A Year in Review: What Applauz Accomplished in 2021

2021 marks the year that Applauz has fully embraced becoming a digitally native and fully distributed organization. And, we're working together, better than ever, as we continue to adapt and evolve our operations and practices to meet the challenges of the moment and opportunities of the future.

Becoming a remote-first company meant that we had to embrace doing things differently. From the way we communicate to how we innovate – every assumption worth a dime was questioned. Our goal was to create a clear and forward-thinking vision of our future.

To this end, We doubled down on providing our teams with full autonomy on when, where, and how they chose to work. Our employees were given a large degree of latitude in attaining their goals. We encouraged them to problem-solve as a group and always provided them with the necessary support, tools, and information needed to empower them into action. 

We faced our fair share of challenges over the year, no doubt. However, great teams come together during times of crisis and adversity, and that's exactly what our people did. According to our own Pulse Survey reports, employee sentiment towards the organization, their peers, and their work increased by 10%. Throughout the year. That's something to be proud of!

"Even when working apart, we were determined to give our staff more space to grow and learn. In fact, it was instrumental to the company's success in 2021."

Over the last twelve months, we collaborated in deeply meaningful and new ways. There's been a visible increase in job satisfaction because of it. In fact, we scored particularly high in several key Applauz pulse themes such as "Leadership," "Autonomy & Empowerment," and "Mission & Purpose." When considered together, these themes tell the story of employees who have become noticeably more engaged with their work and feel a real sense of alignment with the company mission.

We also focused on improving our efforts to provide stronger career growth opportunities by increasing our learning budget, offering new online learning perks, and giving our people more time to master important new skills. Even when working apart, we were determined to give our staff more space to grow, learn, and engage with each other in 2021

Given the realities we all faced last year, we knew that supporting wellness & balance initiatives was essential to achieving our overall objectives. So, we listened more to each other, understood each other better, and gave ourselves the time and space we needed to be our best selves. Just looking at the numbers we scored on our "Wellness & Balance" in 2021 is proof positive that we're on the right track toward making our company one of the happiest workplaces anywhere!

I am looking forward to the year ahead with all the challenges and opportunities it brings. I know we will continue steadfastly on our mission to make work a happy place for everyone.

Applauz Reaches New Heights in 2021

Our employee count grew by 20%. We successfully raised our second round of investment financed by existing investors who have chosen to continue to deepen their commitment to Applauz. We were a finalist for the Canadian HR Awards "Reader's Choice Award for Best Service Provider," and we also made the shortlist as a finalist for the 2021 North American Inspiring Workplaces Awards.

In 2021, we released more features and application updates than ever before. We launched a brand new website and blog delivering more insightful content that helped educate and inform our industry. In terms of numbers, it was also our biggest and best year on record, with an increase of over 78% in recognitions awarded and 61% rewards redeemed.

We also expanded internationally, with new clients coming from Europe, the Middle East, and South America. That said, it was an excellent year for employee engagement and Applauz!

Features released in 2021

Auto Points for Employee Celebrations

Automatically gift any amount of Points to your employees for their birthdays, anniversaries, or both! For anniversaries, you can set Points gifts for all milestone anniversaries. Or, you offer points only for specific milestones.

Multi-Currency

The Applauz Points system is now available in multiple currencies. You can purchase Points in your local currency. On the Applauz Marketplace, price tags are displayed with the regional price.

Applauz Training Hub

We just launched our new hub! Our goal is to provide HR teams with free learning material about employee engagement topics and to assist you in upskilling your company's leadership.

You can set any amount of Points for employees to receive when they complete their weekly surveys. Points can be used to shop the Rewards Marketplace for real gifts or your Company Perks store.

New Slack Integration

Answer Pulse Surveys and get notifications from your company's Newsfeed activity directly in Slack. Keep your employees' workflow simple and open browser tabs to a minimum!

Updated Billing Page

We’ve refreshed our billing menu to include useful information for administrators like your invoice history, recurring Points purchases, automatic Service Awards and saved credit cards.

Automatic Points Purchases

 No more monthly refills of your Company Bank or wondering how many Points to purchase each month. With automatic Points purchase, you can have the desired amount of Points deposited into your Company Bank and automatically charged every month while also enjoying the benefit of a 5% discount on every purchase.

Automatic Gift-Vouchers for Service Awards

Gift-Vouchers are automatically purchased and assigned to employees celebrating an upcoming work anniversary. And we will always notify you of any upcoming anniversaries ten days before the billing date.

2022: The Road Ahead

This year, we’re moving full steam ahead and launching a completely re-designed and even more fun-to-use Applauz platform.

Applauz Newsfeed will be more interactive and visual, and a new employee home page will be released. Applauz Goals and Pulse Surveys will be enhanced with more tools you can use to better engage with your people.

There’s so much we’re working on at Applauz that gets me really excited about this year. If our 2022 is anything like 2021, then watch out – we’re moving fast!