The News: Recognition and rewards company Workhuman has introduced the Workhuman app for Microsoft Teams, which allows users total access to all the capabilities within Workhuman’s platform directly from Microsoft Teams. More information on this integration can be found on the Workhuman website.
Additionally, Workhuman released its latest Human Workplace Index (HWI), which details the value of gratitude in the workplace and reveals generational differences in recognition preferences. More information on this research is available on the Workhuman website.
Workhuman Releases App for Teams and New Human Workplace Index
Analyst Take: The Workhuman App for Microsoft Teams (now available in the Microsoft Teams app store) gives employees easy access to the full Workhuman platform, allowing people to use the solution right in their flow of work.
New Features Build on Initial Teams Integration
Workhuman already had integration abilities with Microsoft Teams, announced last year, which allowed employees to start the recognition process from within Teams chats and channels. This new app is more fully featured and includes:
- A native welcome page that allows for instant recognition and a feed that shows the stream of awards; there is no need to log in to a company intranet for access
- Award notifications from within the Teams ability tab
- In-the-moment recognition can be delivered within a Teams chat, channel, or meeting (if there is a Microsoft Teams meeting extension); this recognition can be done on mobile, desktop, or web versions of Teams
- Points that employees have earned through recognition can be easily viewed, and there is one-click access to the Workhuman Store; points can be redeemed for merchandise, gift cards, charities, or experiences
- Granular controls and security options for Teams administrators
One of the issues with employee experience (EX) technologies is that they sometimes take effort to access and use. This problem is especially important to solve for tools such as reward and recognition, as usage helps to build a culture of gratitude that can lead to employee engagement. If the barriers to usage are too high, these solutions will languish, will not gain traction, and will not move the needle on creating a positive culture. It is critical to have them embedded in workflow so that recognition becomes part of an employee’s everyday activities rather than an extra activity that becomes a to do item.
September UK HWI
Workhuman’ s most recent HWI looked at recognition trends as well as issues with technology and work arrangements. On the recognition front, workers report they prefer to be recognized not just by senior leaders and their direct managers but by anyone in the workplace, including peers. Such was true across all generational segments, with Gen X reporting the strongest preference for this cross-organization type of recognition.
Regarding what group shows the most gratitude at work, Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X all say their peers do, as compared with senior leaders and managers. Boomers say their managers show the most gratitude, with unfortunately nearly one in three reporting that nobody shows them gratitude at work. Each generation thinks pretty highly of themselves, reporting they are the best at giving recognition when compared with other generations. Millennials and Gen Z say the silent generation (77-95 years old) lags everyone else when it comes to saying thank you, but Gen X and Boomers say Gen Z is the worst.
Additional interesting statistics from the UK-based research include:
- All generations say their productivity is highest working onsite versus remotely. More Gen Z and Gen X responders feel this way (60%) compared with Millennials and Boomers (53%).
- Most workers, particularly Millennials (66%) and Gen Z (63%), would consider leaving their jobs if their companies enforced 100% onsite work.
- Millennials view AI more positively than any other generation, seeing AI as something that will get rid of time-consuming and menial tasks.
- Most respondents consider diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) very important or extremely important. Gen Z puts the most emphasis on DEI with 80% agreeing it is very or extremely important.
Workplaces face challenges in having more pronounced age diversity in the workforce with five generations working together. The nuances of meeting their expectations must be considered as companies investigate, implement, and support employee-facing technologies including rewards and recognition solutions.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
Other insights from The Futurum Group:
Rewards and Recognition Technologies Help Move Companies Beyond the Logo Water Bottle
New Research from Merkle, Qualtrics, and Workhuman-Gallop Collab
5 Questions with Zoe Peterson-Ward, Chief Customer Officer, Workhuman
Author Information
As a detail-oriented researcher, Sherril is expert at discovering, gathering and compiling industry and market data to create clear, actionable market and competitive intelligence. With deep experience in market analysis and segmentation she is a consummate collaborator with strong communication skills adept at supporting and forming relationships with cross-functional teams in all levels of organizations.
Sherril holds a Master of Business Administration in Marketing from University of Colorado, Boulder and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Rutgers University.
