16 - Building Recognition Programs for a 6,000 Person Company

Sarah Salbu Young, Talent Experience Partner at Pegasystems, joined us on The Modern People Leader recently. At Pegasystems, Sarah’s role is fully dedicated to building recognition programs for their 6,000 people worldwide. We talked about “the lost art of saying thank you”, how companies can incorporate traditions and rituals to build a stronger culture, and lastly, she broke down the 3 core pillars of Recognition at Pega. Timestamps: how Sarah made the jump from PR to the People function (2:49), Sarah's unique role & the 3 core pillars of recognition (9:39), the power of saying “thank you” (17:54), creating a culture of positivity (20:36), incorporating traditions and rituals to build a stronger culture (31:42), creating “water-cooler” like moments virtually (34:48), infusing humor into the workplace (37:09), creating unique “badge of honor” moments for big milestones that everyone can look forward to (40:11), peer-to-peer recognition and awards at Pega (43:54), and measuring the success of recognition programs (46:06). If you have any feedback for the MPL podcast or would like to connect, don't hesitate to reach out on LinkedIn: Daniel Huerta and Stephen Huerta