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After acquiring several companies over the past few years, tech firm SmartBear wanted to make sure everyone who made up the new extended team felt connected. So, the company created a handful of Slack channels devoted to recognizing and celebrating employees.
The platform gives people a place to shout out their peers, share details about company culture and discuss individual successes so that SmartBear’s nearly 900 employees can see them — to great success. Maureen Plowman, the company’s senior vice president of brand and corporate communications, said the channels and posts are incredibly popular.
“It brings us together with our remote employees,” she said. “It helps people see more people like themselves. They also get to hear and have their peers hear and see what people are saying about them.”
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business say praising and recognizing employee accomplishments in all-staff channels is an effective use of Slack, Microsoft Teams and other similar communication tools, especially when workplaces are remote or hybrid. While it’s been suggested that communication tools can be distracting and even harmful to productivity, the University of Texas study, published in MIS Quarterly, found in this case, they can actually motivate workers.
“The challenge is really how to balance the content and the frequency” of messages, said Wen Wen, a co-author of the study and an associate professor of information, risk and operations management at Texas McCombs.
While striking that balance is expected to minimize distractibility and improve productivity, it doesn’t always come naturally. Below are some tips to achieving the needed balance.
What Employee Appreciation Messages Resonate the Most?
Wen’s study examined data from a Chinese internet technology firm with 340 sales employees working across multiple branches. When a sales rep made a deal, HR posted detailed, individualized messages and emojis on a communication app.
The messages were classified into two types: some praised a worker’s efforts, and others praised their abilities. Wen said both types boosted productivity by inspiring other workers to make more sales calls.
However, the ability-focused messages were more likely to influence the person’s close peers because they see themselves as having a similar ability. Meanwhile, effort-based notes resonated with everyone, as people perceived that if they put in enough effort, they’ll be successful, too, she said.
The findings are significant, Wen added, because they can help leaders better understand how to frame praise messages to influence employees across an organization.
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Which Communication Channels Work Best?
Since most of SmartBear’s employees use Slack during the day, Plowman said it’s the best place to share praise. “It really helps meet people where they are,” she explained.
Wen’s research focused on communication tools like Slack or Teams, but many other traditional communication channels can also be effective for employee recognition among peers.
For instance, UpSpring, a remote public relations and marketing agency, sends out weekly emails called “Friday Fives” as a way to “show a bit of love and extra praise to our staff members,” said Jana Montero, the company’s senior vice president of culture, content and business development.
People send details about how a coworker, leader or subordinate has succeeded or helped others throughout the week. Montero compiles them and, on Friday afternoons, sends an email of these accomplishments to the company’s 60 employees. They’ve been sending Friday Fives since 2018.
UpSpring doesn’t use Slack or Teams; they’ve found email to be the best way to reach the whole team, Montero said.
Regardless of the channel, the public acknowledgment and affirmation are memorable and build trust, Montero said. “Everyone knows that everything they're contributing, whether individually or on a team, is just highly valued by everybody.”
Related Article: How to Equitably Handle Employee Recognition in a Hybrid Workplace
The Business Benefits of Employee Recognition
Being recognized among coworkers and seeing peers get recognized boosts employees' confidence and promotes a culture where everyone is valued, Montero said. It also helps with employee retention and connects remote teams.
It boosts productivity, too, by inspiring the person being recognized and others to work harder, Wen says. Additionally, when people congratulate their coworkers by responding or liking a message, it fosters relationships and transfers knowledge across organizations.
Using a platform like Slack enables in-the-moment, authentic recognition, Plowman said, but it shouldn’t replace one-on-one meetings between managers and employees to discuss individual progress and accomplishments.
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How to Use Slack and Similar Communication Tools for Employee Recognition
There are several effective ways to use communication tools for employee praise. Here are three easy-to-implement examples:
1. Create a Dedicated Channel
Designate a specific channel on Slack, Teams or other communication tool for employee recognition. Employees will then know where to look and it prevents the messages from getting lost among other conversations on the platform, Wen said.
SmartBear uses several Slack channels for different purposes, Plowman said. These include “SmartBear Life” to recognize one another and discuss company culture; “Gratitude” to give shout-outs to coworkers; “Big Wins” to announce sales deals; and one to recognize birthdays and anniversaries and welcome new hires.
2. Create a Cadence for Sharing Messages
The quantity of emails that can float through a worker’s email inbox or Slack account every day can be distracting and overwhelming. Wen said companies should create a plan for how frequently they post messages of praise and where they’re posted to ensure they’re seen.
Being consistent is crucial, Montero said. Her emails go out at the same time every Friday with the same subject line. People expect them, so they don’t get lost in a crowded inbox, she added.
“I think that's really important to just have the cadence that it's done every week, and you stick to it because people are looking forward to it just to see the cheering on of their coworkers,” she said.
Housing employee recognition messages in the same spot on Slack also lets them know where to find that information, Plowman said. “It helps those remote employees have a place almost like a water cooler area.”
3. Get Everyone Involved
Encouraging everyone within an organization to recognize employees and peers on communication channels builds relationships and solidifies bonds, Plowman said. At SmartBear, “recognition is happening at every level. Everyone gets involved; our leadership, all the way down.”
While it’s not required to praise others, the company gives a monthly award to employees who do the most recognizing, Plowman said. And, managers may use the information in career and performance conversations.
Montero said UpSpring’s messages also feature comments from different levels within the company.
“We really are happy for one another, and we love cheering each other on, and this is just one way to do it,” she added.
