How Westpac New Zealand grew peer recognition habits under year-end pressure

As one of Aotearoa | New Zealand’s largest financial institutions, Westpac New Zealand understands the role recognition plays in building employee engagement and connection. At the end of the financial year, when workloads increase and teams are focused on delivery, their Employee Experience team saw an opportunity to focus on peer to peer recognition — empowering teammates to acknowledge each other’s contributions when it mattered the most.

By introducing a targeted year-end campaign, Westpac New Zealand helped shift recognition behaviours, lift engagement, and remind employees of the value of recognising great work — especially when workloads are at their peak.

The goal: Build peer-to-peer recognition habits

While leaders were already actively participating in the recognition programme, there was an opportunity to further strengthen peer to peer recognition.

Feedback showed that employees valued recognition from colleagues and wanted to feel empowered to recognise one another in a timely and authentic way. Especially for those everyday achievements and collaboration that leaders weren’t always present for.

The #FY25Wrapped campaign

To support this goal, Westpac New Zealand introduced #FY25Wrapped: Who made your financial year even greater? A two-week recognition campaign launched intentionally at the end of the financial year.

The campaign encouraged employees to recognise someone who had supported, challenged, or cheered them on throughout the financial year – acknowledging those who made a difference through how they show up every day and the positive behaviours they brought to work.

The campaign was designed to:

• Encourage reflection and thank colleagues during a busy time
• Celebrate the success of the recognition programme across FY25
• Highlight the importance of peer-to-peer and non-monetary recognition

Bringing the campaign to life

#FY25Wrapped was rolled out using existing, high-engagement internal channels, including platform announcements, intranet and Viva Engage content and a short internally produced video highlighting recognition activity from across FY25. There was also supporting messaging in senior leader communications, and inclusion in a weekly all staff email publication.

To encourage employee participation, both the recogniser and recipient were entered into a random draw for points when a recognition included the campaign hashtag. This approach helped drive engagement and also reinforced that recognition is a shared behaviour.

The impact: Increased engagement and recognition at scale

In just two weeks, the campaign delivered strong results across the organisation and demonstrated how purposeful celebration can influence behaviour at scale.

Recognition and behaviour

• Recognition volume tripled, with more than 6,000 recognitions, compared to 2,000 in the previous month
• 297 eligible recognitions were submitted during the campaign, representing approximately 9.5% of all recognition activity during the period
• 20% of campaign recognitions were non-monetary, supporting the goal of building everyday recognition habits

Engagement and reach

• The Individual Contributor Sent Recognition Index increased from 0.15 to 0.5 month over month
• The percentage of individual contributors accessing the platform rose 11%, from 54% to 65%
• The campaign video highlighting programme success was viewed 770 times, reaching around 20% of the employee population

The outcome: Reinforcing appreciation, and celebrating another successful year of recognition

Through #FY25Wrapped, Westpac New Zealand used recognition to strengthen connection and shared success — a year-end moment that reinforced how recognition shows up day to day.

Beyond short term engagement, the campaign supported a broader shift towards peer to peer and nonmonetary recognition as everyday behaviours. The result is a strong, inclusive recognition culture, where employees feel confident recognising one another, celebrate positive behaviours and puts people at the centre of success, even when points run out and pressure runs high.