How to Improve Your Company's Culture Score on Applauz

Applauz Reports is a feature that displays analytics from Applauz.

The data helps administrators understand the performance of their recognition program. 

Applauz's “Culture Score” is a key metric for Reports. The score is based on several data points gathered from the actions employees take on Applauz. 

Simply put, this score is an excellent indicator of how engaged your workforce is with your Applauz Recognition Program. 

You can find your company's Culture Score in Reports>Culture Report. The dashboard looks like this.

Interpreting Your Results

The Culture Score will vary depending on how active your employees are on Applauz. The Score will fall into one of these four categories and indicates the following:

• Improve: Your score is low and needs improvement. This means that few employees log into Applauz and take key actions such as peer-to-peer recognition. 
• Good: Score is fair, but could still use improvement. This indicates employees are slowly adopting the program. Some (but not all) employees are aware of the value of Applauz and taking key actions.
• Very Good: Score very good and rising! This indicates most of your employees are embracing the program. They understand the value of Applauz and are active on the platform. However, some additional features are underutilized.
• Excellent: You’ve reached a top score! All your employees and managers are using the Applauz program and its features to its fullest potential.  

How to Improve your Score

If your Culture Score is on the lower side--don’t worry! There are several key actions you can take to maximize the value of Applauz.

Remember: If you are rolling out Applauz for the first time, it’s understandable to see a low score. Focus on the first points on this list to get the ball rolling for your program. 

The second section of tips are meant to help you maintain a Culture Score or take a “good” score and make it an “excellent” one.

Improving your Culture Score for Applauz beginners

Announce the program’s launch

Your recognition program can only succeed if your teams are aware of the program and understand its value. Launching an official recognition program is an exciting event! It shows your employees you care about their happiness and the work culture.

We strongly recommend making a verbal announcement or send an email welcoming your workforce to Applauz. The announcement (verbal or email) should explain Applauz basics and point them to our Resource Center to familiarize themselves with the program.

Save the platform link to bookmarks 

Ease of login is key to adopting a new work tool. As such, everyone should "star" the Applauz link and save it to their bookmarks bar. Also note that if they save their password, they won’t have to input their credentials the following time. They will be logged into the application right away via the web app link above.

Download the Applauz mobile App

Some people are glued to their phones. Encourage these employees to take advantage of the Applauz mobile app. They can take a few minutes to recognize peers while they are waiting in line at the grocery store or commuting on public transport to work. The app is easy to use, so it only takes a few seconds!

Give employees a basic tour of the platform 

A new work tool can be intimidating; this feeling can prevent employees from quickly adopting a platform. Help your employees by introducing them to the platform for the first time.

If your team is small enough, consider hosting a 20-minute virtual meeting and sharing your screen to show them all about Applauz basics. Such as how to add a profile photo and send their first peer-to-peer recognition message. If you’re dealing with a larger team, consider enlisting key members of senior leadership to give the same presentation to their teams.

Ensure every employee has a profile photo

Imagine how strange it would be to log into Facebook, and no one had profile photos. Applauz is a social tool, so profile pictures are a must. They help create a real social environment but online. Upon announcing the program launch or during a tour of the platform, encourage employees to upload a profile picture. Managers should be champions of the platform and set an example. As such, they should all have profile photos and encourage employees to do the same.

Keep an eye on your Adoption Score

Once you've rolled out the program announcement, keep an eye on your "Adoption Score" and "Daily Logins." These metrics are found in Reports>Culture Reports. These numbers confirm if your attempts to promote the platform are working. If your Adoption Score isn't moving up, consider sending your workforce a friendly reminder about the program.

Integrate Applauz with Slack

If your company already uses slack as an instant messaging tool, you can easily integrate it with Applauz. Integrating Applauz into your Slack workspace will allow your employees to stay updated on what's happening on Applauz. Whenever an action is performed on Applauz (a new Post, Recognition, or Poll), a notification will appear in a chosen Slack Channel with a link to Applauz. Seeing a notification pushes employees to click through and visit Applauz, naturally improving your Culture Score.

Encourage Managers to initiate recognition 

Most Employee Recognition Programs begin as a top-down process. In short, managers are the champions of your program. This means Managers and supervisors should initiate the recognition-giving for employees. On Applauz, those designated with the official Role of Manager are the key to getting the ball rolling. 

Make recognition messages personal and fun

Your employees will be more likely to use Applauz if they feel good after reading their recognition messages. Recognition shouldn’t be a generic blanket statement like “Good job on that report.” Recognition messages should be specific and personal. Infuse fun and humour by adding emojis, GIPHYs, or uploading an image of choice.

Post company announcements to the Newsfeed

The Applauz Newsfeed isn’t just for peer-to-peer recognition; anyone can make a general announcement and post it to the Newsfeed. Get in the habit of posting company announcements to the Newsfeed. Considering the Newsfeed is also a social tool, this is especially important for social events.

Encourage employees to engage with Newsfeed activity

Peer-to-peer recognition is a great motivator. But recognition should never be forced or faked. To build a strong Recognition Program, gratitude should always come from a place of sincerity.

So, if you notice some employees are simply not participating, never push them in a way that is unnatural or uncomfortable. Instead, remind all employees that even if they don’t feel comfortable offering recognition yet, they can always ‘react’ to Newsfeed activity by ‘liking’ or commenting. This gentle nudging will help employees ease into the program. 

Improving your Culture Score from "Good" to "Excellent"

Turn on Applauz Pulse Surveys

Applauz Pulse Surveys is a feature that helps you run anonymous employee surveys. The questions are pre-set and automated to be sent weekly. All you need to do to run Pulse Surveys is turn the feature on--it's that simple!

When a new survey is released on Mondays, your employees will receive an email notifying them. They will be provided with a link to log into Applauz. Turning on this feature encourages employees to log onto to platform. Pulse Surveys allow you to collect precious employee feedback. But also, by using the feature, you'll be maximizing your Culture Score as well!

Create Company Polls

The Culture Score isn’t only influenced by actions taken on the Newsfeed, but also the entire platform. As such, encourage Managers and key employees to use other important features such as Company Polls. Remember, the ability to create a Poll is open to everyone! And the action can be taken right on the Newsfeed.

Turn work objectives into Applauz Goals

Boosting your Applauz score hinges on using all of Applauz engagement tools. Once your adoption rate is high, you can start using other features such as Applauz Goals. Managers can use the Goals feature to formalize a variety of goals, not just work-related ones. Any task, mandate, or assignment or participation in a friendly contest can be made into an Applauz Goal.

Incorporate Applauz Points into your Recognition Program

Points can be easily purchased by Applauz administrators. The button is right on the main navigation bar! Applauz Points are considered your recognition currency and will bring your recognition program to the next level. Points help get employees even more excited about using Applauz, as Points give employees the ability to shop for high-quality brand-named products in the Rewards Marketplace.

Give employees a recognition allowance

By default, only those assigned to the Manager's role have access to give Points. They are the only participants that have the power to give Applauz Points.

But Administrators can change the default and grant permissions for all employees to give Points. Opening up a Recognition Allowance to all employees will take peer-to-peer recognition to the next level and get employees even more excited to use Applauz.

When the administrator allows a Points Allowance, the employee will see a wallet icon appear next to their Points bank on the program's main navigation bar.