Success Story: BlueStone Properties

BlueStone Properties is a property management and development company based out of London, Ontario. Established in 1955, the BlueStone portfolio now includes over one million square feet of commercial and office space and over 850 residential units throughout the city. 

As a family business, BlueStone runs on values that help guide everything they do. These values are respect, community, communication, teamwork, creativity, and leadership. BlueStone's Core Values support its vision and embody its principles and philosophy.

To that end, they pride themselves on genuinely caring for their tenants, residents, neighbours, and community, and maintaining their properties to the highest standards. They recognize that vibrant neighbourhoods are made up of more than just buildings; that is why Bluestone has a firm commitment to build a better London, and not only to build better properties.

Shawn Rumford is the Vice President of People & Culture at BlueStone Properties.

Struggles growing appreciation

Before Applauz, BlueStone made efforts to recognize their employees during town hall meetings by giving shout-outs to employees who embodied their company values.

Nonetheless, they encountered obstacles with giving recognition at scale, as they now have more than 70 employees, many of which worked from home during the pandemic.

"It was easy to share and promote recognition within small teams or one on one, however hard at a company level, especially during COVID, for everyone to get public recognition."

Applauz was the ideal solution to help BlueStone make recognition-giving easy. "Applauz allowed us to formalize, incentivize and increase employee engagement."

Building social connections with recognition

The goal of using Applauz was to make recognition-giving easier. But Shawn also viewed recognition (and Applauz) as an important tool to cultivate social connectivity and fun at work.

Ultimately, the rollout was a success!

The tool was simple and easy to use; employees adopted it quickly.  Applauz continues to grow in popularity over time.

"After 1-2 months, the daily posts continued to increase, and even today (1.5 years later), we're still seeing more daily posts, polls, and recognitions than when we first implemented them."

Today, Applauz's adoption rate remains high. Over 90% of BlueStone's employees log into Applauz to share recognition weekly.

Employees love it

Since Applauz has been implemented, Shawn has received many positive notes of feedback from employees.

They love the tool. Employees love how Applauz shows what is happening within the company and connects them to each other's success. 

"They love to hear about success stories in different teams."

Shawn has also used Applauz to facilitate fun group events at work, which has been useful in realizing his goal of fostering social connection and boosting fun at work.

BlueStone also uses other Applauz features such as Points, Pulse Surveys, and Custom Perks. All are used and add value to the program for BlueStone employees.

Shawn's Takeaways

• Applauz is an ideal tool for scaling up recognition efforts.
• Great for employees working from home.
• Applauz fosters social connectivity and creates a fun atmosphere at work.
• The platform helps employees stay updated on each other's achievements.
• It is easy to use and user-friendly for everyone.
• The program was quickly adopted by employees. Today, over 90% of participants log in weekly and new posts are added on a daily basis.