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Oh Stop, You’re Making Me LUSH!

We love staying connected with our clients to learn how they use Kudos. This month, we got in touch with Jonathan Leung, the Manager of Mail Order Operations for LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics in North America. Jonathan spearheaded the recognition program in his department in 2012 and was kind enough to share his insightson employee engagement and Kudos.

Oh Stop, You’re Making Me LUSH!

We love staying connected with our clients to learn how they use Kudos. This month, we got in touch with Jonathan Leung, the Manager of Mail Order Operations for LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics in North America. Jonathan spearheaded the recognition program in his department in 2012 and was kind enough to share his insightson employee engagement and Kudos.

About Lush

LUSH is an ethical beauty company that makes incredible fresh handmade bath, body, hair care, and skin care products. Their international presence includes over 650 stores in over 40 countries, 150 of which are in North America. We admire the way LUSH runs their company, and their core values, and we could not be more pleased to have them as a client. Check them out!

Kudos: What is LUSH’s mantra when it comes to corporate culture?

Jonathan: One of our core values as a company is that “we believe in happy people making happy soap, putting our faces on our products and making our mums proud”. As a result, we work very hard to keep our employees happy and engaged. Several times a year, staff boxes are sent to employees with all of the amazing new products we create. We also have staff sales for charity and encourage our employees to volunteer with some of the amazing charities we support in our local communities. Most of all, LUSH nurtures a culture where employees can communicate issues that matter to them and their communities. This year we were honored to be named one of the 50 Best Employers in Canada for 2012.

“LUSH nurtures a culture where employees can communicate issues that matter to them and their communities. This year, we were honored to be named one of the 50 Best Employers in Canada for 2012.”

Kudos: Why did you choose to create an employee recognition program at LUSH?

Jonathan: Employee engagement and morale has been the number one focus of our department this year. Some of the team leaders and I were sitting around a lunch table and we were brainstorming ways to keep morale high. We were moving into our busy Christmas season and more than any other time, our success relies on the strength of our team. While LUSH has a generous performance based bonus program, we wanted to supplement this with a way to recognize our employees daily for the little things that they do outside of their job description. In addition, we also wanted to encourage our staff to recognize and thank each other on a daily basis.

Kudos: How did you find Kudos?

Jonathan: Well, our original plan was to use a spreadsheet to record and track “LUSH bucks” reward points that our team could use to give to each other. While we were developing the idea, I thought: Why reinvent the wheel? I’m sure that there must be other companies doing this. After asking my peers on Facebook and searching the web for “employee rewards programs”, I stumbled across Kudos. “LUSH Bucks” has now become “Kudos Points”

Kudos: Why did you choose our solution?

Jonathan: I looked into a few programs, like Achievers and 7Geese. However, none of them had a quick and easy way for us to track rewards points. Kudos came in at the right price-point and more importantly, it was exactly what we were looking for. The interface was friendly and intuitive and we were up and running within 20 minutes.

“Kudos ... was exactly what we were looking for. The interface was friendly and intuitive and we were up and running within 20 minutes”.

Kudos: What aspect or feature do you like the most?

Jonathan: I love the social aspect of the software. Not only can we use the site to give and receive points but we can also share and comment on them as well. This visibility is great as it is encouraging our staff to get involved.

Kudos: Can you describe how you use Kudos

Jonathan: Each of our staff are given 50 points a month that they can use to reward each other with. In addition, our team leaders have a larger pool of points to give out so that they can reward staff for positive things that they see each day. Employees can earn points by exemplifying some of our LUSH values. These include things like supporting one of our many LUSH Campaign out events, environmental projects, volunteering with our Charity Pot team, and for supporting our retail staff by working in a store for a day. In addition, staff can also be rewarded for great customer feedback, leading by example, learning skills in new areas, perfect attendance, random acts of kindness. As you can see, it’s quite a list and it’s growing daily. We’ve even used Kudos Points as prizes at our last team-building bowling night. Once received, the employee can exchange these points for chocolate bars, movie tickets, gift cards, and many are saving up for the big reward: a day off with pay!

Kudos: What are the goals for your recognition program?

Jonathan: Our goal is to see every one of our staff participate and find opportunities each day to thank each other.

Kudos: Did you have any challenges implementing your Kudos program? If so, how have you addressed them?

Jonathan: The Kudos program was quite easy to implement and we found that our Call Centre team was up and running on it right away. Unfortunately, we found that it was not as accessible for our fulfillment team as they are working in a warehouse environment. In many cases, they didn’t have time to participate or would forget to log in at home. To address this, we added some kudos terminals in the warehouse area and we have also developed a pen-and-paper version of Kudos so that the whole team can participate -- even without computer access.

Kudos: Since you have implemented Kudos, have you noticed any changes in your team?

Jonathan: I think the biggest difference is that we are seeing staff actively find opportunities to say “thank you” to each other and more importantly, we’re regularly hearing about the great things our staff are doing for each other – things that may have been missed or unseen in the past.

Kudos: Would you recommend Kudos to other companies?

Jonathan: Definitely! Setup is quick and easy and it’s easily tailored to your own objectives and what you want to achieve.

We want to thank Jonathan and LUSH for sharing this great information with all of us! We would also like to recognize them for their feedback. As Jonathan mentioned, LUSH created a pen-and-paper version of Kudos. We at Kudos loved this idea so much, we are launching our official Kudos Paper solution in the New Year! Jonathan is truly an inspirational employee engagement guru and a Kudorrific example to all of us!

About Kudos®

Kudos® is an employee engagement, culture, and analytics platform, that harnesses the power of peer-to-peer recognition, values reinforcement, and open communication to help organizations boost employee engagement, reduce turnover, improve culture, and drive productivity and performance. Kudos® uses unique proprietary methodologies to deliver essential people analytics on culture, performance, equity, and inclusion, providing organizations with deep insights and a clear understanding of their workforce.

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