Case Study: Citizens Financial Group boosts engagement and cuts turnover in half with Workhuman's Credo Awards

Creating a Culture of Connection With Recognition

Citizens Financial Group, a Providence‑based bank with more than 18,000 employees across 43 states, needed to modernize a manual, homegrown recognition program that relied on mailed gift cards and could take weeks for recipients to receive praise. To better align employee recognition with its customer‑centric mission, Citizens set three priorities: modernize the experience, make rewards more appealing, and make recognition easier.

Partnering with Workhuman, Citizens launched Credo Awards in 2019 — a peer‑to‑peer, values‑based program that is real‑time, social, mobile‑enabled and data‑driven. The mobile app expanded recognition into branches, managers gained actionable analytics, and programs were streamlined for efficiency. Since launch Citizens has recorded more than 168,000 recognition moments reaching 96% of employees, and data shows turnover is cut in half for employees receiving 10–12 recognitions annually.

Citizens

Derek Desousa

Director of Employee Engagement, Senior Vice President