How Nucleus kept recognition personal while quadrupling in size

When a company doubles in size, the little personal touches can sometimes be the first to go. Hand-wrapped presents, hand-written notes - all of that. Double again, on the back of four acquisitions and “just send them a little something” quietly turns into a huge project. Especially when you’re dealing with inherited systems that don’t talk to each other, most fast-growing businesses treat that as the price of scaling.

Nucleus didn’t.

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The customer

• Fast-growing financial services investment platform
• Four acquisitions completed
• Headcount grew by 4x over 4 years

Nucleus is a retirement investment platform, working with financial advisers to manage their clients’ wealth and ultimately help make their retirement more rewarding. After a period of seriously impressive growth, the focus turned inward: making sure the people experience grew with the company. Making sure Nucleus was a place where people felt valued, recognised and supported.

“Our whole thing is about working really well for our customers, delivering great outcomes, and making sure that people absolutely love working with us.”

Katie Queen, Nucleus

The challenge: keeping recognition personal through rapid growth

• Four very different companies scattered across the UK, brought together
• Recognition was valued, but inconsistent and difficult to track
• People leaders needed a simpler way to say “thanks!”

Over four years, Nucleus essentially quadrupled its headcount. Not too shabby! But as the business scaled, recognition got harder to manage - which isn’t surprising. There was no simple process, and a lack of systems and legacy approaches clashed with each other. Without a clean, clear, central way to ‘do recognition’, managers kept turning to the People team for help.

“We were constantly getting questions from people leaders: ‘These people have gone above and beyond, can we send them a gift? I just don’t know how to support them.’”

Katie Queen, Nucleus

The solution: no addresses, no admin

• No personal data needed to send a gift
• Recognition sent straight to someone’s inbox
• Options for small thank-yous and bigger moments

Nucleus chose Huggg because it took the friction out of recognising great work. Managers send a gift straight to someone’s inbox, with no addresses to collect and no admin to manage. The person then chooses the option that works best for them.

Micro gifts like an iced coffee on a hot day, or something flaky and delicious from Greggs. Showstoppers like hampers, Virgin Experiences, big name tech, and luxury skincare for those “wow, you’ve smashed it” moments.

“We don’t even have to think about it. We just log in and immediately send something.”

Katie Queen, Nucleus

Their programme: every kind of thank you

• Everyday gestures, like a coffee or a £1.20 Greggs sausage roll
• Bigger moments, like flowers or a box of chocolates

How do you scale the personal touch? By offering choice. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach - just gifts that employees have hand-chosen in minutes. And that means a small everyday gesture lands because it shows someone’s paying attention. It also means a bigger gift marks a bigger moment, in a way that they’ll be bragging to their friends and family about.

“Vouchers can be effective, but sometimes you want to give somebody something really special. You want to send them a physical gift that’s meaningful to them. And vouchers don’t always give you that kind of sentimental recognition.”

Katie Queen, Nucleus

The results: recognition people actually use

• 100% satisfaction from people using Huggg
• Recognition gifts sent in minutes

Huggg quickly became part of how Nucleus celebrates great work - and we’re chuffed to be part of their journey. Now, people leaders recognise someone in minutes - without the barriers that used to slow them down, without the admin overload for the people who hold the pursestrings.

“It’s really taken the burden of admin off the people team, our finance teams, and our people leaders. Everybody absolutely loves it. It’s definitely exceeded my expectations.”

Katie Queen, Nucleus

Our takeaway

When companies grow quickly, recognition gets harder to keep consistent. But that’s when you need to protect employee experience the most. Nucleus knew that, and they already had leaders who wanted to celebrate their teams. They just needed a way to make those moments easier.

It was simple, really:

• Remove the blockers that stopped recognition from happening
• Give people genuine choice, so it feels personal at scale
• Make it easy enough that appreciation becomes a habit

“We have a great partnership with Huggg.”

Katie Queen, Nucleus

Want recognition that scales with you, without losing the personal touch? See how gifting with choice works, or book a demo.