SUCCESS ACADEMY

Success Academy is a charter school system of 34 schools in New York City, based on the principle that world-class public schools with children from all backgrounds can succeed in college and life. Success Academy has created 41 thriving public schools across New York City, and are on their way to 100 schools by 2020.

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“With the help of Fond, we were able to conduct an organization-wide step challenge with a near 50% employee participation rate. Fond supported us in driving a culture of engagement with each other and engagement with our health."

Tiffany Duncan
Associate Director of Benefits

CHALLENGES

Recognition Activity and Engagement Levels

Educating children — especially children from economically disadvantaged neighborhoods — is challenging, and the school day is long and full. Engagement and recognition among staff members was low, and recognizing others for their hard work was a difficult and manual process for employees at Success Academy.

Barriers to Scale Wellness Initiatives

It was difficult for busy staff members to find time for their own wellness, and past wellness and engagement efforts were challenging to organize and sustain. They were complicated to set up, manually intensive to execute, hard to track, and virtually impossible to scale. The employee engagement experience was inconsistent from program to program, moderating the potential impact of wellness and recognition programs on employee engagement and performance.

SOLUTION

2.4 times national average for employee wellness program participation

15.8 mil more steps taken during the 30-day walking challenge

20% increase in work performance3 from walking together

A Seamless and Scalable Wellness Program

Success Academy set up a 30-day step challenge for their organization with the goal of walking
10,000 steps every day for 30 days. Success Academy automated the program with Fond Rewards, eliminating the manual effort required to set up, administer, and fulfill the rewards for program winners. Additionally, Fond tracked who received the rewards credits and which rewards options were most popular. Even better: walking together allowed peers to connect on a more personal level, establishing deeper relationships that facilitate better teamwork.

Immediate Rewards for Higher Engagement

As soon as the challenge was completed, every winner received a congratulatory email with direct access to a wide variety Fond rewards, allowing them to immediately redeem the rewards of their choice. This immediacy helped to reinforce the positive glow from achieving such a significant milestone and being broadly recognized as a winner.

Automation for HR Teams

Fond empowers Success Academy to make a large-scale program like this possible, significantly increasing the Benefits team’s productivity and eliminating the stress-laden activities of selecting, purchasing and fulfilling meaningful rewards. Nearly 50% percent of the network’s organization participated in the challenge, and through Fond, the wellness program was scalable and easy
to manage.