5 min read
See how The Bank of Princeton partnered with Workhuman® to launch TBOP Rewards, turning real-time recognition into a shared language of values across every branch.
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For many community banks, their culture is their brand. For The Bank of Princeton, a New Jersey state-chartered commercial bank and FDIC member with branches across New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, that culture is built on listening to customers, treating people with respect, and being a true resource for the community.
As the bank has steadily expanded since opening its doors in Princeton in 2007, their growth has brought a new challenge: how to keep their service-minded, gratitude-driven culture alive across every branch and every team. They knew they needed a recognition program that could bring their people together in real time and shine a light on what “doing the right thing” looked like every day.
“The Award Feed shows us every day how employees bring to life our mission statement – to be a true resource for our community. Recognition is a win-win for our employees and our organization.”
Anna Maria Potter-Miller
The Bank of Princeton’s Chief Human Resource Officer
The Bank of Princeton’s TBOP Rewards program, created in partnership with Workhuman®, expanded their culture of gratitude and empowered their leaders with recognition data, showing meaningful alignment to their values as they expanded their workforce from 50 to 240 employees.
Selecting a science-backed recognition solution
Before partnering with Workhuman, The Bank of Princeton was only recognizing employees annually during their holiday celebration. While employees were pleased with this program, the company’s leadership felt that there was room for improvement, specifically regarding the timeliness of recognition.
“We wanted to use the program in a different way, so it wasn't just a milestone event, but included recognizing staff in the moment of doing the right thing,” shared Anna Maria Potter-Miller, The Bank of Princeton’s Chief Human Resource Officer.
Did you know? 💡
A Gallup-Workhuman study found that 40% of employees say they receive recognition from their manager, supervisor or a leader a few times a year or less. This same research found that low levels of recognition can be a risk for attrition, and a factor toward disengagement and lower psychological safety at work.
Read the study: Unleashing the Human Element at Work: Transforming Workplaces Through Recognition
After attending Workhuman LiveOpens in a new tab, Anna Maria learned that when working with a partner like Workhuman, recognition could become a new development opportunity, a source of valuable cultural and skills data, and a strategy to improve employee engagement. She was intrigued to learn more about formalizing a new program at her organization.
What set Workhuman apart
When it came time to choose a partner, a few key differentiators made Workhuman the clear choice for The Bank of Princeton.
- In-the moment recognition: Most important to The Bank of Princeton was the way Workhuman’s platform enables timely recognition, helping weave gratitude into the everyday employee experience.
- Mobile app: Workhuman’s easy-to-use mobile app and social-style award feed reinforces the new culture of real-time recognition.
- Reports: Workhuman’s program reports surface relevant data into who is recognizing who and what values are trending, giving leaders continuous visibility into the program’s impact.
- Rewards: The highly customizable points redemptions and the catalog of offerings in the Workhuman Store is unrivaled.
- Service Milestones: Streamlining recognition and years of service anniversaries made for a one-stop-shop program that just made sense across the employee lifecycle.
“By providing a space where employees can acknowledge one another’s contributions and share moments through photos and messages, TBOP Rewards helps bridge the distance between teams, promotes mutual appreciation, and strengthens our shared culture of excellence.”
Aleksandra Kaczor
Human Resource Manager
In 2019, The Bank of Princeton launched TBOP Rewards: their Workhuman-powered recognition program. Since then, TBOP Rewards has been the consistent link which enables their growing workforce to stay connected and inspired across multiple locations. Here’s how:
Memorable first impressions set the tone
The Bank of Princeton makes onboarding new employees to TBOP Rewards a top priority. This ensures that new hires feel included in the wider company culture, and that recognition is a central element of their employee experience, starting on day one.
Did you know? 💡
In the banking and finance industry, new hires receiving just 1 award in their first year are about 40% less likely to leave their organization.
Source: Workhuman IQ cross-client analysis of approximately 92,000 employees across 34 banking and finance customers. Data from July 2024 – June 2025.
Notably, leaders at The Bank of Princeton have begun to see new employees immediately using TBOP Rewards to thank their team trainers and other employees involved in their onboarding processes, showing organic excitement for the program and encouraging a culture of gratitude from the get-go.
Supporting new team members from acquisitions
The Bank of Princeton has also welcomed new employees through several acquisitions. When an acquisition takes place, the team creates a recognition moment to reward the new employees coming into the organization and those who helped support the transition. This reinforces their new shared culture and values.
They’ve also leaned into Workhuman’s global capabilities, such as our built-in translator, to support these transitions.
“We've had a couple of different acquisitions with smaller banks where English may not be the first language for the majority of the employees whom are working there,” explained Anna Maria. “So that’s where the translator really comes into focus for us.”
Meaningful, personalized messages drive greater impact
Beyond ensuring that recognition is accessible to everyone, leaders at The Bank of Princeton also focus on the quality and substance of the messages themselves. By elevating the emotional resonance of recognition messages beyond just simple thanks, they’ve seen TBOP Rewards gain even more cultural significance within the organization.
“I definitely see a difference in terms of how messages are written,” shared Aleksandra Kaczor, Human Resource Manager at The Bank of Princeton. “They go beyond saying thank you, instead they explain what the employee did and why it mattered. Recognition isn’t coming from just one person; multiple colleagues take the time to describe how employees exceed expectations.”
Did you know? 💡
Specificity in award messages is related to lower turnover.
More specific messages most likely mean a more authentic (and thereby impactful) recognition moment, doubling as a positive reinforcement tool. We’ve seen across customers that lower turnover is associated with groups of employees who receive more specific recognition messages.
Source: Workhuman IQ reviewed 1.5 million messages from 730K employees (across 10 clients) to create a logistic regression model of the above data to conclude that the more “specific” a message was, the more likely it is to be associated with lower turnover.
Expanding with Human Intelligence
In April of 2025, The Bank of Princeton rolled out Workhuman’s latest Human Intelligence capabilities, giving them access to even more product features. They’ve also enabled Recognition Advisor, Reward Stories, and Culture Hub, helping them create a deeply impactful and well-rounded program for their dedicated employees.
The Bank of Princeton has since observed that newer, younger leaders have been more passionate about the program than in the past, as they understand the importance of a positive employee experience. They’ve also observed a pattern that younger employees are more invested in creating a culture of gratitude, showing the importance of a positive company culture for attracting Millennial and Gen Z employees.
“As our organization has grown, the TBOP Rewards program has evolved to play a vital role in fostering connection and recognition across our branches,” shared Aleksandra. “By providing a space where employees can acknowledge one another’s contributions and share moments through photos and messages, TBOP Rewards helps bridge the distance between teams, promotes mutual appreciation, and strengthens our shared culture of excellence.”
Bringing visibility to community impact
One beautifully unique facet of The Bank of Princeton’s company culture is their focus on community impact. A large degree of their TBOP Rewards awards features employees thanking one another for their participation in community service events and other volunteer initiatives. In fact, 25.9% of the awards sent in 2025 were for alignment with the company’s core value of “Making a Difference.”
In fact, 25.9% of the awards sent in 2025 were for alignment with the company’s core value of “Making a Difference.”
Did you know? 💡
When recognition is connected to strategic initiatives, workers are 129% more likely to understand how their work contributes compared with those whose recognition isn’t linked to strategic initiatives.
Read the study: Workhuman Global Research Study: Recognition as an Engine for Strategy
Analysis of TBOP Rewards data has also revealed that many of the most frequent users of the program have also become culture carriers in other areas of the organization. These highly engaged cultural activators are often found executing in-person events and furthering togetherness, positivity, and joy within the organization.
Measuring the ROI of recognition
Beyond the palpable cultural changes, leaders at The Bank of Princeton have also observed improvements in employee performance reviews. Since recognition can be given peer-to-peer, not just manager-to-employee, these messages also provide more well-rounded, objective feedback on employee behavior. This can help make performance review more encompassing and less biased, bolstering equity across the organization.
When talking about the impact and results of TBOP Rewards, Anna Maria reflected, “You can see it in the performance reviews and in our turnover rates. It’s also reinforced in staff meetings and visible in the pictures displayed on the TBOP Rewards site.”
Overall, the TBOP Rewards program has helped The Bank of Princeton’s employees stay connected to each other and their community at large, promoting psychological safety and belonging within the organization. And just as importantly, recognition has brought that visibility to The Bank of Princeton’s community-driven mission.
“Through TBOP Rewards, we see our staff volunteering more with our local food banks, pantries, shelters, and other charities we support. The Award Feed shows us every day how employees bring to life our mission statement – to be a true resource for our community. Recognition is a win-win for our employees and our organization,” Anna Maria shared.
Culture will always be a central element of The Bank of Princeton’s employer brand. TBOP Rewards enables The Bank of Princeton’s employees to celebrate those moments that matter, from highlighting a branch helping in the local soup kitchen or organizing a backpack drive, to wishing an employee a happy birthday, honoring years of service milestones, or even naming their Employees of the Year.
Through this partnership, recognition has become a true cornerstone of culture at The Bank of Princeton, supporting their team as they strive for excellence both within their company and in their community at large.