Company Overview
About America First Credit Union
America First Credit Union (AFCU), founded in 1939, is the 6th largest credit union in the U.S. and employs over 3,300 people. It manages over $11 billion in assets for its 1 million members.
The Challenge
Switching from high-touch to fully digital recognition
America First Credit Union (AFCU) built its culture on personalised recognition and world-class service. Their bi-annual bonus programme was central to this, fostering connection between managers and employees across their 3,300-person workforce.
But then the pandemic hit.
Over 1,800 employees transitioned to remote work, and the original bonus system—high-touch and manually administered— was no longer sustainable.
The Solutions
Rapid adaption regardless of circumstances
Luckily, AFCU had already implemented Awardco for their service award programmes just months earlier in October 2019. After a smooth launch, they turned to Awardco again to ask if Awardco could help them reimagine their bonus programme digitally.
The answer: absolutely.
Within days, Awardco delivered a unique digital solution, and within two weeks, AFCU's bi-annual bonus programme was fully live for all employees—remote and in-office.
This allowed employees to stay connected to each other and to a culture of appreciation, regardless of global circumstances.
Significant time savings and expanded possibilities
Before Awardco, AFCU's bonus programme was so complex it required an entire department to stop work for a day—twice a year.
Now, the same programme is:
- Run by just two people
- Completed in a few hours
- Fully trackable in real time
Not only has administrative time required gone done by over 92%, but they have full visibility into budgeting and timing. Jodi Gonzales, HR Manager at AFCU, said,
"Before Awardco we had very little insight into our physical recognition programmes, but now we have real-time budgetary updates, an incredible time savings, and more options for rewards than ever. It's been a game changer"
The Results
Personalised recognition at scale
With Awardco, AFCU has achieved:
- A complete digital transformation of a once manual, labour-intensive bonus programme
- A reduction in admin time that's saved the AFCU team 296 hours annually
- New levels of budgeting visibility and expanded recognition opportunities
Awardco helped AFCU protect and even elevate their culture of appreciation—proving that with the right tools, high-touch recognition can thrive in a remote world.
