15 Must-Have Inspirus Features to Strengthen Culture in a Workplace

Whether you realize it or not, your organization already has a culture. The question is: was it built intentionally, or did it just happen?

Culture is shaped in the day-to-day interactions that influence how people feel at work. A peer recognizing extra effort. A manager celebrating a win. A teammate stepping up to help without being asked. These small moments are what truly define workplace culture.

But when those moments are inconsistent or isolated, culture becomes fragmented. It starts to look and feel different across teams, making it harder to create a cohesive experience or shared sense of identity.

That’s why employee recognition matters. It’s one of the most effective ways to reinforce and unite culture across an organization. In this blog, we’ll break down why building a cohesive workplace culture is more important than ever and 15 Inspirus Connects features that help you shape it with intention.

Why Strong Workplace Culture Matters

Workplace culture is the shared set of values, norms, behaviors and communication styles that define an organization. It’s how people interact, collaborate, lead and support each other every single day.

And while it’s easy to talk about culture, it’s hard to get right. That’s because culture isn’t built through one-time initiatives or top-down policies. It takes shape in everyday interactions across your organization. These small moments, repeated over time, define how people show up and shape the culture your employees experience.

The Impact of a Strong Culture

When culture is strong, people show up and do their best work.  According to SHRM’s 2024 State of Global Workplace Culture, 83% of employees who rate their workplace culture as good or excellent feel motivated to produce high-quality work. In toxic environments, that number drops to just 45%.

A positive culture also strengthens retention and reputation. The report reveals that employees in healthy workplace cultures are nearly four times more likely to stay with their current employer, and over 8 in 10 respondents say they’d recommend their organization to others.

Culture doesn’t just affect how people feel. It directly impacts your ability to keep top talent, attract new hires and maintain a brand people want to work with and buy from. It’s foundational to business success.

The Cost of a Toxic Workplace Culture

Unfortunately, many organizations are facing the opposite reality. In 2025, only 2 in 10 U.S. employees say they feel connected to their company culture. 

Toxic work environments are also more common than leaders may realize. According to APA’s 2024 Work in America survey, 15% of employees say their workplace is somewhat or very toxic. Even more telling, 59% believe their employer thinks the work environment is healthier than it actually is.

The Role of Employee Recognition in Improving Culture

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Organizations have a powerful lever they can pull to turn things around: employee recognition.

Recognition has proven to be one of the most effective ways to shape and reinforce workplace culture. Research from Gallup reveals that employees who receive meaningful recognition are 5x more likely to feel connected to company culture and 4x more likely to be engaged. The catch? Nearly three-fourths of employees say they haven’t received recent recognition.

That’s where the right recognition platform can make all the difference. Let’s explore how Inspirus can help.

How Inspirus Helps Build Culture

Strong workplace culture is rooted in connection — between employees, their peers and the values that define your organization. It’s those everyday interactions, like giving recognition, sharing support or living the values, that turn culture from a concept into something people actually feel. 

But in the modern workplace, keeping people aligned across roles, locations and schedules is a real challenge. Every organization is different. Some teams are fully remote, others are on-site and many have employees out in the field. Without the right system in place, culture can become fragmented.

Inspirus Connects, a leading employee recognition and engagement platform, helps bridge that gap by combining employee recognition, communication and community-building into one easy-to-use system.

At the center of the platform is peer-to-peer recognition, which makes it easy for employees to celebrate one another in the moment. These small, consistent acts of appreciation help employees feel seen, valued and more connected to their team and the organization.

For HR teams, that means having a more effective way to reinforce company values, highlight positive behaviors and embed culture into daily work. 

Whether your workforce is remote, hybrid, on-site or in the field, Inspirus Connects helps you build a cohesive culture across your entire organization. 

15 Must-Have Inspirus Features to Strengthen Workplace Culture

Recognition & Rewards That Reinforce Values

1. Core Values-Aligned Messages

Your company values shouldn’t just live on your website. They should show up in how your people work and interact every day. With Inspirus Connects, employees can tag recognition messages with specific core values, making it easy to connect behaviors to what your company stands for.

2. Point-Based Rewards System

Inspirus’ points-based system, Connects Plus, gives managers and peers a monthly allowance of points to recognize others. Attaching points to recognition gives it tangible value and helps encourage ongoing participation. When an employee takes the time to recognize someone and includes points, it sends a clear message that their effort or accomplishment truly mattered.

Employees can then redeem points they’ve received for a reward of their choice, with options ranging from brand-name merchandise and gift cards to charitable donations and event tickets.

3. Automated Milestone Celebrations

There is nothing worse than missing a work anniversary or birthday. Inspirus Connects takes that worry off your plate by automatically sending personalized eCards and rewards to employees on their milestones. Everything is handled through automation, ensuring no employee is overlooked.

4. Nomination-Based Recognition

Inspirus Connects includes a built-in process that makes it easy to run employee nomination award programs. With just a few clicks, employees can nominate their colleagues for awards like “Team MVP” or “Employee of the Year” directly within the platform. All submissions are collected and routed to HR for review and approval, creating a structured process that's easy to manage and fair.

Connection Tools That Create Community

5. Social Recognition Wall

Imagine having a company-wide feed where appreciation is front and center. In Inspirus Connects, the Public Activity Feed showcases every public shout-out and kudo in one central place, making recognition visible across the organization. It creates a positive, engaging space that encourages employees to participate, helps teams feel more connected and makes it easy for employees to see each other’s impact, even if they don’t work together every day.

6. Peer-to-Peer Recognition

Recognition shouldn’t just come from the top. It should involve employees at every level of the organization. Inspirus Connects makes it easy for employees at any level to send a quick recognition message (complete with GIFs and/or points) to recognize a teammate’s contribution.

By encouraging everyone to take part, recognition becomes a shared responsibility, which helps build a culture where appreciation flows freely across teams, departments and roles.

7. Upcoming Celebrations Page

Don’t let birthdays and anniversaries sneak up on your team. The Upcoming Celebrations page tracks upcoming milestones across the organization, so employees can stay informed and join in. For each celebration, employees can add a message and a GIF to a shared digital eCard, which is automatically delivered to the recipient on their special day.

Communication That Aligns Everyone

8. Share Company News with Spotlights

Tired of important updates getting lost in inboxes? Spotlights in Inspirus Connects make it easy for HR and leadership to share announcements, initiatives and team wins in a way that actually gets seen.

Each Spotlight appears at the top of every employee’s Inspirus Connects homepage and is also delivered by email, ensuring important messages are seen across your entire workforce. It’s a simple way to keep everyone aligned and informed.

9. Pulse Surveys

Culture isn’t something you set and forget. It’s something you actively monitor. That's why Inspirus Connects includes a built-in, 24/7 anonymous pulse survey that gives employees a safe space to share how they’re feeling, anytime. HR teams can access results in real time, track sentiment trends and take action before small issues become bigger problems. It’s a proactive way to keep a constant pulse on workplace culture and employee satisfaction.

Tools for Managers to Lead with Culture

10. Manager Nudges for Recognition

Even the best leaders need a reminder now and then. Inspirus Connects sends automatic reminders to managers ahead of key employee milestones — like birthdays and work anniversaries — so they have time to plan a meaningful message or recognition in advance. These reminders help managers stay on top of important moments and keep recognition timely and personal.

11. Recognition Analytics & Dashboards

With real-time analytics and dashboards, Inspirus Connects makes it easy to track how recognition is being used across your organization. 

HR and program administrators can access on-demand reports that track engagement levels, recognition frequency and overall program performance. This makes it easy to spot trends and refine strategies over time. 

Managers also have access to a dedicated dashboard that shows which of their direct reports have recently given or received recognition, along with upcoming celebrations like birthdays and work anniversaries. This helps managers stay on top of important milestones and ensure recognition is shared consistently across their team.

Flexible Integration & Global Reach

12. Real-Time Collaboration Tool Integrations

Inspirus Connects integrates directly with popular collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams, Outlook and Slack. Employees can send recognition directly within these platforms, without having to switch platforms, making it easy to participate and recognize great work as it happens.

13. Mobile Access

Not every employee works at a desk or on-site. With a mobile-friendly platform, Inspirus Connects ensures every employee can give and receive recognition from wherever they work. Whether they’re remote, on the floor or in the field, they’re never out of reach.

14. Multilingual Support

Employee recognition should be inclusive and accessible to everyone. Inspirus Connects supports 33+ languages, making it easy for employees across the globe to participate in employee recognition.

15. Local Fulfillment Globally

As your organization grows, your recognition program should scale with it. Inspirus Connects supports global teams with in-country reward fulfillment across 185+ countries and a diverse catalog of locally relevant options. No matter where your employees are, it’s easy to deliver a meaningful reward experience.

Best Practices for Using Inspirus to Strengthen Culture

Rolling out an employee recognition platform like Inspirus Connects is just the start. What happens next is what truly shapes and strengthens your culture. Here are a few best practices to help you drive adoption and build lasting impact.

Start with Leadership Buy-In and Communication

Before launching the platform, make sure your leaders are aligned and onboard. When executives and managers actively participate in recognition, it sets the tone from the top and signals that it’s important. 

Pair that with a strategic internal communication plan to maximize adoption. Use Spotlights and other communication tools to share the “why” behind the rollout, walk employees through key features like peer recognition and highlight how it ties back to your organization’s values.

Drive Early Adoption with a Culture-Focused Launch

Getting early engagement of a recognition program is key to long-term success. A great way to kick things off is to make every employee feel seen from the start. Encourage managers to send a welcome message on the platform to their direct reports on launch day. It’s an easy way to introduce the platform and set the tone that recognition will be a regular part of the culture.

To build momentum, use point-based rewards to drive early activity. Give managers and employees a small monthly allowance of points and encourage them to start recognizing peers. As employees see the platform in action — and the value in using it — it builds habits that help recognition become a natural part of the workday.

Recognize and Reward Values-Aligned Behaviors

If you want to build a culture that reflects your core values, you need to recognize the behaviors that bring those values to life. Inspirus Connects empowers employees tag recognition with your company’s values to make it easy to highlight what matters most.

Over time, this not only reinforces the right behaviors but also gives leaders and HR visibility into how values show up in daily work — and where there may be gaps to address.

Foster a Culture of Appreciation, Trust and Engagement

Workplace culture doesn’t build itself. It’s nurtured by the choices you make every day: what gets celebrate, how people communicate and how teams stay connected.

With Inspirus Connects, HR leaders can turn recognition into a powerful driver of culture — making it consistent, values-based and visible across every team, location and level.

Ready to see it in action? Schedule a demo today and discover how Inspirus Connects can help your culture thrive.