Hall & Wilcox - Using praise to bring colleagues to Yammer

After 18 months of dealing with lockdowns and working from home, Australian law firm Hall & Wilcox recognised people were feeling fatigued, not so much from work, but from the pandemic and all that comes with it. It was time to inject some positivity into the workforce.

Hall & Wilcox Smarter Law Consultant, Jason Soo, had read a SWOOP Analytics case study where a customer ignited a Yammer network with a simple recognition campaign. Employees posted a note of thanks to colleagues on Yammer and @mentioned the people they were thanking. It spread like wildfire and, while acknowledging the gratitude of colleagues, it also brought people to Yammer and gave the network a huge boost.

Hall & Wilcox had an annual Smarter Law Award to recognise high performing employees. Jason came up with the idea of transitioning the Smarter Law Awards to a Yammer community where people could use the praise function in Yammer to recognise a colleague.

Hall & Wilcox Smarter Law Consultant, Jason Soo.

“The basic idea was it doesn’t cost anything to thank somebody on Yammer and that’s a really easy, quick way to give somebody a pat on the back and a shout out that everybody can see,” Jason said.

“That person feels good, they get a bit of recognition. You can’t really go wrong.”

The new-look awards were called the Hallstar Awards and a Hallstar Awards Yammer community was created. An announcement was made on Hall & Wilcox’s Yammer network to launch the new awards. Employees were encouraged to use hashtags like #staytrue and #bettertogether and the posts could be easily measured and monitored with SWOOP Analytics.

At the end of each month, a panel of senior leaders assess the praise posts and award prizes.

“People now are praising and they are using the praise feature, which is something they really didn’t do before,” Jason said, adding that every employee was added to the new Hallstar Awards Yammer community.

“It has been a positive community that, while everybody was forced into, has been kicking along quite well. It’s something that encourages people to use Yammer a bit more.”

An example of a praise post on Hall & Wilcox’s Yammer network.

While Jason said the campaign has not resulted in a giant increase in Yammer usage, many employees who are not regular Yammer users are posting praise as part of the Hallstar Awards.

“It’s been surprising to me, people who haven’t been active or posting previously, have been willing to praise somebody,” he said.

“They will give someone a shout out, even though they’re not a highly active Yammer user. It’s a low bar entry (to Yammer). It’s very simple and easy and accessible.

“Anybody can praise somebody. If you can think of something positive you can go in there, write it up, it doesn’t take a lot of time, it spreads the love, they get a feel-good moment.

“There’s really no downside to this group or the idea of praising people in general.”

Another praise post in the Hallstar Awards Yammer community.

By using hashtags in the Yammer posts, they can be easily tracked and analysed with SWOOP. When you enter text in the search box, for example #BetterTogether, SWOOP will return a set of matching hashtags, topics, and keywords and share the data associated with them.

Learn how Hall & Wilcox has changed the way clients are serviced through its use of Yammer in this extended case study.