Case Study: How UpKeep brings their culture of gratitude into a remote world with Assembly

Assembly’s engagement platform made appreciation and recognition second nature to UpKeep’s dispersed team.

March 29, 2022
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Assembly aims to empower companies to work better, communicate more and recognize each other often. After implementing Assembly, UpKeep has seen incredible growth in internal appreciation, closer alignment with the core values, and has had a lot of fun along the way. Check out the secrets behind their success, shared by Heather Grant, Program Manager from the Office of the CEO:

About the Company

UpKeep is an Asset Operations Management platform purpose-built to bring together maintenance, operations, and reliability data to help teams make important business decisions, with full visibility across the entire life cycle of maintenance, asset management, and operations.

The Challenge

“Like a lot of companies in 2020, we began adjusting to this new way of working and what that meant for engaging with each other. Everyone was taken out of the comfort of in-person interactions. We’ve also been adding teammates from all over the country, which brought its own new set of challenges. 

Recognition and gratitude have always been a big part of our culture, but now we had to find a way to bring that forward in the remote world. So we wanted to find a tool that would reinforce and strengthen that practice”. 

Why Assembly

“Assembly was the perfect storm for us with being the tool that we needed at the right time. Customization was very important. We wanted a tool that could adjust to fit our needs rather than changing our processes and behaviors to accommodate the system. Our internal north stars for building software are ‘ease of use’ and ‘simplicity,’ so we needed a tool that reflected that. Assembly is extremely easy to use and straightforward. It’s robust without being complicated”. 

Getting Started

“The support that we received throughout the sales and onboarding process made me very comfortable and excited to use the platform. The level of attentiveness was unbelievable, even with all the little questions I had. 

We got a lot of guidance on how to roll this out to the team (we have 150 people, so it’s not an easy task), but Assembly gave us materials and training to utilize for the rollout. This certainly helped with making adoption a breeze.”

"It was important for us to train managers first and get them comfortable with the platform to maximize the adoption, and I was thrilled with how engaged and onboard everyone was with using Assembly from the get-go. It is robust in how we can use it and what we can do without being complicated or cumbersome. Now rewarding certain behaviors and activities is second nature."

Maximizing Assembly

"We utilize the Slack integration to the fullest. We have a dedicated Slack channel for recognition, and that channel is always, always going." 

"We use the Core Values feature a lot. At the end of every month, we award a monthly leader for each core value. By having the ability to attach our core values to shoutouts and recognition, we can easily match it up at the end of the month and reward leaders for each of them."

"People love the prizes, the culture rewards that we have, and the ability to donate to our community. With remote work, we've implemented lots of prizes for different activities, and with Assembly, it doesn't have to be random or something they don't want. People can choose something truly special to them without it being manual." 

"We love our culture rewards, and one of our favorite ones is 'Virtual Lunch with CEO.' To provide that opportunity in a structured way while making the CEO accessible to the entire company is awesome. It's part of our CEO's leadership style to connect and build the culture of gratitude with employees, but making it easy and simple for people in the remote world has been great. It allowed him to maintain the same practices of team connection, gratitude, and appreciation for one another with a tool that supports and reinforces that."

Impact on the Business

"One of the things that surprised me was the level of team adoption. We average over 300 shoutouts a month across 150 people, and we have had highs of over 500, 600, and even 700 shoutouts a month. Gratitude is such a big part of our culture and Assembly's ability to support that has been phenomenal". 

"Assembly has been the main vehicle for us to see publicly how the team supports each other, collaborates, and stays accountable to one another".

"I've been blown away with the quality and the level of specificity that people put into their shoutouts. It's special to see people appreciate each other and build connections in such a meaningful way.”

Browse our Free Employee Recognition Guide

Get the foundational knowledge on creating an employee recognition program that boosts employee engagement and helps them feel valued.

Explore Guide

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Assembly SOC 2 compliant?

Yes, at Assembly, security is a top priority. Each quarter, we have ongoing security work that is everyone’s responsibility. While we maintain a strong security posture, it was important for us to prove to our customers that we do everything we claim to do. This led us to pursue a SOC 2 Type II report that would provide evidence of our compliance with industry gold-standard security practice.

What's the ROI for employee recognition?

There is study after study showing that employee recognition leads to increased engagement. This in return creates an environment where employees are happier and more motivated which increase productivity and reduces voluntary turnover significantly. In order to filled critical roles, companies tend to spend nearly twice the value of an annual salary. Assembly is an investment in your employees that supports your bottom line.

Does Assembly offer longer-term contracts?

Yes, we will offer contracts for companies with longer-term agreements to help larger customers have more certainty around future costs.

The minimum agreement term is a 12-month subscription.

Does Assembly offer onboarding support?

We do and for FREE! Any new customer needing further support to get started with Assembly to ensure you're set up for success can request custom onboarding support. Improving your employee experience is about much more than just using our amazing software; it’s about transforming your business to create a workplace that people love. That’s much easier to do with the personal support and advice from our passionate people experts.

Is there a free version of Assembly?

Yes. We offer a completely free plan for up to 50 team members. This plan is intended for teams or organizations that are looking to get started with an employee engagement tool. Keep in mind, this plan is limited in features.

All customers can open an Assembly account for free and get started without a credit card. Then you can change plans as necessary.

How much do rewards cost?

At the time of redemption (when your employees exchange their points for a paid reward) you'll pay face value. If a reward is a $10 Amazon gift card, your cost will be $10. All paid rewards are billed for on a monthly basis.

The good news is that you don't have to pay for rewards upfront because we only charge you when points are redeemed, not when they're earned.

Does Assembly offer discounts?

We offer discounts or educational or charitable organizations. In order to secure a discount, you'll first need to book a demo with a customer support specialist.

For all other organizations, we are willing to consider longer-term agreements in exchange for discounts. To set up annual plans or longer, you will need to book a demo with a customer support specialist.

How do I cancel my plan if needed?

If you're on a month to month plan, you can go here and cancel anytime. If you're having concerns or need help setting up your account for success, you can always book a demo with a customer support specialist.

If you're on a longer-term custom plan, you'll need to reach out to your customer support specialist to cancel your account or email us at support@joinassembly.com.

What customizations are available?

Great question! You can customize your core values to match your organization's to boost and track alignment. You can change your currency from the 🏆 emoji (our default) to any emoji of your choice. You can swap our logo for your own. You can also set up company culture rewards such as, "Lunch with the CEO," "Buy a book on us," and so much more!

Who can give or receive recognition?

While we recommend a peer to peer set up where anyone in your organization can give or receive recognition, you can set up Assembly however you want. If you need to limit the people who can give or receive recognition, that's perfectly fine and can be done from your Admin, here.

What integrations are available?

Assembly connects to the tools your employees use every day to offer an easy, seamless experience with minimal change management.  

Assembly has integrations with HCM/HRIS systems like ADP, Google, Office 365, and Slack. We also integrate with communication tools like Slack and Teams so you and your employees can access Assembly wherever they work now.

What's your average adoption rate?

That depends on the company's permissions set up. That said, over 90% of the employees on Assembly's platform are recognized on a monthly basis. That means nearly every employee across all of our customers are receiving regular recognition from their peers, managers, or leadership. We're extremely proud of this.

Must rewards be set up to use Assembly?

They are not required. You can use Assembly without having rewards set up. However, we don't recommend it if you intend to have a high adoption and usage rate. You can always keep the costs down by offering internal culture rewards that are fulfilled by you internally.

Are points required to use Assembly?

No, you can remove allowances from anyone or everyone. It's up to you but we do recommend using points whether they're worth a real dollar value or not. Companies that use points have a much higher engagement rate even if those points don't exchange for real dollars.

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