In the first part, we learned that a company does not exist to make employees happy. That is a common misconception. A company exists to grow and achieve certain results. Employees who help achieve that by demonstrating behaviors aligned with the company’s mission and values — that’s what it’s about, according to Nathalie Arteel. In the second part of this report, taken from a podcast previously published on ZigZagHR, Nathalie Arteel shares more about the importance of recognition and appreciation of employees.
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Appreciation and reward have too often become processes
Nathalie: “We often see companies with good intentions. They want to celebrate an employee who, for example, has reached five years of service, or they want to give a typical year-end gift. But all of these have become processes. Instead of ‘deliver-the-package-and-done,’ the intention and the message are far more important: ‘I see you, you matter to me, and thank you.’ Arteel has long worked on solutions that help managers with this. These are solutions that simply support managers to give employees a personal message from the heart, sometimes with a small token alongside.”
"You can give recognition without a reward, but you can never give a reward without recognition."
Make every recognition a unique moment of connection
Nathalie: “It’s important that we become aware of how reward and recognition truly work. We need to make each moment of connection unique and break the automatic, procedural mindset. For example, I know someone who worked for a cleaning company for 40 years. He was given 40 white roses but didn’t know what to do with them and ended up handing them out to female colleagues. His boss walked past him that day. That creates frustration instead of motivation.”
“Even if you give a valuable gift, if the employee doesn’t feel that the manager genuinely means it, it’s only a matter of time before they leave.”
We see engagement declining among employees. What can companies do about it?
Nathalie: “Take salespeople as an example. They are always rewarded at the end if they hit their numbers. But it’s crucial to encourage them throughout their journey. A study by the German Football Association found that players encouraged by their home crowd had a 43% chance of scoring, whereas without an audience it was only 21%. You see the same in the corporate world. We need methods to encourage people regularly.”
“When you get home from work, do you see light in your eyes when you see your partner or children, or do you just see the messy kitchen table? ‘Seeing people’ — that’s also what it’s about in companies.”
Nathalie: “When employees start truly seeing each other and making connections, there’s another benefit for companies: employees will naturally apply that same approach to clients. I receive positive feedback from clients every week. They ask how we do it because our people are so friendly and helpful. Those kinds of acknowledgements give me the energy to keep going every day.”
“When employees begin to highlight and share positive initiatives, the law of attraction comes into play. Positive results will follow naturally.”
Many companies are restructuring and downsizing. How can HR approach this positively?
Nathalie: “You can automate certain processes while still making them much more personal. We have solutions for that. Take Proximus, for example, where employees went through a difficult period. Yet they still wanted to celebrate milestones achieved by their employees — and make it personal. We developed a system where managers prepare a message a week in advance and have a personal conversation on the day itself. Creating more awareness costs nothing extra and requires no additional effort, but it yields a huge return. Sometimes our project leader at Proximus is moved to tears by the beautiful messages managers send to employees. That’s what we do it for.”
LuckyBirds create daily moments of connection
Nathalie: “Over 10 years ago, Arteel developed a concept to help HR with year-end gifts. Logistics had become too complex in large organizations, and employees were no longer satisfied with what they received. That’s why we created a choice-based concept where employees could select their own gift. Today, we’ve refined that concept and added a social impact component.”
“Today, LuckyBird is a personalized gift box with your name on it. On the company platform, you first see a video message from the CEO. Then you enter an Alibaba-like treasure trove where you can choose a gift: a tangible item, an experience, training, or donate an amount to charity. The package also contains five ‘happiness cards’ that you can give to encourage, thank, appreciate, or support someone. So, a company with 1,000 employees creates 5,000 moments of connection.”
“‘Spread the joy’ is the movement we started. Many companies have ‘Spread the Joy’ ambassadors who receive a mascot to place at reception. That’s how we spread moments of happiness and connection.”
