Employee and company relations are nowhere near what they used to be 10 years ago. Yet, for large organizations, especially those with many departments, multiple locations, or a remote workforce, effective communication and engagement still proves difficult. That’s exactly where Kudos comes in to help, and they’re already improving organizational culture and performance for multinational corporations around the world.

Kudos’ co-founders started as competitors who were both working in the digital marketing and technology space. Co-Founder and Chief Customer Officer Tom Short had an organization that was looking at how to engage their team members and that is where the idea for Kudos was incubated. When he met Co-Founder and CEO Muni Boga, they redefined the value proposition, redesigned the product, and took Kudos to market.

CALGARY, THE WEST’S HEAD OFFICE CAPITAL

The impetus for building Kudos was from a problem that a rapidly scaling organization in Calgary was experiencing. “Growth means teams need to move rapidly. This can often create communication and culture silos in distributed locations,” says Boga. “In these situations, companies need ways to engage their employees and get visibility into performance.”

If engagement and visibility into performance were problems for this growing organization, Short and Boga knew it had to be a pain point for other organizations in Calgary and beyond. Of all the major cities in Canada, Calgary happens to house the most head offices per capita, second only to Toronto. So, after much research and talking to businesses locally and abroad, they landed on employee recognition being the best tool for company engagement.

HOW IT WORKS

Kudos is a peer-to-peer employee recognition program. It works with organizations to enable their culture globally – employees, regardless of geographic location, recognize one another, understand their values and behaviours, and how all of that connects to how they work together. On top of that, the brand promotes visibility of performance, and also helps managers work with employees to support their long-term growth and alignment with the organization.

Kudos focuses not on rewards, but pure recognition of employees. “We’ve developed a calibrated form of recognition that aligns to employee performance, promoting innovation and reinforcing an organization’s core values and behaviours,” says Boga. “Our intent is to enable the best in individuals so they can live a happy and purposeful life.”

BUILDING A GLOBAL COMPANY RIGHT HERE IN CALGARY

Kudos now has clients in over 80 countries, and is used in eleven different languages. This path to global growth was supported by the Calgary tech ecosystem and the resources available to them as a startup in Canada.

While government funding is “always helpful,” they also helped Kudos get in front of the right people, providing resources and recommendations. Boga says that Kudos went to the government early on to ask about operating in an international landscape. “Different nuances exist from being present in many locations – legal implications or taxation implications,” he says. The tech startup ecosystem provided them valuable insights on the challenges of working globally.

According to Boga, Kudos also found alignment with the local angel investor community early on, working with many of them who came from varying backgrounds, not always specifically in tech. “Diversity of thinking that can be applied to other areas like technology has been incredibly useful,” says Boga.

When it comes to the Calgary of today, it’s the sense of community that has struck the Kudos team and given them the opportunity to help others too. “We’re very open to helping other companies and people. That’s the nice thing about Calgary: if you ask, someone will help you, point you in the right direction, give you a referral. Minds and opportunities are open to global companies.”

That global link has also helped Kudos to grow their tech team. Like many Calgary startups, they experienced some hiring challenges early in their growth. So they turned to VanHack, which helps startups recruit global tech talent for Canada. Now they have talent from countries such as Brazil, Pakistan, and Nigeria. “When you’re building a global organization and your organization is actually global, it’s cool because it speaks to the diversity of the company and Canada,” says Boga.

The way of life in Calgary has become a huge part of the attraction for tech talent coming over to live and work here. “When we are interviewing, we always ask, why Calgary? Often enough we get: we love the city, the mountains, space, friendly people,” he says. The relatively lower density in the city, plus our proximity to amazing provincial and national parks, enables a lifestyle with a great balance of culture and nature. “We’re connected to life, not just work, especially now that we’re all remote living and working at home. A lot of us can walk out the door and be safe and hit a park. The rest of the world does not necessarily have this.”

“That’s the nice thing about Calgary: if you ask, someone is there to help or point you in the right direction.”

REMOTE-FIRST WORKPLACES

It seems Kudos saw the future of the remote workforce a lot earlier than many did. And came up with a solution that’s fitting for a post-COVID world, where traditional workplace barriers may no longer exist.

On one hand, organizations can have more diversity and flexibility with global offices or remote workforces, which is certainly a positive. “Diversity leads to ideation, and remote work can help employee lifestyle,” says Boga. But on the other hand, it can also provide challenges, by creating silos and communication blips, which can increasingly lead to burnout and a sense of unease. This becomes even more difficult for multinational organizations battling time differences and language barriers.

“In many enterprise organizations, there are multiple cultures that run in parallel. This comes from mergers, geographic differences, remote teams, the corporate office, you name it. Each of these can have its own leadership and sometimes its own values, and behaviours,” says Boga. “No matter what, you have to respect all cultures but also come to some form of alignment.”

For an organization to operate well, these cultures must coexist, and what that looks like is up to the organization. It’s a tough ask, especially for a senior leadership team that is likely ingrained in the existing culture and company habits. It’s been seen over and over - companies with the mindset of ‘we have always done it this way,’ that are unwilling to change. That’s where Kudos comes in, with a fresh pair of eyes to determine a new path and unify the values, behaviours, and attitudes that exist within the organization’s varying divisions.

Having a virtual platform to recognize employees and promote communication is more important than ever before since many workers are operating remotely, balancing home life with work duties. “We don’t stop at the office. We take that role on no matter where people are,” says Boga. Kudos is accessible anywhere at any time, which according to Boga, helps companies enable culture everywhere. “Cultural enablement is not just about the recognition. How you deliver campaigns and communicate inside your organization to educate about your culture - that’s the bigger picture. It’s about helping each other.”

WE HAVE LIFT OFF

In 2019, Kudos launched a new conference called LIFTOFF, an annual summit on workplace culture, technology, and HR trends. The first event saw 300 HR professionals, business and thought leaders gather to share and learn from each other on the future of work.

Centred around the processes and technologies that are bringing us toward the workplace of tomorrow, the event aims to connect industry professionals with the leaders, pioneers, and rebels that are making the world of work better. And as businesses and their offices face some of their biggest challenges in 2020, the team at Kudos knew it wasn’t the time to postpone a crucial event like this. So, like the resilient company it is, Kudos pivoted to offer a virtual alternative to the event with registration for the annual event opening in early 2021.

WHAT’S NEXT

In a world that feels more separated than ever, maintaining unified values and ensuring employees feel recognized is very important. For the Kudos team, the COVID pandemic has further cemented why a platform like theirs is so important, and they have been focusing on their growth and ensuring as many companies have access to their platform as possible. So much so, that Kudos was named Remote Tech Breakthrough Award’s “Best Employee Recognition Solution of the Year” and chosen as one of three finalists for the ‘Resilient Business Leader Award’ for Calgary’s Resilient Business Awards in 2020. But, what’s next for this YYC start up? Well, Boga says it’s all about connecting industry professionals and forward-thinking speakers at next years’ LIFTOFF event to encourage, inspire, and motivate those who are leading teams and workplaces in a world of work that is constantly changing.

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Kudos: Bringing global companies together, from Calgary