We’re proud to be one of New Jersey’s Best Places to Work, but our team is actually scattered from coast to coast in 16 states! Employee engagement is a priority to us because it promotes innovation, collaboration, and performance. But then, we ought to know a thing or two about engagement, since we’re a full-service enterprise engagement company with solutions ranging from incentive travel to points platforms to communications.

Here’s what we do to keep our employee engagement Next Level. We hope it inspires you to foster stronger connections in your team:

Recognize Great Work in the Moment

Our team uses our Applaudit platform to thank one another on an on-going basis. Everyone in the company can send e-appreciation to a colleague or a team for great performance, adding stickers and tagging others in the company. In addition, Managers can  add points to reward with their e-appreciations and boost recognition from others with rewards. 

We also use the platform to welcome new teammates, announce new programs or events, and to link to our extensive Rewards Mall with over 40,000 merchandise items, plus gift cards and experiences available to choose from. 

Shine a Light on Big Achievements

Teammates can nominate one another for a Teammate of the Quarter award, rooted in our CARES values, and recognized in a quarterly company-wide virtual meeting. 

Annually, a peer recognition committee and senior leadership take time to find the great success stories among the many recognitions teammates receive throughout the year. We applaud top performers for living the CARES values, for Impact, and for Leadership. These awards are presented at an annual event, where we celebrate with the entire company.

Come Together

As we recently reported in response to a Harvard Business Review article, there are many advantages to coming together periodically. People tend to understand each other better when they have spent time together and shared experiences. It creates connections that are important not only for collaboration, but also for innovation.

We bring our team together twice a year for a summer celebration and a holiday event. We try to weave in both formal and informal opportunities to get to know each other and to get out of departmental or role-driven silos. It’s also a great chance for us to celebrate our shared successes.

Communicate Often

We use the same level of professionalism we bring to our clients when communicating to our internal teams. IT and Marcom teammates collaborate on an annual, engaging Spooky Challenge for cyber-security. A Client Services teammate works with a designer on a quarterly newsletter for teammates. This allows remote teammates to not only work together across departments on projects, but also to learn about one another.  

In the office we have held events designed to teach teammates about different departments and their products and services, giving them a chance to ask questions and pick up takeaways as reminders. 

Involve the Team

Our employee engagement efforts are led by teammates from all departments. They manage in-office and virtual events, our HOPE Week charitable initiative, and evaluate nominations for quarterly and annual awards. They bring ideas to the table and work together to deliver on them. This ownership of and responsibility for our company culture extends to all of us.  

I just celebrated my 19^th anniversary with Next Level. There’s a reason for that. We’d be happy to help enhance enterprise engagement and give your employees a reason to get behind your organization’s mission and deliver on your brand promise, as well. Contact us today to discuss how we can take your employee engagement and recognition program to the next level.