How a Global Leader Transformed Employee Recognition into a Powerful Engine for Good

Zoom – a company whose name is synonymous with connection – faced a challenge common to many global corporations: how to make employee recognition feel personal, impactful, and aligned with its core values across a diverse, international workforce.

Zoom’s existing peer-to-peer recognition program didn’t align closely with its core value of Care; the organization wanted a solution that could deliver a truly meaningful experience while also creating impact in the communities where its employees, affectionately called Zoomies, live and work. Beyond that, they needed to be able to navigate the complexities of global logistics.

In May 2024, Zoom teamed up with Gifts for Good to launch a new recognition program that allows Zoomies to "cheers their peers" with gifts that give back. The collaboration transformed a standard corporate budget into a dynamic engine for social and environmental good.

At the heart of the program is the power of choice. Through our gifting platform, employees nominated by their peers are empowered to select a reward that best reflects their own values from three distinct categories:

• Physical Gifts: A curated selection of ethically sourced products, each with a unique story of impact.
• Charity Impacts: The option to allocate the value of their gift to a cause they care about.
• Local Experiences: The chance to create lasting memories through experiences in over 100 countries.
  

The Gifts for Good platform's flexibility is a key differentiator, allowing the program to expand beyond its initial peer-to-peer scope to honor employees during key cultural celebrations and company-wide events.

A relationship with a workforce as globally distributed as Zoom’s required a mastery of both global logistics and local relevance. Gifts for Good architected a sophisticated international supply chain capable of delivering gifts to Zoomies in dozens of countries.

One of the program's most innovative aspects is its deep commitment to localized impact. Notably, Gifts for Good developed a bespoke solution for Zoom's large team in China. This framework considers the unique cultural landscape:

• Localized Sourcing: Custom swag and other physical gifts were sourced from social enterprises operating within Asia. This included jewelry from Starfish Project, an organization that employs and empowers women survivors of human trafficking, and hats from Known Supply, which connects consumers with the very makers who created the product, and tech essentials from MaCher, a fellow B-Corp whose partnership funds carbon sequestration projects like mangrove restoration in Marereni, Kenya, and watershed protection in Cambodia.
• Value-Driven Customization: Instead of a simple logo, many items were customized with Zoom’s core value of “Care,” transforming them from typical swag into a statement of purpose.
• Local Charity Partners: Recognizing the difficulty of finding reputable nonprofits in the region, Gifts for Good vetted and onboarded OneSky, an organization funding programs for vulnerable children on the ground in China.
  Sustainable Logistics: To minimize environmental impact, gifts are shipped in bulk to Zoom’s China offices for local distribution.
  
  

This philosophy of local relevance extends worldwide through the program's flexible design. For Zoomies in the United States, this means choosing gifts that support local animal shelters or provide meals to children in their communities through partners like Giving Children Hope.

Globally, the option for employees to redeem their gift for a meaningful local experience or support international causes, such as clean water projects in developing countries, ensures every act of recognition feels personal and deeply connected to the communities where they live and work.

One popular element of the platform is its integrated thank-you note capability, designed to close the recognition loop and deepen team connections. After selecting their gift, each recipient is prompted to write a personal message of thanks directly back to the peer who originally nominated them. This feature transforms a one-way gesture into a meaningful two-way dialogue, allowing colleagues to share in a moment of mutual appreciation.

The first year of this collaboration has not only boosted employee engagement but has also created a ripple effect of positive change around the world. The impact, quantified through the platform reporting, has been staggering.

First-Year Impact Highlights:

• 57,835 meals provided to children facing food insecurity
• 11,472 hours of care funded for rescue pets
• 8,110 hours of employment created for artisans and at-risk women
• 7,027 trees planted to combat deforestation
• 2,336 people provided with a year of clean drinking water
• 1,988 rides to treatment covered for cancer patients

The program saw strong engagement, with employees selecting 1,722 physical gifts and 501 charity impact gifts. The most frequently redeemed charity gift was the option to provide meals to children in need through Giving Children Hope.

By replacing a standard recognition model with a story-driven, choice-based platform, Zoom and Gifts for Good have proven that corporate gifting can be a source of pride, a reflection of values, and a catalyst for creating a better world.