HEADLINES
Social Engagement Tools Spark Appreciation
By Alex Palmer
Separate peer-recognition app and software developments make it easy to give out thank-yous
Apair of new solutions offers managers ways to recognize and engage
members of their teams through
social media. Both the Sparcet
employee recognition app and a
customizable version of Socialcast Thanks software, launched
last month, reflect the growing
importance of online social networks in workplace motivation.
Sparcet, from software development company SPARC, provides employers with a free app
through which they can thank
and recognize their employees.
Members of a team can then
thank others individually or as a
group by writing messages on a
public company-wide feed or by
writing private messages offering
congratulations for good work.
“You can take a bird’s-eye view,
from upper-management level on
down, to get insight into who is
engaged in your company, and
who is performing,” says SPARC
spokesperson Laney Hass.
Sparcet is part of an enterprise
engagement software suite called
SPARC’D, which SPARC will be
rolling out.
Socialcast Thanks also taps
into social media to augment
employee engagement. The soft-
ware, by developer Socialcast, lets
a company’s employees send rec-
ognition to each other through an
enterprise social network. A cus-
tom library of virtual badges—an
increasingly popular tool used in
gamification—lets employees be
visually honored for a variety of
accomplishments. ■
