Tech Me Seriously!

Anna Straus: Creating an Employee Recognition and Appreciation Platform

Sarah Tenisi Season 1 Episode 11

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0:00 | 44:25

In this episode, Sarah Tenisi speaks with Anna Straus, the CEO of Sparck, an AI platform that helps companies recognize, gauge, and retain employees.


What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

●      [01:12] The definition of “employee engagement”, “employee recognition”

●      [02:44] The evolution of employee engagement and recognition

●      [04:49] The importance of emotional intelligence for managers

●      [08:02] How authentic leaders influence their team

●      [10:21] Differences in different generations of employees

●      [11:37] How to recognize team members other than with financial rewards

●      [16:55] Pitfalls that companies with inefficient recognition programs face

●      [20:14] Getting to know the humans behind your employees

●      [22:15] How to know if recognition is something an employer cares about

●      [24:39] How younger generations of employees are impacting recognition

●      [25:59] How managers can become more emotionally intelligent

●      [27:37] Achieving work-life integration, especially amid lockdowns

●      [33:07] Sparck as an “employee relationship management” (ERM) platform

●      [39:58] What is lacking in ERM solutions today

●      [42:27] What the future workplace looks like


Key quotes:

●      “‘Employee engagement’ is measuring the emotional commitment that the employee has to the organization: how passionate they feel, how willing they are to refer employees, and their overall loyalty to the organization.”

●      “‘Employee recognition is one of the leading drivers of employee engagement. It’s recognizing the achievements or behaviors that employees have within the workplace.”

●      “When a leader is authentic, they give their employees the permission to do the same.”

●      “The physical reward is only half of the experience. The other half is, who and how is this recognition being received?”

●      “When recognition is done well, it’s establishing and building stronger relationships within the workplace, especially with employees and managers.”

●      “It’s those basic questions that come with genuine curiosity that start building relationships.”