Barilla: From Service Milestones to Fully Powered Recognition
Barilla aimed to solve an operational challenge: bring consistency and compliance to Years of Service awards. But the real cultural transformation came when that foundation enabled peer-to-peer recognition that engaged both corporate and frontline employees.
Social Recognition
Service Milestones
In 1877, Pietro Barilla opened a small bread and pasta shop in Parma, Italy. Fast forward about 150 years, and Barilla Group is now a global powerhouse with food products present in more than 100 countries.
As a world leader in pasta, ready-made sauces and bakery products, this Italian family-owned food company now employs a workforce of about 9,000 employees and has production sites in 10 countries. Today, Workhuman helps Barilla to recognize and connect employees across its North American plants and corporate offices.
Transforming Years of Service Awards into a Compliant, Equitable Solution
Before Workhuman, each North American location celebrated service anniversaries differently. Gift cards were distributed inconsistently, spending wasn't centrally tracked, and payroll compliance had become increasingly difficult for Barilla's lean HR team.
“There were gift cards all over the place. Nobody knew who was getting them; we weren’t able to track it. Some departments were doing it more than others,” explains Jessica Sharpe, Human Resources Manager at Barilla.
Barilla partnered with Workhuman to modernize and personalize their Years of Service anniversary program, and in 2017, Barilla Bravo was established. The newly minted Service Milestones program included peer congratulations, manager messages and reminders, and flexible reward choices for employees to choose their own anniversary gifts.
“With the personalization, inviting other people to congratulate them on their milestone, having the special manager message – even from the options, in terms of what employees could claim with their points – it was a big easy decision there.”
Scaling Barilla Bravo to Support Employee Recognition
After modernizing Service Milestones, Barilla turned their attention to everyday recognition.
“We realized it’d be a good time to up our game in the appreciative feedback space,” Jessica says.
In 2019, Barilla expanded their partnership with Workhuman to create a formal, scalable peer-to-peer Social Recognition program. Expanding Barilla Bravo gave the organization the tools to recognize employees around company values, manage recognition budgets across locations, and centralize recognition data — all while creating a more social employee experience.
Lucinda Ehlen, Learning & Development Manager at Barilla, shares that the ability to link recognition to organizational values and Workhuman’s specialized budget and compliance features were what stood out most to Barilla’s executive team.
“Our CFO was really happy with the compliance component,” Lucinda says.
Supporting Frontline Workers with Recognition
With a substantial amount of their North American workforce in plants, the Barilla team knew they had to launch a strategic communication plan that spanned both their corporate offices and frontline workforce.
Success depended on making recognition equally accessible for employees working on production lines and in office. That meant thinking beyond email and designing a launch that reached employees wherever they worked. To support that effort, Barilla's rollout included virtual and in-person trainings, new hire onboarding, manager education, physical signage, digital displays, and HR communications.
The team expected adoption to be strongest among corporate employees, but when discussing Barilla Bravo’s impact on their frontline workforce, Jessica shares:
“I think that's probably our biggest win. Where we had the most doubt about the program – they're using it almost just as much as the corporate team.”
Jessica credits the program’s success to three things:
- Easy-to-use Workhuman app: About 44% of all program logins are on a mobile device – this access is key for frontline workers.
- Spend management tool: “Each location can manage their own budget…. that helps the administrative side for sure,” Jessica says.
- Engaged managers: “I know the supervisors there, most of them are really good about using it… It’s really coming from their leadership and that spreads,” Jessica adds.
Recognition as a Proven Culture Strategy
Reflecting on the initial launch of their peer-to-peer Social Recognition expansion, Jessica says, “We definitely did see some boosts in our engagement survey.”
Some of the other long-term results the Barilla team highlighted include:
- Increased employee engagement: Survey results continue to indicate high engagement. The administrator team regularly receives positive feedback about the program, and a stronger alignment to their values has been established.
- Operational efficiency and compliance: The program is low maintenance and self-sustaining at this point. The team successfully eliminated untracked rewards and improved payroll and tax compliance.
- Integrating a growing workforce: As Barilla welcomed new Canadian employees following an acquisition, Barilla Bravo helped create one consistent recognition experience while streamlining processes, improving reporting, and enabling global leaders with a turnkey solution.
- Growing together in innovation: The partnership has evolved as program needs have changed. Whether it's expanding the platform, introducing new award values, or integrating recognition into new initiatives, Workhuman’s partnership doesn't end at implementation.
“We did roll out new values…. [Bravo] was one communication platform that we used to reiterate what the new values are and how to award for those behaviors. I definitely would say it's very connected to our culture and way of being.”
What began as a partnership to modernize work anniversary awards has ultimately evolved into something much bigger. Recognition has become a strategic part of how Barilla connects employees across plants and offices, reinforcing their values, and creating a more consistent employee experience for everyone.
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