Be the Key
A User-Centered Employee Recognition Platform to Support Healthcare Staff and Reduce Burnout
Based on research at The Valley Hospital in Paramus, NJ, a user-centered recognition platform was designed and tested to spark gratitude and meaningful acknowledgment within clinical teams.
UX Research and Design
Fall 2024 - Spring 2025
The True Cost of Poor Employee Recognition in Healthcare
Medical staff, especially nurses, often face burnout and low morale due to inadequate recognition—particularly the lack of meaningful public acknowledgment for individuals and teams.
Unsatisfactory employee recognition of nurses results in poor job satisfaction and high turnover, ultimately affecting the quality of patient care.
Behind Every Resignation Is a Nurse Who Felt Invisible
“At my previous job, even when I did something right, upper management always had something to say. There was not much recognition for all of the hard work I was putting in, and I often found myself frustrated when they would bark more orders at us. I would cry most nights when I got home, or sometimes even at work from the amount of stress I was under.
I think if I had been shown more appreciation from that job, I would have continued to work there.”
Staff Interview, 2024
3,000+ Staff Serving 440,000 People: The Valley Hospital in Paramus, NJ
The Valley Hospital’s existing employee recognition platform fails to meet its needs, hindering the success of the hospital, its 3,000+ medical staff, and the more than 440,000 community members it serves.
Understanding Our Users Through Susan and Miles
Administrators like Susan struggled to publicly appreciate the 70+ staff on her floor; Leaving hardworking nurses and staff like Miles to feel undervalued and discouraged.
Susan Storm
Administrative User
The hospital’s existing recognition process required admins to manually manage and deliver all notes. For teams of 70+ employees, this quickly became an unmanageable workload. Her ideal system would allow Susan to:
View a digital public recognition board to give proper recognition to both individuals and teams.
Enable all users to write and post notes directly to the public recognition board.
Easily monitor recognition activity and track the notes sent on her floor.
Miles Morales
Primary User
Miles, an RN on the floor, shows appreciation to his teammates by writing them recognition notes. His ideal system would allow Miles to:
Write recognition notes for his team and view them on a virtual public recognition board.
Access received notes in a digital library.
Redeem notes for rewards such as gift cards.
Receive system notifications for important actions, like reminders before redeemed vouchers expire.
Earn both team and individual rewards to celebrate collective and personal achievements.
How does Be the Key Support The Valley Health and Its Employees?
A Convenient Way to Send Employee Recognition
All staff are able to write recognition notes, or keys through the send recognition page. Administrators are notified and can quickly approve keys to be sent to the recognition board.
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Staff with upcoming birthdays or work anniversaries are highlighted right away, ensuring every milestone gets noticed and celebrated.
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Custom card templates bring color and energy to the recognition board, offering designs that spark joy and inspire teammates.
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All recognition notes—or “keys”—are first sent to floor managers, who can conveniently review them before they appear on the team’s board.
Team Recognition Board: Building Community Through Meaningful Appreciation
The recognition board serves as the community hub for floor-wide appreciation. Here, teammates can view and comment on recognition “keys,” send quick kudos that contribute to collective rewards, and see upcoming birthdays and work anniversaries—ensuring everyone feels valued and celebrated.
Digital Key Library
The digital library lets users view their received keys, redeem them for rewards, and stay on track with notifications about important actions, such as expiring rewards.
The Easy Way to Celebrate Staff with Rewards
When hard work turns into real rewards. Staff can easily redeem monetary gift cards, with saved information making checkout fast and seamless, sending rewards straight to their personal or work emails.
Be the Key in Action: Real Impact for Staff
The Be the Key project was conducted on a hospital floor at The Valley Hospital, where staff participated in a Gratitude Initiative. This initiative aimed to foster and observe shared gratitude through a recognition board, while ethnographic research informed the design of a more effective digital employee recognition system.
The research insights led to the creation of a prototype, which was tested with over 40 nurses and later showcased at the SUNY New Paltz Senior Thesis Design Show 2025. Presented to a community audience of more than 100 people, the project sparked awareness and conversation around medical staff burnout and the importance of improved recognition in healthcare.
Nurses are the heart of our community. With genuine appreciation, we can continue to support healthcare and the dedicated individuals who tirelessly care for others.
