How First Mortgage Services creates a more connected, engaged, and inspired workforce

For over 20 years, First Mortgage Services (FMS) has specialized in delivering the full range of mortgage processing and administration services to the financial services industry. With teams located across Australia and New Zealand, FMS is owned by First American Financial Corporation which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The company is proud of the strength of its brand, long-term client relationships, and proven specialist capabilities across the mortgage fulfillment value chain.

Business challenge

Infrequent recognition was impacting employee engagement at FMS. The feedback from employees was loud and clear and the company identified it as an area of priority that needed to be addressed and decided to go to market. FMS had in the past tried another benefits platform that did not take off from a usage standpoint and was shortly shelved.

With no formal R&R program in place, the existing reward and recognition initiatives were ad-hoc, inconsistent and conducted in silos. FMS needed a refresh and reboot to increase uptake and engagement. They were on the lookout for a solution that was fair, equitable and consistent across the entire organization. FMS’s sister company ‘First Title’ in Canada had already been using

Achievers and shared some excellent feedback on the success of the Achievers platform in their business. They identified the need to move to a more social, visible, and collaborative technology-based solution that encouraged high frequency recognition and Achievers ticked all the boxes. In Achievers, FMS found the technology they were seeking to level up their recognition and rewards program.

Achievers Employee Engagement Platform™

The Achievers platform was a more robust and seamless platform with an emphasis on social interactions. The platform’s social recognition user interface gave employees plenty of opportunities to like, comment and share images and gifs, with the Achievers smartphone application allowing employees to express themselves anytime on the go.

Top 3 program goals:

To create a culture of recognition by recognizing, calling out and reinforcing the great behaviors displayed by all employees, both at a peer-to-peer and leader to employee level.

1. To respond to the feedback on the engagement surveys and ensure that the employee voice was heard.
2. To enable employees across the entire business to celebrate each other in a manner where every recognition could be visible and appreciated by everyone.
3. FMS launched their recognition program ‘bravo!’ on July 14, 2021, to all employees across Australia and New Zealand. Core recognition values that the company wanted reinforced through the platform included.
   • Teamwork
   • Integrity
   • Commitment
   • Service

Business impact

FMS knew when it set out to implement a recognition program that there was a real need for a platform like Achievers within the organization, and the positive response from their employees has reinforced their decision.

Since rollout, the overall feedback, communication associated with it and the energy and buzz generated has resulted in tangible results with steady growth in activation and usage. In addition, the regular catchups with the Achievers team on understanding the analytics and refining what success looks like through timely interventions and communication campaigns has also been very well received.

Key aspect of the program that have stood out for FMS are:

Social recognition

Most of the recognitions at FMS were driven by leaders to employees and were local and ad hoc. By making the program accessible to all employees across the organization, employees and leaders can now recognize milestones and exceptional work by creating moments that inspire growth and high performance.

Introduction for new starters

The program has been promoted in the induction course for new starters with an emphasis on the “importance of recognition”. All employees received a welcome email from HR detailing bravo! And how to access the platform. It is communicated first and foremost to new starters who are encouraged to embrace the recognition culture.

Recognition-led culture

The platform’s activation and usage rates have been consistently above industry standards showcasing what gets recognized gets repeated.

Key statistics

A real standout has been in the unique ways employees have used the platform to drive recognition activity. Some employees have utilized their email signatures to further amplify the importance of being recognized on bravo! by encouraging people to thank them on the recognition platform if they felt they have made an impact or a contribution at work.

What’s next?

Guided by its core values, FMS began to redefine its recognition and reward program goals with a focus on improving the frequency and quality of recognition. FMS are keen to expand their program by tapping into the several other features the platform has on offer. For now, the company remains focused on upgrading their internal technologies that will help enable Achievers integrations with Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Teams and improve the overall accessibility of the platform.