HR, AI & Recognition: 3 lessons from our expert panel

How human is HR? In an increasingly AI-powered world, it’s a question worth asking - especially when it comes to recognition. Because let’s be honest: we’re all trying to recapture the feeling of having a shiny gold star stuck to your homework. 

Our Commercial Director, Lewis Quick, joined an expert panel of three people who think about recognition every day (even long after they should’ve logged off…):

• Alys Pearce, Chief of Staff at Octopus EV
   
• James Hems, Head of HR at a Bluewave Technology
   
• Hosted by Adam Horne, Co-founder of Open Org

Together, they explored what human recognition looks like today - and how HR teams can keep their culture warm, welcoming and connected. Robots or no robots!

Watch the webinar back here, or read our summary below. Here are the biggest takeaways:

1. Recognition is like ice cream

James from Bluewave came up with an analogy worthy of a fridge magnet: recognition is like ice cream.

• Give someone an ice cream too late? It’s melted
• Give them a flavour they don’t like? It falls flat
• Give them their favourite flavour, in the moment? Bingo

The panel agreed that meaningful recognition relies on three things:

1. Timeliness: recognition needs to happen as soon as possible after the behaviour or moment being recognised - otherwise it loses power
    
2. Personalisation: some love a public shoutout, others want private praise - treat recognition preferences like knowing someone’s coffee order
    
3. Clarity: tell people why you’re recognising them. It’s “Thank you” vs. “Thank you for…” that really makes the difference, and shows that they’re seen

2. Failure deserves to be recognised

Have you worked in an office with a sales team? Then you may have seen (or rather, heard!) them ringing a bell after each sale. Or ringing a gong, as we’ve witnessed in some businesses… 

Most organisations only recognise the wins. But where does that leave those who sweated over projects that didn’t come off, or background roles without obvious outcomes?

The panel talked about moving from a results-only culture to one that rewards inputs: collaboration, creativity, courage, effort, behaviours, and values.

Why it matters:

• Teams are braver, and more innovative when they feel safe to fail
• Recognising high effort builds confidence, whatever the outcome
• This reinforces a growth mindset rather than a fear-based one

It’s not a participation medal, or about lowering the bar. It’s about recognising the entirety of someone, and the energy they give to the organisation.

3. AI can’t replace human connection

The main topic of this discussion was AI. And that’s because, across the workforce, it can be a scary entity: 

• Younger workers worry about being replaced
• Managers aren’t sure what to automate
• It can be misused: in one horror-story example, a CEO used AI to send recognition to a people leader - and it felt careless and empty

The consensus: AI is brilliant for admin. Not so much for human connection.

Use AI for:

• summarising
• organising
• nudging
• logistics
• removing HR busywork 

Do not use AI for:

• praise
• empathy
• recognition messages
• emotionally nuanced communication

As Alys from Octopus EV put it: psychological safety comes from human connection.

Real-world ideas you can steal for your own teams

As you’d expect, the webinar was chockablock with doable, scalable ways to recognise staff. Here are the highlights:

Create recognition profiles

Capture how each person prefers to be recognised. Publicly? Privately? With snacks? With a message? With something practical? It prevents awkwardness and massively increases impact.

Reverse recognition works wonders

A thank-you from a junior employee can completely soften a senior leader. Sometimes it’s the smallest “I saw you” moment that humanises the whole hierarchy.

Use values-based emojis or shortcuts

One team uses three specific emojis in Slack to represent company values. This allows for a micro-moment of recognition anyone can give.

Ask about favourite Huggg gifts

Teams that know each other’s tastes avoid gifting misfires. Don’t assume that Veronica loves flowers, she might hate them! It always pays to ask, and listen.

Send seasonal wellbeing gestures

Octopus EV sends winter vitamin packs, to counteract sickness season - a small gesture that’s consistently loved and talked about.

Capture personal details from 1:1s

Not just what’s on the to-do list - the meaningful stuff. Favourite films. Food dislikes. Holidays planned. What the kids are up to. It pays off the moment you want to send something thoughtful.

Applaud learning, not just winning

Adam told us how Euro highlights one employee per month for experimenting with AI - regardless of outcome - rewarding curiosity, and making space for growth.

Prioritise thoughtful surprises

The smallest moment - like buying someone a book they mentioned once - can leave a lasting impression that they’re listened to and cared for. 

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

Lewis told a story where Huggg CEO Paul was suffering through a heatwave, and encouraged everyone to have the afternoon off (and a gift of ice cream!) to stay cool.

Questions that came up:

How do you balance recognition with constructive feedback?

The panel’s responses:

• Feedback is a form of recognition - it acknowledges contribution.
   
• The two should complement, not replace each other
   
• Use frameworks (like Radical Candor, or COIN) to keep feedback actionable and fair
   
• Recognise positive behaviours even when discussing improvement areas
   
• Step into people’s shoes before responding - emotional intelligence is the real differentiator.
   
• Ground your culture in values rather than pure results - it makes recognition more inclusive and less competitive.

How do you prevent recognition becoming competitive or gamified?

A common fear is that recognition programmes become popularity contests. Here’s what the panel would say:

• Focus recognition on behaviours, not targets
   
• Make recognition open to everyone, in all directions - not limited to managers.
   
• Avoid public rankings or “top recognisers of the month.”
   
• Give people private moments of praise if they dislike attention
   
• Celebrate experimentation and effort, not just success
   
• Ensure leaders model inclusive, consistent recognition
   
• Keep praise specific and personal, not formulaic
   
• Most importantly: recognition shouldn’t be something people earn - it’s something people feel

Final takeaways

Watch the webinar back here

Always a treat to chat about employee recognition, especially with people who really know what they’re talking about. And if we learnt anything from this webinar, it’s this: recognition will always be human.

AI is an incredibly useful tool for cutting down on admin, tidying your workflow, and even making it possible to recognise people at scale. 

But it can’t spot the band on their t-shirt and remember to send their new album. 

It can’t notice they seemed a bit flat in that last Teams call, and send them a sweet treat as a pick-me-up. 

It can’t make them feel seen.

And to go back to that ice cream analogy: when it’s your least favourite flavour and melted? It makes a mess of things, and leaves a bad taste in your mouth. 

But some handing you a perfectly chosen cone on a hot day? Yeah, that’ll make you feel appreciated.

***

We’ve built a platform that handles the admin side of gifting for you, so you can focus on building human connections - reach out to hear more.