The days of fist bumps in the office and team birthday lunches may seem like a distant memory with more than half of the U.S. workforce working remotely at least part of the time. Langley Federal Credit Union (Langley FCU) , based in Hampton Roads, Virginia, is no exception. When their workforce of more than 500 shifted largely to working from home this presented new challenges for how to engage and recognize their employees.
One of the 100 largest credit unions in the nation, Langley FCU makes it a priority to celebrate their team members. They not only understand the benefits of employee recognition, but realized the need to retool their existing rewards process for today’s virtual work environment.
Take commemorating employee birthdays and work anniversaries, for example. Previously, Langley FCU employees received a signed card containing movie theater tickets to recognize a milestone. While a thoughtful gesture, the process of getting the gift from Human Resources into the employee’s hand was borderline Herculean.
As Email Specialist Gabrielle Cunningham explained, cards would be circulated for signatures between the desks of seven senior managers and 11 vice presidents (across two corporate headquarters!) before eventually making their way back to HR. Movie tickets would be tucked into the card, which was then stuffed into an envelope, addressed, and mailed to the recipient. Multiply each card by more than 500. Not only was it time-consuming, but it wasn’t feasible once their staff began working from home. (And let’s face it, a ticket to a movie theater loses some of its appeal in a socially-distanced climate.)
Another barrier to employee engagement is that colleagues are unable to gather around a table for staff meetings. While we’re all thankful for Zoom, we can probably agree it’s no substitute for face-to-face collaboration. Managers at the credit union still wanted to treat their employees to lunch but ordering pizza for the office was no longer an option.
Instead of letting these perks fall by the wayside, Langley FCU recognized the opportunity to “think outside the building” and innovate their employee engagement efforts with the changing times.
Their search for a memorable, albeit virtual, rewards experience led them to try out Rybbon, an all-in-one solution for sending, tracking, and managing digital rewards. They first heard of Rybbon at an early Marketo Marketing Nation Summit. Gabrielle says, “[Virtual gift cards] gave us a way to take out the manual process of stuffing cards with movie tickets.” Now Human Resources can easily send a personalized birthday reward with just one click.
Not only did Rybbon solve the credit union’s conundrum of how to celebrate their employees when they weren’t all under the same roof, but they also offer these bonus benefits:
Employees now have a variety of contactless gift options to choose from including Amazon, Target, Starbucks, and Home Depot. “Our employees love the idea of picking their gift versus something we pick for them,” says Gabrielle.
And remember the pizza predicament? With Rybbon’s DoorDash rewards they can still treat employees to an occasional lunch which has been a real crowd-pleaser.
Account holders can set a window within which a reward can be claimed. If a recipient does not claim their reward during this period, your account is refunded the reward cost. Langley FCU has already seen thousands of dollars in savings that they can reinvest in their employee recognition program.
As a financial institution who can be audited at any time, Langley FCU places a great value on reporting. Rybbon tracks every reward that is sent and claimed, saving you time and stress.
When you consider mailing more than 500 birthday gift cards that’s a lot of paper and plastic. Virtual gift cards are not only contactless, but they’re environmentally responsible.
Employee engagement is just one way Langley FCU is putting the power of digital rewards to work for them. With Rybbon’s integration with Marketo , they can thank credit union members who open specific accounts or incentivize them to try out their mobile app by offering a $10 gift card. Rybbon is an overarching solution that can be used in multiple departments to engage leads, clients, survey participants, and employees. Their Global Choice feature also means that you can easily deliver international gift cards to team members around the world.
To see for yourself how you can use Rybbon to reward employees, create a free account and get started.
Kristy is a digital marketing professional who specializes in innovative marketing solutions for the technology space
Kristy is a digital marketing professional who specializes in innovative marketing solutions for the technology space
