Starbucks Elevates its Culture of Recognition, with Huggg

Starbucks has always had a culture of recognition within their business, and this has been enhanced by using Huggg.  

The Challenge

The challenge was to find a way to reward exceptional moments of customer connection in the moment.  We had a number of recognition tools in play, but finding Huggg allowed us to bring a more enhanced, flexible and easily accessible platform that complimented our existing tools and allowed partners to choose a reward that was individual to them. 

Jane Benson managed the rollout, introducing the scannable recognition cards. "It was about making recognition effortless for our leaders and impactful for our partners," Jane said. This approach not only simplified the process but also ensured that partners felt genuinely appreciated in real-time.”

The Impact

The impact of integrating Huggg into Starbucks' recognition strategy was a win-win for both store partners and leaders:

• Rapid Increase in recognition moments: Immediately, Starbucks saw recognitions rise 4-fold, highlighting a significant increase in program engagement across the board.
• The programme led to heightened morale among partners "The feedback I've received is overwhelmingly positive, with many highlighting the joy of receiving something tangible as recognition," Jane noted.
• Heightened reach: “We were able to increase the number of individuals receiving a tangible recognition by over 50X, from 0.5% of the workforce under a nomination scheme to 28.8% under the Huggg instant recognition scheme.”

The Future

Encouraged by the initial success, Starbucks is committed to expanding its use of Huggg, exploring new ways to integrate recognition into the daily rhythm of its operations. ‘Recognition has always been an integral part of Starbucks culture and our journey with Huggg has been a testament to the power of recognition in working towards a happy, connected team," concluded Jane Benson.

Want to supercharge appreciation in your organisation? Talk to us about our plans.