Overview
About McCormick & Company
McCormick & Company is the world’s #1 herbs, spices, and hot sauce company, a 136-year-old global brand whose flavors touch “every sip and every bite” of food around the world. With 14,000 employees across manufacturing, distribution, R&D, supply chain, and corporate offices, McCormick is known for its remarkably consistent people-first culture.
The Challenge
A global workforce outgrew a decades-old system
For years, McCormick relied on manual, time-intensive recognition processes (some dating back to the 1990s) and a legacy vendor. Programs differed by region, required heavy administrative lift, and could take up to 24 hours per recognition cycle. With 70% of employees offline, it became increasingly difficult to deliver an equitable, unified experience that reflected the company’s culture of great work.
“It’s pretty awesome to work at a company that flavors something you eat every day… powered by fourteen thousand employees all around the world who do great work."
Sarah Piper, CHRO
“You come to work and you feel like family… I just enjoy coming to work."
MJ Jones, Team Manager
Despite the strong culture, recognition lacked visibility, consistency, and alignment with McCormick’s competencies and values. Leaders saw a strategic gap: recognition wasn’t driving measurable behavior change. It wasn’t daily, intrinsic, or equitable.
To close that gap, McCormick identified key needs for a modern, scalable program:
- One platform to connect thousands of dispersed employees
- Behavioral nudges tied to core competencies
- Measurement to see if values were truly being lived
- A consistent experience across all regions
- A simple, scalable platform backed by true partnership
- A program that promoted organic adoption
“We know we’re a people-first organization… and to keep delivering, we needed the right tools and technology to build a culture of everyday impactful recognition."
Sierra Capone, Director of Wellbeing & Employee Experience
“We really got serious about thinking through how recognition fit into our strategic roadmap as a company."
Sarah Piper, CHRO
McCormick ultimately selected Awardco for three reasons: global accessibility and ease of use, continuous innovation, and a true partnership, not just a platform.
The Solution
Bravo: McCormick’s vision for a unified, people-first recognition culture
Before launching any programs, McCormick redefined what great recognition meant for their organization. Through workshops and manager huddles, they socialized the belief that recognition must be:
- Every day and accessible
- Meaningful
- Values-aligned
- Peer-driven
- Intrinsically motivated
That groundwork sparked grassroots excitement before Bravo even launched.
“We know that there is a direct tie between how recognized and appreciated someone feels and how engaged they are and productive in their work.”
Sierra Capone, Director, Wellbeing & Employee Experience
“We call it Bravo. We check our Bravo feed. It rapidly expands the number of people I feel like I'm in contact with and can interact with.”
Sarah Piper, CHRO
Change management and a global platform built for everyone
The Bravo implementation was a masterclass in execution. McCormick seamlessly transitioned off their previous provider, migrated processes and integrations, trained thousands of employees, and built a global network of Bravo Champions who powered grassroots adoption. The platform launched on time, on budget, and with zero downtime. It also aligned perfectly with Employee Appreciation Day. Within just eight weeks, Bravo exceeded its six-month adoption target.
Intrinsic, non-monetary recognition strategy
Rather than flooding the platform with points, McCormick focused first on habit building:
- Spotlighting great work
- Strengthening cultural behaviors
- Building connection across regions
- Promoting values and new competencies
This decision accelerated authentic participation.
“The exciting part isn’t just that people love being recognized—it’s how eager they are to recognize their peers. That enthusiasm speaks to our culture. There’s a real appetite for recognition because it matters, because they care, and because they want others to feel appreciated.”
Sierra Capone, Director, Wellbeing & Employee Experience
Designed for the deskless majority
Frontline employees, many without regular computer access, became some of the strongest adopters of Bravo.
“With 70% of our workforce in what we call frontline, so that would be our frontline manufacturing and distribution roles, it was really important to us when implementing this that we would be able to connect more effectively.” — Sarah Piper, CHRO
Managers were trained to model recognition early and consistently. The Bravo feed quickly became a global space to:
- Celebrate wins
- Acknowledge life milestones
- See what colleagues worldwide were accomplishing
- Create community beyond physical locations
“Ease of access is where we’re trying to bridge the gap so everyone can participate. Bravo makes recognition more visible for all of us. It takes a team—everyone has a piece of the puzzle—and recognition is something we can take home with us.”
Dave Hall, Department Manager
A behavioral flywheel powered by data
The McCormick team is heavily data-driven, building out sophisticated dashboards that pull:
- Recognition volume
- Competency and values tagging
- Peer- vs. manager-recognition ratios
- Cross-region participation
- Correlations to engagement scores
- Turnover and retention metrics
- Performance review alignment
This marks the first time McCormick has real-time insight into the behaviors driving culture.
“Awardco has not only given us a platform for recognition, but real-time data to drive strategy across our people organization—things we couldn’t even measure before.”
Sierra Capone, Director, Wellbeing & Employee Experience
The Results
Rapid, grassroots cultural adoption
Employees embraced Bravo far faster than expected:
- 50% platform adoption within the first 6 weeks (initial goal: 40% in 3 months)
- Reached 6 month adoption target in 8 weeks
- Over 6,500 non-monetary “just because” recognitions in the first 90 days
- Nearly 11,500 social recognitions exchanged within the first six months across 14,000 users
- Over 1/3 of peer-to-peer activity comes from offline and deskless workers
- 4.2/5 ease of use and 4.0/5 cultural impact in surveys
“Bravo has been a real game changer for us. Every day, employees are actively seeking out opportunities to recognize one another. They can celebrate meaningful milestones in their own lives and in their peers’ lives, and they can see great work happening across the organization. It’s created space for recognition to thrive.”
Lola Fawole, VP of HR Americas
Meaningful administrative efficiency gains
Manual workflows previously consumed massive hours, but Awardco eliminates the busywork:
- 1,200+ hours reclaimed annually
- Standardized processes for milestones
- Reduced administrative burden across HR and ops teams
Global values and competencies brought to life
Bravo expanded visibility across continents, time zones, and departments. It became the mechanism to reinforce:
- Newly defined global competencies
- Values-based behaviors
- Leadership modeling of recognition
- Region-specific cultural nuances
Employees now recognize each other for the right things, regardless of where they work, and McCormick can measure it in real time.
A human-centered counterbalance to AI
With AI advancing rapidly in operations, Bravo reinforces the human element:
“With AI becoming more prominent, recognition helps us maintain the humanity and connection that define our culture. It highlights where employees create true value, even as technology expands.”
Lola Fawole, VP of HR Americas
McCormick’s Bravo program is more than a platform, it’s a global recognition movement.
Through intentional culture groundwork, thoughtful design, inclusive access, and powerful data insights, McCormick turned recognition into a scalable, strategic advantage that honors its heritage while preparing its workforce for the future.
Get a demo today to see how recognition can transform your own organization.
