Seamless Service Awards: Trouw Nutrition’s Experience with Altrum

Trouw Nutrition is a global leader in sustainable animal nutrition, with nearly 90 years of expertise and operations in more than 100 countries. The company employs over 8,000 people worldwide, driving innovation to support animal health, farm performance, and environmental sustainability. In Canada alone, Trouw Nutrition has around 1,450 employees across 16 plants, 4 offices, and a retail chain, highlighting the scope of its local operations.

In 2022, Trouw Nutrition’s Canadian office partnered with Altrum to modernize how they celebrate employee services awards and

In 2022, the company turned to Altrum after a personal referral from within their own organization. An employee’s husband had received a gift through one of Altrum’s clients and loved the experience. Impressed by this first-hand story, Trouw Nutrition saw the potential for its own service awards program.

The company’s main goal was clear: to ensure employees are being awarded for service years and retirement, with an accessible and consistent process across the organization.

Trouw Nutrition implemented the Celebration platform to manage its service awards program. The adoption was seamless and quickly proved to be a “game changer” for HR and managers alike.

The HR team greatly values the ease of use and autonomy the Celebration platform provides, including:

• Automated notifications to both the employee and manager prior to their service date, ensuring no one misses their recognition opportunity.

• Gift boutiques with a wide variety of options, allowing employees to choose something meaningful to them.

• Robust data and insights that allow HR to track participation, compare year-over-year engagement, and identify non-participants for follow-up.

• Flexible timeline management that enables HR to extend deadlines for employees who may not have regular email access, ensuring equal opportunity for all

• Complete autonomy to make real-time changes throughout the year, including updating manager information, reactivating expired links, or removing access for departing employees, all without needing to contact Altrum support.

“It’s one of the easiest platforms I’ve ever used. Having this autonomy while still knowing the Altrum team is there when we need them is a huge win.” Tina Pejic, HR Service Specialist

Today, Trouw Nutrition runs a streamlined and consistent service award program fully managed through the Celebration platform:

• Service Awards: Employees are celebrated starting at 3 years of service, then again at 5 years, and every 5 years thereafter until retirement.

• Retirement: Employees who retire while at the company also receive a dedicated recognition link to select their gift.

The process is simple: each year, Trouw Nutrition provides a single file to Altrum, and invitations are automatically sent on each employee’s exact service anniversary date in real time. Employees log into the platform, select from a wide variety of gifts, and have them delivered to their preferred location within a reasonable timeframe.

To ensure universal participation, the platform sends notifications to both employees and their managers. This dual approach is particularly valuable because many Trouw Nutrition employees work from kiosks and may not check their emails regularly. Manager notifications serve as a crucial backup, helping ensure every employee receives their recognition and feels valued for their years of contribution.

The Celebration platform has transformed how Trouw Nutrition manages recognition:

• Operational Efficiency: The HR team now has complete autonomy for modifications and changes, eliminating dependency on external support for routine updates

• High participation rate: 84 % of employees claimed their gift.

• Actionable Insight: The Celebration platform delivers comprehensive data, enabling HR to identify the 16% of employees who didn’t claim their gift and offer them a second opportunity, ensuring everyone benefits from the program.

• Positive Employee Experience: Employees appreciate the wide selection of products and experiences, the flexibility of delivery options, and the meaningful nature of their recognition gift.

• Seamless Experience: The platform runs so smoothly that “no news is good news”, indicating zero operational issues since implementation

• Improved Team Access: Multiple HR team members can access and manage the platform, enabling immediate responses to employee questions without external escalation.

Together, these improvements have helped Trouw Nutrition create a more consistent, inclusive, and meaningful recognition culture across the organization.

“Offering service awards is important, especially when you have long-term employees. Altrum makes it easy: emails go out, people select their gifts, and there’s a wide selection, so everyone finds something they love. The platform is simple, efficient, and the customer service is amazing. It really helps create a culture where everyone feels valued for the time and amount of work they’ve put into the organization.”

—Tina Pejic, HR Service Specialist

Looking ahead, the company aims to further increase participation rates by ensuring boutiques stay open long enough and employees receive timely reminders. Service awards will remain a cornerstone of recognition, and Trouw Nutrition plans to continue evolving its program to ensure every employee feels valued for their years of contribution.