Speakers:
Guillaume Dupuy - VP of Product at Stream
Nicola Liddle - Director of Account Management at Stream
Jody Cox - Head of Pay & Reward at Achieve Together
Five key takeaways
- Recognition has a clear impact gap in most workplaces
The session opened with a strong point: recognition is linked to productivity and feeling valued, but many employees still experience it too rarely. The opportunity is not just cultural, it is commercial. - Recognition works better when it is embedded in existing employee behaviour
Stream’s approach was to put Recognition inside the app employees already use, rather than as a separate tool. That improves discoverability, reduces friction, and supports higher adoption. - Redemption flexibility is a major differentiator
Beyond gift cards, rewards can be moved into a bank account or into savings. That link between recognition and financial outcomes was positioned as the key innovation, especially for lower-paid workforces where flexibility matters. - The Achieve Together case showed both engagement and cost upside
Their previous platform had low usage, limited redemption options, delayed reporting, and significant unclaimed rewards. The move to Stream was framed as simpler, more accessible for mobile-first teams, and materially cheaper. - Successful rollout needs design, controls, and iteration
Practical advice was clear: tailor programmes to your sector, set governance and payroll/tax processes upfront, assign admins, test thoroughly, and treat recognition as an evolving strategy with ongoing analytics, not a one-off launch.
Summary
This session explored how recognition can move from a culture initiative to a measurable business lever when it is integrated into a widely used workforce platform.
Guillaume Dupuy opened with the core challenge: employees value recognition, but access and consistency are often poor. The session cited a clear opportunity gap, with many workers feeling undervalued and a significant minority reporting they are never recognised.
The product strategy was built around three principles:
- Connected: recognition value can be redeemed as gift cards, transferred to a bank account, or moved into Stream savings
- Highly adopted: recognition sits inside the Stream app, where employees already engage with day to day financial tools
- Consolidated: employers can reduce vendor complexity by avoiding a separate recognition platform
The demo showed an end to end flow for discoverability, giving recognition, social engagement, nominations, approvals, budget controls, and redemption.
Jody Cox shared Achieve Together's implementation experience as a design partner. Achieve Together operates in social care, with nearly 7,000 team members across 400+ sites, where mobile first access is essential. Their previous standalone recognition setup had low engagement, limited redemption relevance and delayed reporting.
The move to Stream was driven by simplification, stronger integration with existing adoption, and better value.
Recommended next steps
- Audit current recognition performance, including adoption, redemption, and unclaimed balances
- Design for frontline reality, especially mobile use and low friction access
- Link recognition to financial outcomes by enabling meaningful redemption choices
- Define governance early, including approvers, funding controls, budget ownership, and tax reporting requirements
- Use live analytics to track engagement patterns and identify teams needing support
- Plan integration with internal comms and HR systems where needed
Bottom line
Recognition creates impact when it is easy to give, meaningful to receive, and visible in the tools employees already use. Employers that connect recognition with financial wellbeing can improve engagement, reduce waste, and turn appreciation into measurable business outcomes.
