Pieces of Flair Employee Engagement Program
CASE STUDY:
American Red Cross North Texas Region
THE CHALLENGE
The North Texas Region of the American Red Cross is comprised of seven chapters and 121 counties, spanning from Texarkana to the Texas Panhandle. It is the most disaster-prone region in the country, responding to everything from wildfires to tornadoes, as well as serving as a hurricane evacuation zone for coastal regions. Because of this, employees are often overworked and stressed, but morale is difficult to address across such a large region, especially as we don't want to divert budget from the mission.
THE STRATEGY
In 2014, the Red Cross introduced Staff Council, an internal committee dedicated to improving employee morale, transparency and engagement, of which I was one of the leaders. Staff Council developed a number of initiatives, such as a monthly executive town hall and a series of AMA (Ask Me Anything) talks. One of our goals was to develop a fun, cost-effective program to raise employee morale that could be implemented across the entire region.
THE CAMPAIGN
We developed a program called "Pieces of Flair," named after the famous "flair" in the movie Office Space. The program is designed to give Red Cross employees a way to recognize their fellow Red Crossers for "feats of workday awesomeness." Here's how it's described in the "Guide to Safe Flairing" we sent to the region: "Maybe they really went the extra mile to help a client. Maybe they conduct really, really efficient conference calls. Whatever they did, you are overcome with the need to tell them & everyone else how ridiculously amazing they are."
The Red Crosser can then go pick out a pre-made Piece of Flair, a badge with a cheesy statement like "MY DRESS CODE IS BUSINESS FABULOUS" or "RUMOR HAS IT I ROCK." They were encouraged to also include a personal note saying why they were Flairing the person. If they were in the same office, they could go stick the Flair in their cubicle or office, or if not, they could email it to them. Red Crossers who got Flaired were encouraged to display their Flair proudly, including printing out Flair they received over email. They were even encouraged to take pictures and share on social media using the hashtag #SharetheFlair.
"Collect your Flair!" the Guide said. "You don’t even need to stick to 15 Pieces of Flair. Like Brian, for example, has 37 pieces of flair. And a terrific smile."
To keep the program top of mind, Staff Council would send out "Seasonal Flair" throughout the year, like Thanksgiving Flair ("I PLYMOUTH ROCK!") or Halloween Flair ("PEOPLE ARE DYING TO WORK WITH ME"). The cheesier the pun, the better response we got.
THE RESULTS
The Pieces of Flair program was wildly popular with the North Texas regional staff. Flair was regularly seen at cubicles and offices around the chapters, and was even mailed between chapters when Red Crossers wanted to recognize staff from a different part of the region. We received participation from every department & every chapter in the region, and feedback for the program was extremely positive.
Overall the program was credited with boosting morale as employees felt better appreciated and seen by their fellow Red Crossers. It helped strengthen relationships across territories, and cross-chapter collaboration & sharing of ideas improved. It, along with other Staff Council programs, was credited with improving organizational culture and employee engagement.