How Employee Voice and Recognition Boosted Engagement at Bayhealth

Taking a cue from their motto to strengthen the health of their communities one life at a time, Bayhealth prioritized the strength of their teams with a strategic focus on employee voice and recognition, and the goal of improving engagement.

For all organizations, building a culture of recognition is critical to driving the engagement needed to succeed. In fact, according to the Brandon Hall Group’s 2020 Culture of Recognition report, organizations that rate their culture of recognition highly are 2.5x more likely to see increased employee engagement—a known outcome of frequent and meaningful recognition.

Here’s how Bayhealth, Delaware’s largest not-for-profit healthcare system with 4,000 employees, nurtured a culture of recognition and boosted engagement across the organization.

Turning top-down recognition into greater transparency

Grappling with outdated recognition practices that were siloed and without measurable impact, Bayhealth went in search of a new solution. They needed a platform that would take them from handwritten notes given from manager to employee, to a dynamic tech-forward solution that was easy to use, allowed for transparency across the organization, and accommodated their growing—and largely mobile—workforce.

Understanding that their employees also wanted recognition that was in-the-moment, two-way and technology-focused, Bayhealth opted to partner with Achievers, the leader in recognition and rewards technology.

Using Achievers Employee Success Platform, Bayhealth launched their new recognition program and named it Driven—a testament to their commitment to doing, and being, better. Upon its launch, Driven began to move the needle on engagement in a big way.

Previously among the lowest scores on their engagement survey, recognition at Bayhealth saw a .11 point jump to 3.79 (on a scale of 1-5) in the first year of their program. Similarly, changes to the frequency and transparency of peer-to-peer recognitions impacted engagement scores, swiftly moving them out of the bottom quarter of the industry average, where they previous sat. These figures and their real impact on the organization are largely attributed to the enthusiastic adoption of their Achievers program among Bayhealth employees. Despite being a predominantly mobile workforce, employees were excited and eager to recognize and reward their peers and interact with the recognitions of others using the platform’s mobile and social capabilities.

98 percent of Bayhealth employees have activated their program account and 84 percent are using the program monthly

Implementing easy ways to recognize and have an impact

90 percent of workers say that when they receive recognition, it motivates them to work harder. While optimal employee performance was something that Bayhealth strived for, they understood that the positive effects of recognition went beyond just worker output.

To Bayhealth, recognition is not only about the employee, it was about the customer—or in their case, the patient. The organization understood that by aligning its values with behaviors that drive improved employee engagement and performance, the patient experience could be positively impacted.

Using the robust reporting capabilities in the Achievers platform, leaders at Bayhealth were able to find new and creative ways to recognize their teams in moments that would have maximum impact. For instance, Bayhealth’s chief nursing officer captured “great catches” each day and shared the good news stories and recognitions during safety huddles. This public recognition was two-fold: it inspired a culture of recognition and reinforced Bayhealth’s focus on patient safety.

Leveling up employee listening

To truly take their employee engagement to the next level, Bayhealth chose to complement their recognition program with Achievers Listen, Achievers’ dynamic employee voice solution.

Seamlessly integrated with their Driven program, Listen allows Bayhealth to uncover how employees feel about their work and why, in the moments that matter most to them. Bayhealth can now tap into real-time feedback with Listen’s Check-Ins feature and gather a robust and timely set of insights through its frequent Pulse surveys. This approach has allowed them to understand engagement at different points throughout the year and effect real change by addressing employee concerns as they arise.

Using their employee feedback and data-driven insights from Listen, leaders at Bayhealth are able to take action and effect positive change that drives engagement across their teams. When it comes to feeling heard, 90 percent of workers say that they are more likely to stay at a company that takes and acts on feedback. That’s an important figure for organizations like Bayhealth that want to keep their great talent.

Looking forward with a 360 view

By pairing two dynamic technologies together, Bayhealth is empowered with a holistic 360-degree view of their employee experience. Armed with real-time feedback and a program supported by science, they continue to bolster engagement across the organization.