A fun new tool to motivate and recognise employees at work

By Kelly Kass

Jenifer Jurden has been drawing cartoons since she was in the fourth grade.  As the daughter of former News Journal political cartoonist, Jack Jurden, she had plenty of inspiration along the way.  

“My Dad had a frog at the bottom of his cartoons and I remember thinking ‘Wow, I want to have my own character.’ So I started developing characters in cartoon drawings and passing them out at the bus stop and in classrooms,” Jurden remembers.

One of those cartoons was Jurdy, a character who Jurden feels has the potential to greatly impact the world of employee communications. So much so that she quit her job in Corporate America to devote all her time into turning the cartoon into an effective motivational tool for employees.

Who is Jurdy?

Jurden designed the cartoon to be universal in appeal, neither male nor female; just someone that everyone can relate to. In a corporate environment, Jurdy serves as the voice of employees. Jurden explains:

“Jurdy is an innovative spokes-being who engages and motivates employees on a psychologically intuitive level through the use of compassion and humor, aka comic relief. So Jurdy understands the plight of everybody in the workplace and what it’s like to have to go to work everyday, specifically now in this challenging economic environment."

As a corporate veteran of 26 years, Jurden knows first-hand how effective it can be to provide a spokes-being for the work force: someone who celebrates their successes and feels their pain – particularly during times of change.

“I worked for a Fortune 100 company (MBNA) that eventually got bought out by Bank of America.  When they came in and announced they were going to be purchasing our company, everybody was stressed, everybody was fearful for their jobs. Jurdy was significant in helping employees deal with their fears.  I actually did cartoons about the merger and put them on everybody’s desk in the morning before they got in which helped to relax people in my department. Jurdy even became an icebreaker in some of the meetings between Bank of America and MBNA,” Jurden recalls.

She continues, “Being a credit card company we had thousands of people who had to work on the phones talking to customers. As a morale booster I was asked by Management to design Jurdy notepads that employees used to take down information and complaints while fielding difficult calls with customers.” 

Case study: WSFS Bank

For the past year and a half, Jurden has been working with WSFS Bank in Wilmington, Delaware to adapt Jurdy into the bank’s employee (Associate) communications. She explains:

“What we did was develop an Associate idea generation program with Jurdy at the helm. Instead of staff stressing about an uncertain economy, they can come into work and share any ideas they have about how to make the company better.”

That usually entails filling out a form on the intranet with Jurdy prompting them for ideas. Suggestions can also be submitted via email. In all cases, the bank’s 600+ Associates are encouraged to think outside the box, whether it’s an idea about a product, a service, a cost savings or a revenue-generating project. Each idea is reviewed by Senior Managers at the company.

Jurdy gives Associates the opportunity to evaluate how they are doing things and what can be done to improve. There have been several Associate-driven ideas about back office form revisions and process improvements. Jurdy has also been tied to the systems change management process as ideas have been implemented to improve how banking systems serve Customers.

And don’t forget green! Trends identified through submitted ideas lead WSFS to an energy savings initiative called the “killa-watt kause” to reduce Bank-wide energy consumption. The resulting savings enabled WSFS to partner with the Delaware Center for Horticulture to maintain the plant life on one of its traffic islands in Wilmington Delaware.

It’s ideas like these that are allowing the bank to save a significant amount of money – the greatest ROI for any communications program.

“What we’re starting to tell people is that if they have high participation throughout the organization, they can realize thousands of dollars in savings in one year,” Jurden says.

Another benefit to using the Jurdy-themed idea generation program is its ability to break down silos in the company, getting employees in various departments communicating with one another regardless of their position on the org chart.

Associate recognition

Recognition can come in a variety of forms. One form is the “SPARKtificate”, a recognition certificate Associates receive for work towards ideas. What makes these unique is the fact that these can be awarded regardless of whether or not an idea is implemented. The goal is to create a culture that values any and all contributions to ideas, even if it does not pan out. Putting a fresh twist on the traditional “Employee of the Month” campaign, hard-working WSFS Associates can also be recognized with a customized Jurdy cartoon to display in their cubicles. Then there is also cash recognition tied to idea milestones. The more ideas get implemented, the greater the cash rewards. Combined these various forms of recognition have had quite an impact. Engagement scores are up company-wide and WSFS’ culture of innovation is becoming stronger by the day. 

So is Jurdy working?

According to the figures, the answer is a resounding yes. Jurden points out that Associate and Customer engagement metrics have significantly increased at WSFS and turnover has decreased by 40%. In 2009, the The News Journal named the WSFS Financial Corporation “Best in the Business” in the state of Delaware.  The bank has also been recognized by Gallup for the ability to grow and maintain an engaged work force in spite of a challenging economy.  Of particular interest, one of the Associate Engagement questions asked is “does your opinion count?”.  As a result of Jurdy there was a significant increase noted.

What’s next?

With the success WSFS has achieved with introducing Jurdy into their internal communications, Jurden is hoping to further develop employee motivation programs in other organizations, to also include the ever growing corporate Green initiatives. 

For those companies interested in starting their own Jurdy idea generation programs, Jurden and her team work with the companies to create a smart and engaging Jurdy package designed for a fast and efficient implementation that can include the company’s intranet and other communication vehicles.

“What I recommend is that they have an information center where employees can learn more about the program: what makes a good idea; what makes the process work; what ideas have already been submitted; the success of the program to date and how their ideas have had a direct impact on the bottom line and how they can track their Jurdy ideas.”

At the time of this interview, Jurden was fielding multiple requests to incorporate Jurdy into the performance appraisal process.

“Who wants to do employee reviews when you have all your other work to do? So I’ll create Jurdy cartoons and employee communications tackling that very issue. One of my most popular drawings is Jurdy behind mounds of paper gearing up to conduct an employee evaluation. What happens is that employees say, ‘Yes! That is exactly how I feel,’ making them more inclined to go ahead with the performance appraisal because they feel more understood by the company.”

But is Jurdy for everyone? According to Jurden,

“Jurdy can pretty much be absorbed into any culture. Jurdy wears different hats, Jurdy can have different themes. In the case of WSFS, we created a very customized Jurdy program specific to their needs and culture. That can be done in any organization…there’s a Jurdy for everyone!”

There are even plans to take Jurdy on the road – Jurden says a mascot is in the works so expect to see Jurdy at a corporate event near you.  

“My goal is to get a lot more companies on board. The toughest sell is to those people who say they can’t afford a new program right now. However, I don’t see how you can afford not to do this. The program at WSFS has paid for itself many times over while realizing $350,000 in savings to date.

When you consider the gold mine of wisdom employees have on where the waste is, where the redundancy is, where the inefficiencies are – so few companies are really tapping into their full potential right now. Many companies don’t have a vehicle to encourage employee collaborating, sharing and innovating. Jurdy is a company’s neutral voice who encourages out of the box thinking and makes it okay to help the company with ideas and observations they have every day. There is the tried and true suggestion box, but it stops there… suggestions.  Jurdy takes it many steps further where innovative thinking becomes part of the culture. Every time employees see Jurdy, every time that name is mentioned, they think innovation and how they can contribute. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.”

(For more on my interview with Jenifer, click on the audio clip below or simply press your spacebar.)