Name: From Nomination to Winner: 4Refuel’s Recognize Award Journey
Uploaded: 2026-03-26T18:46:07.908Z
Duration: 30 min 12 s
Description: From Nomination to Winner: 4Refuel’s Recognize Award Journey

Transcript for "From Nomination to Winner: 4Refuel’s Recognize Award Journey": Hello, everyone, and welcome to our webinar today. We are excited you're here, and we hope that you get a lot of good value out of this. My name is Bronson Dameron. I'm the director of content here at AwardCo, and my job today is to be the moderator for Marna and Sean. And I'd like to introduce both of them. They're from For Refuel, one of AwardCo's great clients, and I'd like them to introduce themselves. Sean, if you could introduce yourself first, and then we'll go from there. Thank you. Absolutely. Hi, everyone. I'm Sean McGuire, and I'm the communications manager for North America at Fort Refuel. My role focuses on internal and external communications, including supporting the business with employee experience, how we share stories, recognize people, and help our teams feel connected. I've been closely involved in supporting FortiFuel's recognition program, which we've been running through AwardCo for several years now, from helping shape how we talk about recognition internally to partnering with leaders and teams to capture the over and above efforts that our people put in every day. And as part of that, I worked alongside Marna in our our recognized award submission, helping to tell the story of our approach to recognition and how it supports our people, culture, and and business objectives. I love that. Thank you so much. Thank you for being here. We're excited to hear from you and hear how your whole experience has been, especially, especially applying for an award. So thank you. And, Marna, if you would please introduce yourself. Hello, everyone. I'm Marna Lagerquist. I'm the talent acquisition and development manager at Forrey Fuel. And in my role, I support key parts of the employee life cycle, beginning with recruitment, I do onboarding processes to training and engagement. I would say one of the highlights of my role has been leading the design and launch of our recognition platform through AwardCo. This initiative gave me the opportunity to collaborate with an outstanding team at AwardCo, and I heard one of them might be on there, so hello, and to help bring a meaningful culture building program to life for our employees. That's great. Thank you so much. Thank you both for those introductions. It is great to have you here. And remind me, you're located in Toronto. Is that right, both of you? Yes. Yep. Yes. Great. Well, that's that's excellent. We appreciate your time here. Thanks for coming. And all of you here on the chat, please feel free to pipe in and ask questions to Marna and Sean at any time. I'll be happy to kind of moderate those. And so if you have questions about what was the what was the application like, what did you do to win this award, anything like that, ask those questions at any time, and we'll be happy to, get those going. So as we dive into this, Sean and Marna, I want to show your customer story video that we did for you to let everybody kind of get a general sense of what four Refuel does and to help them see a lot of the excellent and, you know, all the achievements that you've done with AwardCo. So I'm gonna play that right now. It's about two minutes long, maybe a little bit less, and then we'll come back and we'll chat about it. So here we go. I think everybody who comes to work at Forrey Fuel understands how they make a difference. And whether you're directly on a customer site delivering fuel to them or you're supporting the organization in what it does, you bring value to what you do every day. We have roughly six fifty employees located in eight provinces in Canada, and we're also in the state of Texas. Roughly 70 of our employees are known as certified refueling professionals, so they are the employees who go out and fuel the needs of our customer. So we have a lot of different programs to make sure that we encompass all our employees. There's three programs that are attached directly to our core values. Our peer to peer, we also have the manager led programs, and then we also have our safety programs like our safety all stars, which is a monthly award that's automated. We have our customer service and our annual awards. It's keeping everything fresh and new. We were doing recognition partly even before we got into this platform, but this platform made it so easy for our frontline leaders and middle managers to run the recognition program. 75% of our employees are out in the field, so how do we get them excited and engaged? So the safety programs really got them excited. Know, they had the opportunity earn a lot of points, but also getting that recognition. So I was really impressed how much our login engagement increased as time went on. In my personal experience, I've met our employees during my visits, and they are really looking forward for the next month getting that extra money through the reward points. Employees used these rewards points for their favorite things like in a vacation or buying Christmas gift for their kids. And every month we have set of people coming to our leaders and asking us, okay, how much reward I got this month? How is my score and how am I doing? That conversation is happening in our dressing room, change rooms, and that really drives our safety culture in our organization. Alright. That was amazing. You're both the you're both stars. You're both on that video. How's that feel? Kinda. neat, actually. It was a great video. Yeah. It was a. fun experience, doing that and getting it done. Yeah. We had a great. time. And thank you for doing that. Tell us more about the programs that you've run, specifically some of the safety programs. Sean, I know that you have a little bit of insight there. Marna, I would appreciate your input as well. Sean, maybe you can kick us off a little bit just to give us a brief overview of what some of those programs are that you've run and how you got people to engage. with them. Absolutely. I mean, our story with AwardCo, kinda began, several years ago, and and, you know, we were really looking at, you know, how could we make some improvement to employee recognition and make it a more seamless, experience. And what we were also trying to do is understand, you know, what were the objectives that we were trying to achieve, and and and to have you know, what were we really trying to drive? And, obviously, Mhmm. safety was was one of those objectives. And so we've made safety a key part of of our our program. And and so we have a number of of AwardCo or a number of programs that that Marna can can speak to, and and it's really, you know, complemented we brought everything to AwardCo just to make it a really seamless experience. Yeah. When you say everything, what do you mean by that when you brought everything into. a word co? So, I mean, so safety is a huge component of it. You know, we are you know, one of the big things that we wanted is to really drive values. Right? So we wanted employees to really understand what are the values that we that we have. And so our reward programs are are specifically tied to those values, which are people, passion, purpose, pride, performance. We have our annual employee awards that are gone that that run through AwardCo. Really, any and all recognition that an employee would get runs through the platform. And and then, you know, the great one of the great benefits to that is is is they all pool together, and employees can really decide what they want with those awards. Yeah. That's that's incredible. Thank you for that. Marna, you might have. some more insight there. Sean mentioned that typically around the safety. programs. So we do have a few. I would say our bigger biggest one would be our safety all stars program, which is a monthly program that we have. And every month they have to hit a specific safety threshold, and we have a couple of different layers. So if they hit that every single month, they will earn reward points. We also have seasonal campaigns that we do for our safety programs. And, you know, whether, Yeah. you know, we get a lot of snow here. So whether it's in the winter and we need to, you know, focus on safe driving or, you know, certain parts or in the summer, you know, we've got the heat and and different variables that could be impacting the driver's day. And I also wanted to make one comment too before I finish with the programs. We call our drivers CRP. Yeah. So sometimes you might hear Sean and I use that acronym CRP. So just to kinda tell you what that stands for, it's certified refueling professional. So our drivers are professionals, and we need to recognize that, and that is why they have a designation on their own within full refuel. So that talks. about the safety programs. We have a few other programs. Like, we have our driver of the year. We have award of excellence, which is, you know, our central services, which is more the office perspective. We have customer service all stars. We we have so many different programs to ensure that we are encompassing all employees within the organization. Even though a majority of individuals are drivers, we need to make sure, you know, that supporting team is also being recognized for all the hard work that they do. Yeah. So you have employees both in office and a lot of drivers. Right? What what was the acronym that you used? C CDP. CRP, Was that right? certified. refueling. professional. There No. Perfect. you go. That's yeah. So that's a dispersed workforce. You got a lot around in different areas like that. So I love that. Thank you so much. And the award that you applied for last year was the best employee engagement, and that's indeed the one that you ended up winning. Tell me more about how you decided that was the one you wanted to apply for, and what kind of got you started down that road, and, what got you excited about that? Marta, maybe we can start with you on that one. start with Sean, but okay. Let's go ahead. Yeah. No. I. I'm kidding. I can go ahead and start. So Sean and I work, as he mentioned, really closely together, and we kinda evaluated, you know, where using things that we have would fit fit in and where we could really showcase that. So kind of looking at the different options that we had, we just felt this was the best fit for us, which was, you know, a well rounded thing of showing what we could actually, that we've actually done with the program. So Sean, I'll let you build on that as well. Yeah, of course. I mean, you know, what we looked at, you know, what did we really achieve, you know, through through award co. You know, it was you know, culture plays a a big part in that. And so, you know, when we looked at at the awards, you know, that we were invited to to apply to, that one, I think, had the most natural fit for how what our application of the platform was. Yeah. I love that. Thank you. We actually have a question here in the chat from Sarah. What does this safety program referring to the one that four Refuel has. What does this safety program look like in the platform, in AwardCo? Is it just a budget where when the people meet the criteria, they get the points, or do people nominate them? Maybe give us a little bit of insight into that program. go ahead and answer that if that's alright. So we have a couple of different programs, and I guess I should have mentioned too. So we do have nomination pro programs as well. This the safety all stars is not a nomination program. So, basically, we have a budget, and within that budget or sorry. We have an internal program that tracks the safety performance of each of the drivers. So it assigns kind of points. And if they have to hit within a certain ratio of those points in order to be able to qualify for for the op or for the reward. So I'm not sure if. that fully answers your question, but, yeah, we do have nomination programs. This is not this is based on their the program score within the truck. Okay. Excellent. Thank you. Sarah, if you have any other questions, please feel free to ask them in the chat, and we'll kind of elaborate on that. And going back to the application for the award, Sean, I know that when we spoke previously a couple of weeks ago as we were kind of preparing for this, you mentioned you have a lot of experience in applying for awards and things like that. What how did that help you, and do you feel like you needed that in order to apply for this one for AwardCo? Give us some insight there about some of that. background you have. So, yeah, just in in in participating in award application processes over time, You kinda get to understand and hone in on what, you know, judging panels and selection panels are really looking for. And and I would say the key piece to that is really you know, some some people may be really attracted to a narrative. Right? You could you could tell a really good story about, you know, about what you've what you've accomplished and what you've done, and and that's, you know, really good. And then some you know, then there's obviously data that that ties to that. Right? And sometimes it could just be like a data dump. Right? And and and it's not just a narrative, and it's not just a data dump. It's in between. It's using a narrative, but to weave in your business. You know, what did you achieve through through the program? And so, you know, where where did you start from? What were your objectives? How did you achieve those those objectives, and and how did that drive the needle for the business? I know that. I want everybody on this webinar to know we did not prompt you, Sean, to. say anything like that. Yeah. Didn't say, Sean, can you please say this, this, and this? No. That was that's great and incredible insight because, the the selection process here internally for AwardCo is just that. We look for both the narrative and for the data to kind of build this whole story. And when you submitted that last year, what were some of the the data pieces that you added along with the narrative as you both applied for this award last year? Any kind of anecdotes, any interesting findings, or, cool stats that you shared that, you feel. were impactful? I mean, for sure. I think I think we you know, what we you know, what our strategy was for AwardCo is really wanted an all encompassing program. You know, we kind of where where our our journey began was, you know, we we kinda realized that there was opportunity for improvement within, you know, our recognition program and how we wanted, you know, this program to and what what we felt it could do to improve consistency and and just really work better for employees and just deliver a more consistent, you know, recognition experience. And so, you know, we partnered with AwardCo, and they really helped us to set up our programs and set up the system in a way that was really going to help us achieve those results that we wanted to achieve. So obviously, played an incredible and significant part in that. You know, we were able to demonstrate, you know, how safety has been able to improve. You know, there was a turnover reduction, you know, which, you know, was a result. And just different statistics that helped to sort of show that these programs were doing and achieving the things that we were set at that we wanted them to achieve. I'll say they achieved them. I mean, like, the statistics that the the outcomes you have all seen from just, using AwardCo, but also safety increases, like better safety, better recognition, all those kinds of things. I mean, that's that's incredible. That's why you got the best employee engagement award. Like, that's that's awesome. We talked a lot about safety programs. I wonder maybe you can give us, Marna and Sean, some insight into some of the other programs that you've run with AwardCo and how those have impacted your workforce. Marna, Yep. do you have any any insights definitely? speak to that one. So one of the other awards that we have talking about nomination process is we have an award called customer service all stars. And basically, that is a nominated award. So a manager may have seen, you know, their employee do something fantastic for one of our customers. So it's really kind of a customer based award. So it could have applied to anyone within the organization that, you know, went up and above or did something special, and it was really just kind of recognizing how great they did. So it does go through a nomination process. So that's one of them. Another one is our award of excellence, which again is for outside of the driver positions for the supporting staff. We do have other ones where we actually assign our leadership budgets, And within those budgets, there's a couple of different programs that they have. So if their employees are doing a great job or did something, you know, up and above, it's really the managers making sure to recognize that through our core values. So these are built through our core values, but everything's not budget based. So any employee can send a message to anybody, whether it's through a greeting or one of the automated ones, which is the birthdays or the anniversaries. So everybody has the opportunity to, you know, reach out. And with us being so spread apart and a lot of individuals, you know, being in the truck, we really want, you know, that connection. And I find that this site definitely offers that. I that that's that right there tells me speaks to why you won the award co or the best employee engagement award because you have so many different kinds of programs. And not only that, you have ones that are not budget based. Right? They don't require any points. You can just go in and recognize each other and as you know, build each other up, build that kind of environment that you want to cultivate it for Refuel. And and do you feel like that has had an impact on on a level of employees are maybe a little more excited, a little more bought in? Obviously, they're more safe. We've talked about that, which is really great. Any thoughts there? Has how that's contributed to your organization as. a whole? you want, me to you go ahead, Sean. of the things that we've seen is, like, every like, so every year, we're we're seeing north of 7,500 unique recognitions through through the platform, which is. which is quite significant. And as Marta mentioned, we have 75 of our workforce that are field based. Right? So they're not at a desk, so they can access a work code through through their phone. 84% of our employees are are locking in on a monthly basis. So so for sure, there's there's that engagement part, and and we can see that. You know, the other part, you know, you're saying, you know, about, you know, is this playing a big role to you know? And and I would say, yes. You know, they're excited about about rewards. Right? And and, you know, you can see that in when you're watching the video, our director of and s, you know, was was saying, you know, management, when they do go into the field, you know, employees are coming up to them and saying, hey. Did I get my threshold? Or how many you know, what what points am I getting? So there's a lot of different ways to earn points. And and then once you have and accumulate your points, you know, they can do what they want with it. Right? So, you know, it's not just, you know, giving out gift cards to a restaurant or, you know, a coffee shop that you know, do they like that restaurant? Do they drink coffee? You know, they're able to really select what they want. You know, we have had an experience where an employee was able to save up enough points that they it covered the cost of of them going on vacation. So so it's quite significant. Okay. You know, and others, you know, we've heard from it helps them with their hobbies, right? You know, they have a hobby and they bought a new fishing rod, a drone, or whatever it is that they like to do on their own time. So it kind of, know, so there's a motivation, you know, to accumulate points from that perspective. Thank was just gonna make one for sharing. too. Like, I was just gonna say another thing. I find with a lot of the restaurant ones, you know, they're able to take their family out for a meal and, you know, that bonding time, which is great as well. Yeah. You're building you're building employees outside of work as well in in that regard, which is really powerful. I love that. Thank you for sharing that. For the next little bit, I wanna make sure that we hit on a lie I know a lot of people attending this webinar may have some specific questions about, like, how did the application process work? Was it was it difficult? What if I don't have the stats that, you know, for Refuel clearly has, you know, a lot of really great stats? What if I don't have those? Should I still reply? Wanna I make sure we address those. But before we do, I wanna ask Sarah has piped into the chat. I just wanna pose this to both of you, and then we'll go to the kind of that application process and just kinda highlight that briefly. But, Marna and Sean, I wanna ask you, do you find the same amount of recognitions happening in no point related recognitions? would find more. I would definitely say, more. interesting. A lot of colleagues are recognizing each other and, you know, across different provinces or, you know, different parts of The US, which makes it fantastic. So everybody's really, you know, cheering everybody on. And, you know, somebody helps somebody out on something, they're recognizing them. So so, yeah, I would say definitely more on that side, which is great to see. That's really cool. I love that. Thank you for sharing that, and thank you for asking that question, Sarah. So, I wanna make sure I know we have a lot of people here wondering about should I even apply. What was that process like? Was it was it difficult to gather any information? Do you feel like was there any is there anything you would have done different if you were to apply again for an a recognized award? Let's talk a little bit about that. Sean, do you have any insights. there? I mean, I would say, you know, really understand what your story is, what are you trying to tell. And then once you have that in place, you know, you're looking for the specific data points that help to illustrate those things. Right? So you might understand, Mhmm. hey. You know, you did x, and, you know, it made improvements here. You know? So you can then go and find, you know, those pieces to to really like I say, it just adds that extra layer of, you know, legitimacy to the application. I was just gonna add. one other thing. that. Sorry, Bronson. I keep interrupting you. I was just gonna say, WordCo also has lots of reports that you can pull some data from as well. Just a a little hint there. Yeah. Exactly. That's. true. And and that's, again, you know, something that we look at on a monthly basis. We look at our dashboard and see, you know, how many people are going into the system, how many rewards, did it go up or down from the previous month, what programs are performing well. You know you know, we're constantly evolving in, you know, what what that looks like. So so there's a ton of information both to, you know, supplement an award, but also to guide, you know, ongoing decision making and just keeping the platform fresh and and make sure it's still effective in accomplishing what it's meant to be doing. I love that. Yes. Absolutely. Great callouts that you you're not alone. Right? You don't have to find this data and produce it out of nothing. You can look in your WorkCo platform. There's lots of good data there. And even, we're happy to help you. Like, we want you to succeed as well. So you can contact your CSM or contact us here at AwardCo, and we're we'll help you find that data. We are invested in your success. We wanna make sure that you get that, and we're happy to help. So I'm gonna share, down at the bottom of the screen, you'll see apply for a recognized award here. I'll just keep that up for a moment just because I wanna make sure that the link is available for all so you can see it and and apply quickly there. So I also there's another question here from Jess. This kind of going back to your platform. Is there anything you did to encourage employees to complete their profiles? Great question. I wonder if either of you have insights there. Are you gonna answer it or me, Sean? I wasn't sure. was gonna say, Marna, you you probably have better line of sight into that one. Well, okay. So we we did a lot of different things. We went out to the location. So so we have, again, another acronym, BTU is our business team unit, but it's like our yards. We actually went out and, you know, got we have monthly meetings there, got them excited. You know, what what is this? They I think a lot of what drove it too, like, they were able to get to buy things. So, you know, and it it wasn't, you know it was easy to to earn points, you know, based, like, for example, on safety. They just doing their their job. They're able to, you know, get this reward. So I found that we did posters. We we did some leadership training. So we really kinda got ourselves out there and and did some some advertising and, you know, spending that that time. So once everybody and but making sure we train leadership as well. So, you know, we're not gonna be there every day. So they were comfortable with, you know, sharing it. We made, like, an FAQ. We made a manual. So there there were lots of different avenues that they could use in order to to get excited, but comfortable with using the platform. And I would just add on to that, Marta. I love that. platform is pretty easy to use as well, Yes. so getting on there wasn't as wasn't a challenge, especially even on on the cell phone. Yeah. On the mobile app where you're able that's great. Yeah. Love that. And you got Jess says thank you. Thank you, Jess, for offering that question, so we appreciate it. In the last few minutes that we have, I'd like to ask each of you, and we'll start with you, Marna. What has recognition not necessarily award code, but what does recognition mean to you both personally and professionally? And if you have a story or or just what it means to you, I'd love to hear that, and then Sean will ask you the same question. So what does recognition mean to me? Well, you know what? I'm gonna let Sean start because I I have an idea of something. And then, anyways, I'm gonna let Sean start. You go ahead first. Yeah. Let it germinate. Sean, you kick. us off. Yeah. Recognition, you know, what what does it mean? I mean, I I think, you know, for for some people, it means, you know, different different things. I mean, for for me, you know, it's just it's just taking that time to tell somebody that they've done a a good job. Right? And and, you. know, whatever that that means and however they've they've supported, you know, just just going through and and and saying, you know, that that they've done that they've done a great job. And you'd be surprised how much that means to people. Yeah. I I agree with that. I've felt that in my own life too. Both in naturally, I'm gonna say that because I work at a work though. But, like, outside of it too, it means a lot just to be appreciated. And maybe that's fuzzy and fluffy, but it does mean mean something. Yes. So, Marna, So what about you? way I look at it, Bronson, is where do you spend most of your day? You're you're at work. Right? You're working hard, Yep. and you wanna be acknowledged and appreciated for that. So I I really feel that, you know, a simple thank you or, you know, I think another positive thing is so somebody gives somebody else a recognition and you're you have the opportunity to comment or do an emoji. It just kinda shows, oh, more people appreciate me. Thank you. So it really. kind of brings that out. And I guess kind of my closing comment, I'm not sure if we're there yet, but I feel like it's a great opportunity for an organization to share their own recognition story. So I just kind of wanted. to share that as well. Well, and, Marna, Love would layer on. to that to say, you know, it gives people the opportunity to recognize. And sometimes people aren't always fantastic at doing that without, and especially on a peer to peer level. You know, you work together. You know, sometimes you don't always say, you know, thank you. Thanks for being a great colleague. So when you provide that opportunity and and that platform to say it, it makes it easy. And then when you make it part of your culture, you know, and and that's, you know, again, we talked about that a little earlier on in you know, before is just to say, you know, we get a lot of peer to peer, you know, recognitions. This is and that's not no monetary involved there. It's just to say thank you. Good job. So, you know, it it took a while, I would say, to to get to that point. But, you know, I think people really do see the value, and they know where to go to do it. Yes. Absolutely. Thank you both so much. We're we're right here at time, but I wanna make sure that I express my appreciation and recognize both of you for joining us here today, but also for all the work you're doing there at four Refuel. It's clear that what you're both doing has had an immediate impact, and, really appreciate that. So thank you for all all of you for attending. Please apply for a recognized award. I know a lot of you are kind of on the edge thinking about it. Please apply. We would love to just see your applications. We'd love to help you succeed. And, thank you, Marna and Sean, for joining us today, and we hope, everybody here on this webinar has a wonderful day. too. Bye bye. We'll. see you here. Bye.