British Airways: Taking Employee Recognition to New Heights

"Flying is magic."

That’s the core belief of global airline British Airways, which has been bringing people, places, and diverse cultures together for more than 100 years. For British AirwaysOpens in a new tab, flying is “one of humankind’s greatest achievements” – and one that not only connects people and places around the world, but that also drives the global economy, creates quality jobs, and delivers aid when people need it most.

Such important work means British Airways needs the support and commitment of its global employee base of 39,000 – inclusive of cabin crew, pilots, engineers, and office-based colleagues. To that end, the airline partnered with Workhuman^® to build and scale a global employee recognition program that would make all employees feel seen, valued, and appreciated for the work they do. Let’s take a closer look.

Making a splash to 39,000 employees.

Originally intended to boost British Airways’ employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) by driving employee engagement, satisfaction, morale, and connection, the recognition program hit a major roadblock just seven months after its inception – the COVID-19 pandemic, which we all know would drastically impact the aviation industry. 

While the pandemic caused the organization to make changes, British Airways continued to encourage employees through Above & Beyond, their newly minted recognition program, complete with Service Milestones^® and Inclusion Advisor. By 2022, however, they were ready to relaunch the program – and the team knew they’d need to double down on communication efforts to make a big splash. 

A three-pronged approach to engage employees.

British Airways set up a three-pronged approach to generate excitement, engage employees, and strategically communicate the perks and benefits of recognition through Above & Beyond. Workhuman was their partner every step of the way.

Phase 1: Generate excitement.

Enter: Thank You Fest. The event, which transformed headquarters into a festival with food stalls, a live band, dance floor, and more, was all about recognizing the employees who drive the business forward.  

“We wanted to build on the Workhuman platform with all the great recognition that we’ve had,” explained Chris Jones, colleague recognition manager at British Airways.

CJ

“We invited 250 colleagues who had received the most recognition across the whole of the company to come to a recognition event hosted by our CEO. We had all the management committee there presenting awards to the people who've received the most recognition aligned to our company values.”

Now having celebrated their third Thank You Fest, colleagues from all over the world, including Delhi, Los Angeles, Chicago, Bahrain, and Bratislava, have been invited and honored.

Phase 2: Reengage employees.

Next, it was a recognition moment from British Airways’ CEO – an all-employee Team Award for Employee Appreciation Day – that further drove the program’s value to each and every employee.

“I think what helped us was getting into the email inboxes of the whole company in a different way than usual,” Chris noted.

Chris took advantage of this momentum, traveling around the world and presenting in more than 100 roadshows on the program’s rich Workhuman data and the impact of recognition to key leadership and management teams, promoting Above & Beyond to different departments, and helping individuals with program access.

CJ

“Colleagues were probably used to getting emails from senior leaders to say thanks for their hard work or for company updates, but to actually send a piece of recognition through the platform from the CEO was something that we hadn’t done before. And then we saw a huge increase in Above & Beyond usage after that.”

Phase 3: Strategically communicate.

During this time, British Airways ran intranet articles about Above & Beyond, spotlighting outstanding awards in the program. They also established recognition champions throughout the company and tapped their Workhuman consultants to help sustain the positive energy throughout their organization moving forward.

Perhaps most critical to increasing access to the program, British Airways integrated Above & Beyond right into their MS Teams application. Post-pandemic, they had migrated to Teams – a vital lifeline for their global workforce. The visibility of their recognition program directly from within Teams helped build connection and culture across their disparate, remote workforce.

“We've found that's been really successful – just the ability to have notifications in Teams. People spend their working days in there, so they don't have to come out of Teams and go into other apps to send that recognition. It's just really easy and simple for colleagues to use,” Chris shared. 

An award-winning recognition program.

Workhuman has witnessed firsthand how British Airways’ determination and perseverance pays off – and there’s more than 600,000 moments of colleague recognition to prove it.  

British Airways did a phenomenal job connecting their workers – those who use Teams, and those who are offline – to drive recognition across the organization. In fact, they reported a 60-point increase in their eNPS scores, and the Above & Beyond program played a significant role in achieving that. 

CJ

“We had lots of great data from Workhuman. … We were able to combine that with our engagement surveys, explore those two sets of data and work with our leadership teams to increase the recognition activity, to in turn increase our eNPS scores for colleagues.”

With eNPS on the rise, British Airways also decided to expand their recognition program to include Life Events. For them, it was a no-brainer. They had already seen a major impact on turnover for employees who are recognized, as well as the positive impact recognition has on new hires.

It’s because of these outstanding efforts and results that British Airways was officially recognized as a recipient of the 2024 Amplify Award at Workhuman® LiveOpens in a new tab. This award goes to customers who use creative communications to drive a culture of recognition. It honors organizations who’ve adapted and tailored their recognition program to reach each and every employee.

In 2025, Chris reflected that being able to show the impact of recognition on the workforce was a key measure of success, especially coming out of the pandemic. As they’ve spent the last few years rebuilding their culture, he reflected on how engagement and morale have shifted for the better.

In summary, British Airways’ employee recognition program has allowed a workplace culture centered around company values to take off. It’s driven higher employee engagement and retention, impacting the bottom line by reinforcing strong performance. What new heights will British Airways soar to next? We’re excited to fasten our seatbelts and see!