Imagine if you only knew you were doing a good job at work when a gift card appeared.
Are your employees ready for their closeup? Whether you want to post it on the company website or blast it on a brochure, employee spotlights help organizations put their best face forward.
Therein lies the problem. These features are more useful as an enhancement to peer recognition and a culture of appreciation than they are promo. They can get new hires excited for a culture that actually matches their expectations. Spotlights help isolated departments and remote team members feel more connected to one another.
In other words, it’s not all about you (the company).
If an employee makes their employer look great, that’s just a bonus. Today, we’re sharing employee spotlight template ideas and tips for success. Keep reading to understand their value, gain inspiration, and learn where organizations go wrong.
Why do employee spotlights matter?
Employee spotlights are forms of public recognition. Recognition, as we know well, is associated with substantial increases in engagement and morale. This has a positive impact on retention and productivity, too.
All of that has been studied and discussed to the point where it’s practically a law of nature. Here are some specific benefits of using employee spotlights as a form of recognition:
- Builds connection and familiarity across teams
- Increases everyone’s sense of belonging at work
- More adequately recognizes larger achievements and milestones
- Presents culture in a way that can streamline the hiring process
- Contributes to the employer’s brand identity and conveys core values
Always be aware of the difference between employee testimonials and employee spotlights. Testimonials are purely social proof for external parties like job candidates and stakeholders. Spotlights can do that, but are more often for the employee and the culture.
When should companies put an employee in the spotlight?
Devise a weekly or monthly cadence for a few types of content. Letting a profile sit for months at a time won’t work. Effective spotlights benefit employees, applicants, and customers/clients. So, you must offer actual diversity here:
- Work anniversaries and service recognition
- Introducing new hires and transfers
- Exceptional performance or special achievements
- Employee profiles that familiarize the team with someone’s personal interests or job role
It’s fine to spotlight someone to give a department or role more exposure, but most should have a defined purpose. Avoid excessively sanitized perspectives and complimentary puff pieces for the sake of the warm fuzzies. These don’t feel authentic.
Where should I share the spotlight?
The channels we choose for our spotlights should include a mix of internal and external platforms. Consider these formats and placements:
- Praising performance in an internal newsletter
- Celebrating milestones in Slack or Teams chats
- Sharing an inside look at someone’s role on the company blog
- Getting to know a newbie during an all-hands
HeyTaco presents another excellent internal opportunity via Taco TV. Office screens can broadcast employee spotlights alongside recognition activity for more interest and visibility.
Why do I need an employee spotlight template?
Content-wise, templates can prevent your spotlight from becoming an obvious PR piece or letting it veer off the rails. If you start working off of examples, there’s a greater chance the content will have a clear structure and relevance.
Templates for graphics or visuals streamline the process of creating and publishing a spotlight, so you stay on schedule. Behind authenticity, consistency is what will make spotlights effective.
7 Employee spotlight template suggestions, examples, and ideas
Let’s start brainstorming some compelling content. Here are seven ideas, examples, and templates. Mix and match across channels such as chats, blogs, newsletters, and social media.
1. Employee Q&A
What it is: Employee Q&As are straightforward conversations that focus on an achievement, experience, or who someone is as a person. These are the easiest to customize for a range of occasions, whether it’s an employee profile or work anniversary recognition.
Where to publish it: Employee question and answer sessions are great for internal and external channels, whether it’s a rapid-fire video interview on the go or a structured written interview for the newsletter.
Tips and examples: For written pieces, avoid simple yes or no questions. Lean toward company values where possible. Some sample questions to consider:
- What do you do to address work-life balance, and how do you relieve stress?
- When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
- If you could instantly become an expert on one topic, what would it be?
- What’s the most meaningful feedback, positive, negative, or neutral, that you’ve gotten on the job?
- If you ordered lunch for the whole team right now, what would it be?
- Who do you look up to most at work?
- If you had to make one coworker our new CEO, who would it be?
- If you could go back in time to your first day here and give yourself one piece of advice, what would it be?
We have tons more icebreaker questions and check-in questions, of all tones and topics, that can be used in an employee Q&A.
2. A Day in the Life
What it is: Looking for more cross-departmental familiarity? Want to bust a crack in someone’s silo, or make a remote employee feel like a real, live person? A Day in the Life is an employee-authored log of what their day at work entails.
Where to publish it: Social media and blogs. These make great videos on TikTok or Instagram, or a blog post on LinkedIn or the company website.
Example: Keep it chronological and include a mix of personal and professional events. Drafted for a blog, this may look like:
8:42 a.m.: I make the commute from my kitchen to my home office to fire up my devices, check emails, and prepare for the morning meeting. As I open Zoom, I notice there is a salsa stain on my shirt. I angle that shoulder away from the camera.
9:25 a.m.: I spend the next two hours following up with clients and drafting a report. These are my peak productivity hours with fewer errors and greater efficiency. I don’t check in with the rest of the team until almost 11:30, when we do an informal debrief before lunch.
11:50: Lunch. I eat my ramen quickly and take a speedy walk around the block. Getting my steps in is really important since I’ll be sitting down again until dinner.
3. Go, team!
What it is: Team spotlights recognize a group or department of employees. These features improve cross-departmental relations. They can also celebrate and explore a team’s successful project.
Where to publish it: Internal channels are most important. However, clients and customers may appreciate a behind-the-scenes look at a department they don’t normally interface with. They are also very key to new hires who will be joining said team.
Tips and example: Present a quick profile of each person being recognized. Their name, job title, and a brief Q&A covering the purpose of the spotlight. It’s good to pose different questions to each individual, but the length and focus should be uniform across the whole team.
Use a Meet the Team template from Canva or Employee Spotlight templates from Edit.org to post on social media.
4. 5 Things You Didn’t Know
What it is: These are fun fact-style profiles where employees share five bits of information about their job, personal life, or both. It’s perfect for new hires and remote employees.
Where to publish it: Anywhere you want to spotlight, but it ultimately depends on the subject. Website visitors may love to read about your best customer service pro on the blog. Meanwhile, new hires and remote employees deserve maximum internal visibility.
Tips and example: Keep it simple and snappy. More people will actually read it, and more employees will want to participate. Example:
5 Things You Didn’t Know About Maia, Our People Leader
- “A lot of you don’t know this, but I started at this company right out of college. I ended up moving to another state, but was thrilled to be welcomed back years later!”
- “Everyone is always talking smack about Mondays, but I dread Wednesdays more than anything (only my team knows why 👀).”
- “I once went viral on TikTok for my over-the-top reaction to a birthday gift. Do not ask me to share the clip.”
- “My dream vacation is to go sea kayaking in Nunavut, Canada. I need to get better at kayaking first, though.”
- “When I ask a team member to run a quick errand or hunt something down for me, it’s often because I can tell they’re getting stressed out. Redirecting your attention is my go-to trick for avoiding negative thought loops!”
5. Video script employee spotlight template
What it is: Videos are a dynamic way to spotlight a team, new hire, or veteran employee. While written info still rules, video is usually better at showing what it’s really like to work somewhere. A script helps you arrange your best shots with voiceover narration or text.
Where to publish it: Upload to YouTube and embed it on LinkedIn, blogs, or newsletters. They can also be shared on TikTok or Instagram.
Tips and example: Keep videos under three minutes. Even a 30-second video can be very high-impact if it’s well-done. Map out your video using the script template below:
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SCENE |
NARRATOR |
VISUAL |
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1 |
Our latest installment of Unsung Heroes is all about Mary, who is celebrating 25 years with us this week. |
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2 |
Mary isn’t just our office manager. She represents the best of our company’s founding principles. |
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3 |
Diplomacy, flexibility, and creative solutions implemented on the fly. |
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4 |
Plus, a lot of patience. She’s responsible for onboarding, continued training, incoming calls, maintenance coordination, and so much more. She basically answers every question everyone under this roof has! |
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6. Shining a light on achievements
What it is: This spotlight is for exceptional problem-solving, above and beyond performance, and successful projects. Internally, it can give others insight into solving challenges. Externally, it’s purely public recognition. In both arenas, it reinforces company values.
Where to publish it: The most scalable, customizable, and diverse type of content here. Blogs, social media, team chats, meetings, and newsletters are all excellent venues for a little performance praise.
Tips and example: Keep it brief and focus on the target audience. Internal spotlights should be backed up with data. For example, in a newsletter:
“If you talk to Jacob from Marketing this week, don’t forget to congratulate him. He has reduced the department’s project completion time by a jaw-dropping 30 percent. Below, he’s been nice enough to take a minute and share his best productivity hacks for our remote team members.”
Championing performance on social media or a blog? Including positive reviews and comments from customers or leadership works best.
7. All things peer recognition
What it is: Peer-focused spotlights reinforce that their purpose is to support team culture and not just keep up company appearances. Spotlight employees who have been nominated by their peers for their helpfulness, attitude, participation, or improvement.
Where to publish it: Liberal internal focus, careful external focus. If the spotlight is being operated by the peers, the format and presentation should align with their culture. For instance, celebrating someone with inside jokes and memes is great for team chats. A sincere quote about why they nominated the honoree is better for the blog.
Tips and examples: When it comes to peer recognition, the whole world opens up. (And it must be said–it can make your job easier.) Here are some collaborative, peer-driven ideas for employee spotlights:
- Call to peer-give a taco. If you use HeyTaco, use the leaderboard to spotlight the biggest giver. Invite their peers to serve up a virtual taco from their daily allotment, so the biggest giver can enjoy receiving.
- Include everyone in a fun social media post. Companies with enviable cultures often enjoy showing it off. Have them celebrate the peer of their choice Spirit Tunnel-style or with a peer-authored profile in a caption.
- Let them run the Q&A. Let peers submit questions for a spotlight Q&A. What could be better than delivering information the readers really want? It can also take some pressure off the employee who’s answering.
Employee spotlight fails: Mistakes to avoid
Engagements looking a little underwhelming? Make sure your employee spotlights aren’t falling victim to one or more of these common issues.
Generic sentiments and questions.
The biggest issue with spotlight programs that flop is the same as most recognition fails: it reads generic and feels superficial. Everyone, from coworker to client, skims right past pull quotes about being a team player and enjoying a good challenge.
Be specific about why the spotlight is on someone. Ask more questions about their personal interests. Help what’s unique about them or their achievements stand out more.
Making it feel promotional.
Employees can become blind to spotlight recognition because they think it reflects a culture the company wants to project, not the one employees experience. They don’t feel like it’s for them. And in many cases, it isn’t.
Incorporate more peer-involved spotlights. Start with peer nominations, and don’t make a big external show of every spotlight. Do it for small stuff in small spaces, like the team chat.
Only spotlighting performance or those with higher visibility.
Two types of employees fade into the background more often: remote workers and those trying to do better. The attention goes to the superstar performer and the rockstar personality. There is no real team culture if its customs aren’t inclusive.
Include more “get to know” profiles and ways to praise people for a broader range of contributions.
Lack of consistency.
Rolling out a detailed post spotlighting one employee and then no one else for another quarter looks like favoritism. If a spotlight doesn’t perform well, change the angle and the format to something more resonant.
It can also be useful to build up a backlog of small spotlight pieces for various milestones and recognition.
Make employee spotlights fit naturally into your culture
When teams take on peer recognition, it transforms the culture. Positive interactions are part of the workflow, everyone learns to look for the smallest wins, and they use their own special language (🌮) to elevate the ordinary, average “Thank you!” and “You’re the best!”
Think of that daily recognition as a museum, and spotlights as your featured exhibit. Leaderboards and recognition rituals become the inspiration for giving everyone a bigger moment. Build the daily habit with a free trial, and more reasons to share the spotlight will appear.
