders on an authentic level. We didn’t have those kinds of interactions before, and now they’re happening nearly every day!”
With the newsfeed and Wellbeing Center in place, Reward Gateway got to work on an interactive eCard system to enable interactive peer-to-peer recognition among staff. Shannon also wanted to couple this with a digitized version of their previous Instant Awards function – nicknamed “Golden Shamrocks” – which allowed managers to reward great work with cash, gift cards or other prizes.
Both of these systems ensured that recognitions and rewards were far more visible throughout the entire organization, so that people in different locations and different levels of the business could see the great work being done by their colleagues.
“All our team members now have the ability to support and recognize one another directly. This has been game-changing for us and the feedback we’ve had from staff has been fantastic. I think the more they see eCards sent, not just for birthdays or work anniversaries but also those above-and-beyond moments, the more they are engaging with the system and embracing the benefits.”
In just six months since the launch of Shannon Hub, the Shannon people team has already seen fantastic engagement among staff, managers and senior leaders. The platform has become an integral piece in their internal communications strategy, enabling interactions that simply weren’t possible with their previous separate systems, particularly among frontline workers.
Almost 19,700 recognition moments have been sent so far, which shows just how quickly Shannon’s employees have bought into the system and embraced the ability to recognize and connect with their colleagues.
The fact that senior leaders are actively championing the hub has also helped to encourage engagement from the top down, while at the same time fueling stronger awareness of company values and the importance of taking personal responsibility for health and wellbeing.
“Shannon Hub has definitely empowered our entire workforce and opened up channels of communication that we didn’t have access to before. The whole system is breaking down barriers between staff and managers, and bringing our people together. It lets them know it doesn’t matter at what level of the organization you are, we are all united and working towards the same goal. We’re excited to see where our momentum with Shannon Hub takes us next!”
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