30 Best Employee Recognition Platforms of 2024 for Celebrating Top Talent
10 Best Employee Recognition Platform Shortlist
Here's my pick of the 10 best software from the 30 tools reviewed.
Get free help from our HR software advisors to find your match.
Consistent, meaningful recognition is a crucial component of employee engagement, productivity, and retention. It boosts morale, makes employees feel more valued and connected to their work, and leads to stronger employee performance. According to SHRM, 79% of employees work harder when they're recognized for their efforts.
However, it's hard to be consistent with your employee recognition efforts, especially if your team is large. That's where employee recognition platforms can help. These tools automate recognition, track milestones, and motivate employees using tangible rewards. Sounds perfect, right? The only hard part is finding the right platform that fits your needs.
In this article, I'll walk you through the best employee recognition platforms I've seen to simplify the recognition process, provide data-driven insights, and help you build a culture of recognition that keeps your team engaged and inspired.
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Best Employee Recognition Platforms: Pricing Comparison Chart
This comparison chart summarizes pricing details for my top employee recognition platform selections to help you find the best platform that works for your budget and business needs.
| Tools | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| Nectar | From $3/user/month | Website |
| Bucketlist Rewards | Pricing upon request | Website |
| Awardco | Pricing upon request | Website |
| Motivosity | From $3,000/year | Website |
| Cooleaf | Pricing upon request | Website |
| Assembly | From $2.80/user/month | Website |
| Kudos | Pricing upon request | Website |
| Guusto | From $40/month | Website |
| CultureBot | From $1/user/month | Website |
| Workvivo | Pricing upon request | Website |
Compare Software Specs Side by Side
Use our comparison chart to review and evaluate software specs side-by-side.
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Deel
Visit WebsiteThis is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.8 -
Rippling
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Willo
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Best Employee Recognition Platform Reviews
Below are my detailed descriptions of the best employee recognition platforms that can help you strengthen your company culture while simplifying the nuts and bolts of your recognition process, making it more consistent. I’ve highlighted each system’s noteworthy features, integrations, and the reason I added them to this list to give you greater insight into my selection process.
Nectar is an employee recognition platform that helps team members feel valued, connected, and engaged no matter where they work. It works well for small to medium-sized businesses with 50 to 500 employees.
Why I picked Nectar: I included Nectar because their recognition and rewards platform offers a 360-degree set of culture-building tools that enables staff at all levels (peer-to-peer, manager-to-employees, and vice versa) to send meaningful recognition shoutouts rooted in your company's core values.
Their platform was designed around 6 key pillars (Connection, Recognition, Empathy, Alignment, Trust, and Elevation = CREATE) that help organizations build a solid company culture. They also recently (as of October 31, 2024) partnered with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) to further strengthen employee recognition and rewards programs across the globe.
Nectar Standout Features & Integrations:
Features include public shoutout tools, core value hashtags, automatic milestone celebrations (e.g., birthdays and work anniversaries), and incentive points that are redeemable for rewards like gift cards, entertainment discounts, custom rewards, company-branded swag, or items your employees can choose for themselves through Amazon.com.
Platform admins can also use Nectar to create custom challenges, such as health and wellness initiatives, and recognize employees internally for their participation by gifting them Nectar points.
On top of all that, Nectar includes useful analytics that help HR teams spot any trends in how individual managers are recognizing their employees, identify which core values are recognized the most, and uncover examples of employees who aren't being recognized to help them find out why.
Integrations are available with 20+ popular HR software systems, including ADP, BambooHR, Gusto, Microsoft Teams, Namely, NetSuite, Paycor, Rippling, Slack, Workday, and Zenefits.
To make system access smoother for your workforce, Nectar integrates with many single sign-on (SSO) providers too, including Azure, G Suite, Okta, OneLogin, Ping Identity, VMware, and others.
Bucketlist Rewards is an employee rewards and recognition platform that inspires results through meaningful peer and manager recognition, personalized rewards, and expert program support.
This innovative platform allows companies of any size to quickly and easily recognize their employees for a job well done. Through its intuitive interface, Bucketlist Rewards provides an easy way for employers to reward their employees with points when they go the extra mile or achieve success in the workplace. Team members can choose from over 2,576 rewards or make requests for new rewards.
Why I picked Bucketlist Rewards: Their rewards system helps engage employees and reduce turnover rates by providing them with tangible benefits, such as merchandise, discounts, vouchers, and more. Companies can also customize their own employee rewards programs that best fit the company culture and values.
With Bucketlist Rewards, employers can show appreciation for hard work while increasing motivation among team members in a meaningful way. In addition, employees have access to an engaging leaderboard where they can compare results with one another and strive towards becoming top performers in their organization.
Rewards don't have to just be performance-based, they can celebrate events and milestones like employee events, including anniversaries, birthdays, and welcome messages. You can automate correlating rewards, such as 100 bonus points for 1-year anniversary or a $50 gift card on birthdays.
Bucketlist Rewards Standout Features & Integrations:
Features include peer-to-peer and manager recognition, employee awards, automatic milestone anniversary workflows, customizable rewards & badges, company-wide announcements, weekly newsletter templates, retention tools, and unlimited support by email or phone.
Integrations include Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Gmail, and Slack.
Awardco
Best employee recognition platform for building culture and driving behavior
Awardco is an all-in-one employee rewards and recognition platform that helps companies deal with high turnover in ultra-competitive labor markets. Customers like Ford, JPMorgan Chase, Pinterest, Hertz, Paramount, and Chick-fil-A use Awardco to build culture and retain the people they can't afford to lose.
Best for organizations with over 100 employees, Awardco helps build world-class employee rewards programs that make a big impact on the bottom line.
Why I picked Awardco: Awardco brings everything you love about Amazon into a platform for rewards, recognition, and incentives. Having an official partnership with Amazon Business, Awardco provides millions of reward choices, lower vendor fees, and dollar-for-dollar spending to your organization.
With Awardco, companies cut down on expensive vendor costs, admins save time on manual tasks, and teams feel more connected. Essentially, they offer more choice, more capability, and less spending in an all-in-one total rewards platform.
Awardco Standout Features & Integrations:
Features include peer-to-peer shoutouts and social recognition tools, automated anniversary celebrations, celebration kits, wellness program templates, customizable employee service awards, automation tools, curated bonus boxes, and incentive programs that motivate your workforce to earn reward points for top performance.
Integrations are available with many popular HR management systems and collaboration tools, including ADP, BambooHR, Ceridian Dayforce, Infor, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Paycor, SAP SuccessFactors, Slack, Workplace by Meta, and UKG Pro.
They also have an open API to support additional custom integrations, as well as native integrations with many SAML 2 and single sign-on applications.
Motivosity is an employee recognition and engagement platform that addresses work culture through a research-backed approach to building gratitude and rapport among different teams. Using Motivosity, employees can be recognized by each other and by their superiors, with top achievements celebrated publicly in a social-media-like interface.
Why I picked Motivosity: Motivosity’s Recognize product empowers employees to celebrate each other's everyday wins publicly. Each month, employees are given a set amount of 'influence currency' (aka recognition dollars) that they can reward their colleagues with as they see fit.
Motivosity also has a ThanksMatters Card, which is a Visa card that's accepted worldwide. Each time employees are recognized by their staff or management, real dollars accumulate on their ThanksMatters Card - not points, like with most other systems.
These dollars can be redeemed at any location that accepts Visa, whenever your employee chooses, giving them a lot more flexibility than with many typical rewards and recognition platforms.
Motivosity Standout Features & Integrations:
Features include a social media-like public activity feed, public achievements and celebrations, public comments, influence currency (recognition dollars), a dollar-based accrual system, customizable rewards, bonus 'sweeteners', spot bonuses, highlights & announcements, personal profiles, organizational charts, interest groups, and financial reporting tools.
Their Milestone Tracker ensures that milestones like birthdays and anniversary dates are easily accessible by date so people can plan celebrations in advance too.
Integrations are available with 20+ popular software systems, including ADP Workforce Now, BambooHR, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Okta, Paylocity, Paychex, Rippling, SAP SuccessFactors, Slack, UKG Pro, Workday, Zenefits, and others.
Cooleaf
Best for developing a recognition strategy and a culture of appreciation
With Cooleaf, you can shout-out your workplace heroes—both managers and peers—for everyday wins, and reward them with employee incentives they'll be excited about.
You can design your own global rewards catalog to include charitable giving options, team swag, gift cards, experiences, and more. Your team members can then choose to redeem their points for rewards, or even use them to send gifts internally or externally.
Why I picked Cooleaf: Cooleaf helps companies empower and celebrate their employees through a meaningful recognition strategy. To help you get set up, their engagement experts partner with you to create meaningful experiences that will drive your team recognition.
Cooleaf also helps organizations reinforce their core values and incentivize the right behaviors at the right time through ongoing communications, recognition challenges, and virtual team-building activities. Their customizable engagement calendar also makes it easy to maintain a positive, fun culture for both remote and in-person teams.
Cooleaf Standout Features & Integrations:
Features include automatic work anniversary rewards, personalized milestones, digital cards, a gifting budget, core value tags, performance measurement tools, and a large catalog of rewards to choose from.
Their platform also includes tools to capture employee sentiment through pulse surveys and monitor their employee experience through powerful dashboards and analytics. Employees will also appreciate how easy it is to recognize their co-workers' achievements thanks to their popular integrations with Slack and Microsoft Teams.
Integrations are available with many other platforms including popular HRIS providers, single sign-on platforms, and learning & development systems.
Assembly
Best employee recognition software for improving productivity and engagement
Assembly is an employee recognition platform that gives you the ability to track and achieve goals and automate incentives.
Why I picked Assembly: Their employee recognition tool makes it easy to put employee appreciation at the heart of your company culture through peer-to-peer recognition and incentives. Their system also shows people that their contributions are valued, while boosting performance and retaining your best talent.
Assembly lets you gather nominations from your whole team to make sure everyone’s accomplishments are celebrated. To further reward good work, employees are rewarded points that they can redeem for a gift that makes them feel valued. You can also use their platform to keep track of other key dates, like birthdays and work anniversaries as well.
Assembly Standout Features and Integrations:
Features include peer-to-peer recognition, an extensive rewards catalog, and tools to run hundreds of different in-house engagement initiatives.
Integrations are available with many popular including BambooHR, Google G Suite, Office 365, and Slack, among others.
Kudos
Best for automating recognition and sending meaningful recognition
Kudos® is an employee recognition and rewards provider that encourages quality employee recognition. Its focus on meaningful messages instead of monetary aspects is ideal for teams who believe that there's more to recognition than just monetary rewards.
Why I picked Kudos®: One of the perks of using this software is that it ties all the recognition messages back to company values. The platform’s reporting tool gives managers a visual representation of the values that are important to staff, enabling them to focus on initiatives that can improve the employee experience and drive performance.
I also like that Kudos offers a variety of campaign functionalities allowing organizations to automate everything from their birthday and work anniversary celebrations to running full-fledged culture campaigns. For example, organizations can automate health & safety month campaigns or any other recognition campaign.
Additionally, Kudos' business model is not based on making money via rewards redemptions. Instead, they charge a flat per-user-per-month fee and do not charge hidden rewards fees and markups.
Kudos® Standout Features & Integrations:
Features include group eCards, pulse surveys, surveys, and a suite of category-leading in-app analytics and dashboards.
It also has public recognition messages, gamified badges, emojis and emotion-based tags, milestone celebrations, milestone automation, anonymous employee sentiment surveys, recognition reports with easy-to-understand visual analytics, and a large rewards catalog with no transaction fees added to items purchased.
Integrations are available with popular applications like Google Workspace, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Okta, Ping Identity, SaaSPass, and Slack, and with many commonly used HRIS platforms like ADP, BambooHR, Oracle, Paylocity, SAP SuccessFactors, and Workday.
Guusto is an employee recognition platform that modernizes employee milestone and performance recognition rewards and helps organizations build powerful peer-to-peer rewards and recognition programs.
Guusto is used by many notable organizations to consistently reward great work and shape their workplace culture, including Harvard University, The Body Shop, Carlton Cards, Arc'Teryx, Canada Life, Marriott, Levi's, Fairmont Hotels, and Harry Rosen.
Why I picked Guusto: I appreciate how Guusto takes a different approach to their recognition and rewards platform than most other providers in this list. For example, instead of starting out with a costly, company-wide program, Guusto will work with you to develop a pilot employee reward program as a test run, before you roll out their platform to everyone in your organization. This lets you get a feel for how it will work for your company, before making a bigger commitment.
Another unique feature that sets Guusto apart is the fact that they'll donate a day's worth of clean water via the One Drop Foundation for every gift users send within the platform. Knowing this will help incentivize your employees to support your internal employee recognition program, while also making a positive impact outside your organization too.
Guusto Standout Features & Integrations:
Features include a long list of ready-to-use recognition programs such as milestone, anniversary, and years-of-service awards, onboarding programs, real-time recognition (spot bonuses), performance programs, learning and development incentives, quarterly and annual rewards, birthday and holiday rewards, wellness programs, and peer-to-peer shoutouts and nominations.
Platform admins can reward recipients with digital Mastercards that work in 160+ countries, and make bulk purchases of up to 1,000 reward cards at once. Guusto also supports custom rewards, charity donation gifts, and other gift cards that can be used at over 60,000 global merchants in-person or online.
Other features include milestone automations, advanced budgeting tools, unlimited non-monetary recognition, and a whole host of actionable reports analyzing every aspect of your employee recognition program from the number of rewards sent to taxable benefits and core value assessments.
Integrations are available with many HRIS, communication, and SSO systems, including ADP, BambooHR, Dayforce, Google Suite, Microsoft Teams, Okta, UKG Pro, and Workday.
CultureBot is a Slack-integrated application designed to improve team culture and engagement for remote and hybrid teams. It offers a range of features aimed at fostering employee connections and enhancing morale, such as employee recognition, birthday and work anniversary celebrations, wellness tips, and customizable surveys.
Why I picked CultureBot: I chose CultureBot for its team engagement tools, which include customizable shoutouts and peer rewards. These tools enable employees to give and receive recognition for their contributions, fostering a positive feedback culture—all within Slack.
The peer rewards system allows employees to earn points that can be redeemed for various rewards, further incentivizing positive behavior and performance.
CultureBot Standout Features & Integrations:
Features include employee celebrations, automation and feedback, games and live events, water cooler topics, surveys and questionnaires, reporting, and weekly health tips.
CultureBot integrates with Slack to encourage employee engagement without the need to adopt new tools into your tech stack.
Workvivo
Best for strengthening corporate culture and creating a positive work environment
Workvivo is an employee experience app designed to foster engagement and emotional connection between employees and your company culture, no matter where they're located.
Why I picked Workvivo: Their platform functions as a modern intranet, communications hub, and engagement and employee recognition tool, blended into a single social network experience. Their system incorporates a familiar social media-like feel that maximizes engagement and makes it easy for leadership members to communicate across the platform through multimedia messages. The system also supports employee surveys and provides engagement analytics so you can keep tabs on your team morale.
Workvivo Standout Features & Integrations:
Standout features for Workvivo include public shout-outs to recognize a job well done, tools to celebrate individual and team achievements, and peer-driven nominations for company awards. They also have a badge feature that enables organizations to further recognize employee achievements, which can be customized to mesh with your corporate culture.
By giving employees the tools to amplify their own voice, Workvivo aims to foster a deeper connection between your workforce and your company culture, goals, and values.
Integrations are available with many commonly used HR tools, including payroll software, Slack, and Microsoft Teams.
Other Employee Recognition Platforms
Here are a few more worthwhile options that didn’t make the best employee recognition platforms list but are still worth taking a look at:
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Bonusly
Recognition platform for incentivizing high-performing teams
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Vantage Circle
For automating all types of corporate gifting
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Xoxoday Plum
Employee recognition platform for offering customized incentives
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Empuls
Employee recognition platform that acts as a centralized social intranet
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Achievers
For validating praise through additional peer engagement
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Xoxoday Compass
Employee recognition platform for automating recognition across the employee lifecycle
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Recognize
Platform for hosting employee challenges to promote healthy competition
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Workmates
For driving engagement and gathering employee feedback
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Espresa
For simplifying public recognition through gamification
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Blueboard
For rewarding staff with activity-based experiential gifts
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Know Your Team
Employee recognition app for encouraging employees to provide feedback
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SnackNation
For rewarding employees with personalized prize boxes
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Fond
For offering corporate discounts to your employees and their families
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Workhuman
Employee recognition platform for aligning your team with company core values
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Leapsome
For linking employee feedback, engagement, and performance
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Deel
Recognition tool within a global HR solution
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WorkTango
Employee recognition platform for amplifying public praise and incentivizing key behaviors
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Lattice
For connecting praise with performance and goals
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ClearCompany
For measuring the impact of recognition & engagement programs over time
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Paylocity
For customizable peer-to-peer recognition
Related HR Software Reviews
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Selection Criteria for Employee Recognition Platforms
Selecting the right employee recognition platform hinges on understanding the core principles of employee recognition and how software can solve common challenges and satisfy organizational needs. My approach to choosing the best employee recognition platforms is grounded in thorough research into how these tools can give employees a voice, improve company culture, and ultimately, boost company morale.
Here's a summary of the selection criteria I used to pull together this top 10 list:
Core Employee Recognition Platform Functionalities (25% of total score): To be considered for inclusion in this list, each solution had to offer the following basic functionalities first:
- Employee profiles that cover the basics (e.g., role, department, location, and contact info) with the ability to add custom details according to user preferences
- Peer recognition tools that allow your staff to praise their peers frequently and openly, for all other employees to see (a great way to boost employee morale)
- Notification features that ensure key stakeholders will see a recognized milestone as soon as it pops up in an activity feed (including @mentions)
- Analytics that track the impact of recognition programs on employee engagement and satisfaction
- Integrations with existing HR and communication tools for ease of use and to reduce manual data entry for administrative staff
Additional Standout Features (25% of total score): To help me narrow in on the best employee recognition platforms out of the numerous options available, I also took note of any unique features, including:
- Advanced customization options that allow businesses to align the platform with their unique company values and culture
- Innovative reward systems that offer a variety of redemption options, catering to diverse employee preferences
- Automatic prompts that remind managers to recognize their employees regularly or for special achievements and occasions
- Comprehensive analytics and reporting features that provide deep insights into the effectiveness of recognition programs, including actionable insights
- Exceptional security features that protect sensitive employee data
Usability (10% of total score): To evaluate the usability of each employee recognition tool, I considered the following:
- An intuitive design and user-friendly interface that requires minimal training to master
- A good balance between powerful features and ease of use to accommodate all skill levels and create a positive user experience
- Dedicated mobile apps or a mobile-friendly user interface that supports use on both Android and iOS mobile devices
- Role-based access controls that are straightforward to configure
Onboarding (10% of total score): To get a sense of each software provider's customer onboarding process, I considered the following factors:
- A streamlined setup process and clear configuration guidelines
- The availability of training materials such as videos or interactive tutorials
- Customizable templates to speed up the onboarding process
- Support for migrating employee data into the new platform
Customer Support (10% of total score): To evaluate the level of customer support each vendor offered, I considered the following:
- The availability of multiple support channels, including email, phone, and chat
- The existence of a self-service knowledge base or other self-help resources to speed up troubleshooting
- The overall quality, responsiveness, and helpfulness of the support team during customer onboarding and post-purchase, as inferred from customer reviews
Value for Price (10% of total score): To gauge the value of each software, I considered the following factors:
- The availability of free trials or demos to test the software before purchasing
- Competitive and transparent pricing models that reflect the software's feature depth and explain which features are included at each level
- Tiered pricing plans that cater to different business sizes, from small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) up to enterprise-level organizations
Customer Reviews (10% of total score): Evaluating customer reviews is the final element of my selection process, which helps me understand how well a product performs in the hands of real users. Here are the factors I considered:
- Whether a product has consistently high ratings across multiple review platforms, indicating a broad level of user satisfaction
- Specific praises, criticisms, or trends in customer feedback that indicate the software's strengths or areas for improvement
- Whether customer feedback specifically mentions issues with ease of use, customer support responsiveness, or lacking features
Using this assessment framework helped me identify the employee recognition platforms that go beyond basic requirements to offer additional value through unique features, intuitive usability, smooth onboarding, effective support, and overall value for price.
How to Choose an Employee Recognition Platform
Employee recognition platforms can help you celebrate your internal achievements, boost morale and retention, and strengthen your company culture. To help you figure out which employee recognition platform best fits your needs, keep the following points in mind:
What employee recognition problems are you trying to solve? Identifying your current challenges will help guide your selection process by highlighting the specific features and functionalities you need. These challenges may include:
- Low employee engagement and morale due to inconsistent recognition,
- Difficulty recognizing achievements regularly and visibly across large or remote teams,
- Inconsistent feedback across teams due to a lacking or nonexistent recognition program structure, or
- Insufficient data regarding key engagement metrics like employee retention and the impact of recognition on employee performance.
By identifying these challenges and aligning them with specific platform features, you'll set a strong foundation for defining your engagement KPIs (e.g., eNPS levels, turnover rates, etc.), making it easier to track the long-term success of your recognition program.
What outcomes are important and how will you measure success? Being clear on your desired outcomes upfront is crucial to avoid wasting valuable time. Key outcomes you may want to measure include:
- A reduced turnover rate and other improved retention statistics,
- Indications of an improved employee experience (such as a better quarterly eNPS score (employee net promoter score), or
- Increased productivity and morale following the introduction of physical employee incentives based on performance.
Who are your main users? Consider your different user groups — power users, administrators, managers, employees, etc. — and their unique needs, to ensure they're all met.
- For an employee recognition platform, you'll need access for your entire workforce, with special role-based access for your HR administrators and managers.
What is your budget? Determining a realistic budget for your new employee recognition software up-front is crucial, so you don't waste time considering software that's too expensive.
- To evaluate cost, do a headcount of your existing workforce, plus your projections for the next few years. Since most employee recognition software charges a monthly fee per employee, this will help you proactively estimate your monthly costs.
Do you require specific software integrations? Clarify whether your new recognition software will replace existing tools or need to integrate with them. Can you reduce your monthly SaaS costs by replacing multiple tools with an all-in-one employee experience platform?
- Key systems to integrate with include HR management systems, performance management systems, and communication tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams.
- Are all the integrations you need available, or can they be custom-configured using an API?
Does the recognition platform satisfy your technical requirements? Consider the software selection alongside your existing workflows and systems.
- Does the software allow users to connect with other employees via mobile devices or through a dedicated mobile app?
- Does the new system offer security features that meet your needs (e.g., two-factor authentication (2FA), etc.)?
- Does the new system integrate with your corporate workspace (Microsoft SharePoint, Google Workspace, etc.)?
Remember, every business is different — don’t assume that an employee recognition platform will work for your organization just because it's popular.
In addition, our podcast with Tom Short, Chief Customer Officer at Kudos, is also full of solid advice on How to do Employee Recognition the Right Way, including advice like this:
A lot of folks concentrate too much on why people leave, what they should be concentrating on is why would someone stay.
How to Implement an Employee Recognition Platform
Once you've chosen the winning employee recognition system for your needs, you'll need to develop an implementation plan to integrate the software into your employee recognition program.
To do this right, I recommend using the following approach:
- Develop an implementation strategy and timeline that defines the who, what, when, where, and why related to the new software implementation.
- Gather feedback from managers on their current challenges with employee recognition and how it could be improved.
- Gather feedback from employees regarding their experience of employee morale and motivation and how these could be improved.
- Form an internal implementation team that includes key stakeholders from all your user groups (i.e., your HR team, managers, employees, IT dept., etc.).
- Review your existing employee recognition and engagement data and decide whether you need to migrate this information into the new system or not.
- If you do decide to migrate a lot of data, reach out to your software provider for assistance with this portion. They can often upload historical data in bulk as part of the customer onboarding process.
- Note: You will need to import employee start dates and birthdates at a bare minimum (or integrate with your HR management software to access these details).
- Run some tests to help you understand how all the features work. This includes building workflow automations and setting up software integrations to pull data from other sources.
- This step is very important, and shouldn't be rushed. Run as many test scenarios as you can think of using different feedback structures, milestones, and rewards. This will help you ensure the software covers all your needs once it's fully launched.
- Train your users on how to use the software. This should include role-specific training for managers and team leads who will start posting shout-outs for their staff and separate training for employees who will give and receive feedback.
- I recommend creating an internal wiki or repository for frequently asked questions. Doing so will proactively reduce the volume of administrative requests your HR staff will receive going forward as everyone adjusts to using the new system.
- Launch the software and celebrate! This may sound a little cheesy, but it's actually really important. Celebrating the benefits of the new software can positively impact user adoption rates. If people are excited about the new software, they will be more likely to use it and have a positive association with it.
To point you in the right direction, I recommend reading our guide on HR software implementation next.
Trends in Employee Recognition Platforms for 2024
As businesses seek innovative ways to honor employee achievements and foster a culture of staff appreciation, employee recognition platforms are introducing new features and functionalities to match those demands. Here are the most recent trends impacting the employee recognition software space currently:
- Advanced Automation for Recognition Activities: Platforms are increasingly automating the recognition process, from awarding badges for specific achievements to scheduling regular recognition events. This automation ensures consistent recognition and saves time for managers and HR professionals.
- Customizable Recognition Programs: There's a growing trend toward allowing companies to fully customize their recognition programs, including personalized messages, employee awards, and recognition criteria that reflect the company's values and the individual's contributions.
- Enhanced Employee Engagement through Gamification: Gamification features, such as points, leaderboards, and challenges, are also rapidly evolving. These elements make recognition fun and engaging, increasing participation across the organization.
- Predictive Analytics for Employee Recognition: The use of advanced analytics to predict when employees might need a boost in recognition is a new and novel approach, helping to proactively prevent disengagement and burnout.
By leveraging automation, analytics, and enhanced gamification features, these platforms are making recognition more efficient and impactful. The most successful platforms are those that can adapt to the evolving needs of both businesses and their employees, creating a culture of recognition that resonates across the modern workplace.
What is an Employee Recognition Platform?
Employee recognition platforms are tools that help organizations recognize their staff through public praise, perks, and rewards programs, creating a positive workplace culture that celebrates great work and success. These tools give employees a voice and the ability to praise each other through public kudos that connect recognition with your company's core values. Some also have a rewards catalog where employees can redeem points for gift cards, company swag, charitable donations, or other unique rewards.
Employee recognition platforms ultimately make employees feel more valued, making them more likely to stay with your company longer. They use automation to simplify the process of acknowledging employee contributions and key milestones, reducing administrative burdens on your staff to manually track achievements and dates. They also make it easier to showcase your workplace culture, build camaraderie between teams, and reward good work with perks.
Features of Employee Recognition Platforms
In addition to the core functionalities above, I also assessed the following key features to make my final selections for this list:
- Customizable Recognition Programs: This feature is vital as it ensures that the recognition program you host aligns with the unique culture and values of your workplace, making the recognition more meaningful to employees.
- Peer-to-Peer Recognition: This feature allows employees to recognize each other's contributions. This is crucial as it encourages a collaborative culture where appreciation is not just top-down but is a shared responsibility, enhancing the sense of community and belonging among team members.
- Social Recognition & Gamification: Features like leaderboards, a public recognition wall, and employee nominations make recognition fun and engaging, and boost morale. They can also incentivize higher performance because people will want to achieve that top employee standing.
- Private Feedback Tools: In addition to public-facing feedback that all team members can see, systems should also give managers the option to provide private feedback when appropriate too.
- Simple Reward System: The platform should enable your managers and HR professionals to reward top team members with something meaningful. This may be custom recognition awards or badges that are displayed on their profiles for bragging rights. Or, it could be a point-based system where employees use points to select rewards from a global prize catalog or reward gateway.
- Automation: The software should leverage automation to help your managers reward high-performing employees, and also mark key dates like birthdays and work anniversaries, so nothing slips through the cracks unnoticed.
- Performance Tracking: From an HR and management perspective, you’ll want a platform that can track multiple key performance indicators (KPIs) or objective and key results (OKRs) so you can pinpoint your top performers easily.
- Customization and Branding: In order to create a strong tie between your organization and your recognition system of choice, the ability to incorporate your company brand is key. That includes customizing elements of the platform's appearance to align with your corporate identity, logos, and fonts.
- Mobile Accessibility: Ensures the platform is accessible on various devices. Mobile accessibility is essential for modern workplaces, allowing employees to engage with recognition programs anytime and anywhere, increasing participation and engagement.
- Reporting: The platform should organize your employee recognition data into well-defined metrics and reports. This will help your HR team ensure your program is on track, and make it easier to present the data to management.
By focusing on a platform that offers these key features, you'll be on your way to nurturing a culture of recognition that contributes to a positive and productive work environment, while getting the administrative hassles of executing the recognition program off your desk.
Benefits of Employee Recognition Platforms
Employee recognition platforms can play a critical role in creating a positive workplace culture, giving teams the tools they need to recognize achievements and improve job satisfaction and morale. By investing in the best employee recognition platform for you, you can expect to gain the following benefits:
- Streamlined Recognition Processes: Automating the recognition process eliminates manual tracking and administration, making it easier and more efficient to reward and acknowledge employees. This saves time and resources, allowing HR teams to focus on more strategic initiatives, and also ensures that no key milestones or anniversaries are accidentally skipped.
- Increased Employee Engagement: These platforms make recognizing effort and achievements an easy, regular part of the workday, directly boosting morale and engagement. Also, it's well-known that when employees feel valued, organizations see a significant uptick in overall job satisfaction and retention.
- Improved Company Culture: Recognition software fosters a culture of appreciation and respect, strengthens team bonds, and reinforces positive behaviors and values. This creates a more cohesive and positive work environment, attracting and retaining top talent.
- Enhanced Feedback and Communication: These platforms facilitate instant feedback and acknowledgment, bridging communication gaps between teams and management. This real-time interaction helps to quickly address concerns and celebrate successes, promoting a more agile and responsive company culture.
- Better Data-Driven Insights: Recognition platforms offer valuable analytics and insights into employee performance and engagement. This data aids leaders in making informed decisions, recognizing trends, and identifying areas for future improvement or additional support.
Integrating an employee recognition platform into your company can transform your work environment, driving engagement, productivity, and satisfaction. By acknowledging and appreciating each team member's contributions, these platforms can help you boost morale and reinforce your corporate values and behaviors that lead to success.
Costs & Pricing for Employee Recognition Platforms
Often, it all comes down to cost. That's why it's important to get a realistic understanding of your budget before you spend too much time researching employee recognition platforms.
If you're running a small business with only a handful of employees, a freemium plan might work for your needs. However, paid plans will always give you a better return on your investment, if you can afford one.
Also, many platforms in this list offer a free trial period so you can test it out before committing. This will give you a first-hand experience of how well the platform will satisfy your needs before you introduce it to the rest of your staff.
To give you basic understanding of the pricing landscape for employee recognition platforms, I've compiled the average price ranges for each plan into the comparison table below.
Plan Comparison Table for Employee Recognition Platforms
| Plan Type | Average Price | Common Features |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Basic recognition features, peer-to-peer kudos, limited reporting and analytics, and access to a community forum |
| Basic | $2 - $5 per user/month | Customizable recognition badges, enhanced reporting, mobile app access, and email support |
| Professional | $5 - $10 per user/month | Integration with other HR systems, advanced analytics and reporting, employee award nomination capabilities, and priority support |
| Enterprise | $10 - $20+ per user/month | Full customization of your engagement strategy to maximize your ROI, a dedicated account manager, advanced security features, and tailored implementation support |
As you evaluate the best plan for your organization, consider both your immediate and long-term needs. It's important to balance the total cost against the benefits the software offers to ensure it will satisfy your business objectives.
While it's understandable that you may want to start with a free or basic plan initially, there are several reasons why you may want to opt for a more advanced plan, including:
- Integration with Other Systems: The most common reason to upgrade your existing plan is to access integrations with other tools in your HR tech stack, such as your HR management system. By pulling your employee data directly from your HR software, you can easily automate milestone announcements like staff birthdays and work anniversary dates, letting the system do the work for you.
- Customizable Engagement Strategies: Free and Basic plans often limit customization options whereas advanced plans allow you to tailor engagement initiatives to fit your unique company culture, making your recognition program more meaningful to staff.
- Advanced Communication Tools: If your company requires more sophisticated communication channels, such as custom newsletters or targeted messaging, an upgrade may be necessary to unlock these advanced features.
- Employee Feedback and Surveys: To access more detailed and frequent employee feedback, many advanced plans offer integrated tools to conduct employee surveys or eNPS check-ins, including sentiment analysis. These features, though a little more costly, will help you gather comprehensive insights and respond more effectively to employee concerns.
- Enhanced Analytics and Reporting: If you want more in-depth insights into your employee engagement trends, upgrading your plan may be necessary. Advanced plans typically offer more robust analytics to help you make data-driven decisions to improve workplace satisfaction.
Ultimately, it's important to secure a plan that offers the features you require to satisfy your current needs and solve your challenges without exceeding your budget.
New & Noteworthy Product Updates
Below, I've summarized the most recent release notes and product updates for my top employee recognition platform recommendations. Discover what’s now possible through new feature releases, improvements, and updates for web, desktop, and mobile apps. Learn what’s new, if it’s hot—or not, and how it can support your employee recognition programs.
2024 Q4: Staff Recognition Software Updates
Nectar Update Notes
During Q4 of 2024, Nectar announced a new partnership with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) to improve employee recognition and rewards programs. This partnership combines SHRM’s HR expertise with Nectar’s recognition platform to help organizations address employee disengagement.
Regarding the collaboration, Trevor Larson, CEO of Nectar, commented:
We are excited to strategically partner with SHRM – the premier thought leader in HR. This partnership reinforces our commitment to fostering positive workplace cultures and recognizes the pivotal role of employee recognition in organizational success.
The collaboration introduces 'SHRM Recognition & Rewards powered by Nectar,' a platform where employees can recognize peers, align recognition with company values, and redeem points for rewards. The software integrates with HRIS and communication tools, simplifying recognition management for HR teams.
This update provides an easy way for organizations to boost employee engagement and retention. SHRM members receive special pricing, making it simpler and more affordable to create a culture of appreciation and connection.
Verdict: Hot, especially for SHRM members! This new partnership will help push employee recognition into the forefront more, benefiting employees greatly.
Motivosity Update Notes
During the fall, Motivosity released updates to improve employee communication, recognition, and engagement. Key changes include the launch of 'Spaces,' enhancements to the Awards page, and a revamped Funding page.
'Spaces' creates digital hubs for groups or initiatives, with the option to post as the company or link updates to Microsoft Teams. The Awards page now has easier navigation and a new 'Earn More' button for earning opportunities. The Funding page offers clearer insights into deposits, balances, and fund usage.
These updates help organizations improve communication, transparency, and participation. 'Spaces' strengthens team connections, while the updated Awards and Funding pages make recognition programs easier to manage and more engaging for employees.
Verdict: These updates collectively simplify the employee recognition process, making activities more visible and fostering deeper team connections.
CultureBot Update Notes
CultureBot recently introduced a new feature that allows users to celebrate holidays with customized animated graphics. This enhancement aims to enrich team interactions by providing visually engaging content for various celebrations.
Users can access 14 holiday templates, each featuring its own unique animated graphic. To use this feature, navigate to the 'custom celebrations' section within Slack, select 'add new celebration,' and choose the desired holiday from the dropdown menu.
By integrating these animated graphics, organizations can enhance employee engagement and foster a more vibrant workplace culture. This feature simplifies the process of acknowledging diverse holidays, promoting inclusivity and strengthening team cohesion.
Additionally, CultureBot has updated its employee assistant reporting and introduced customizable responses, further enhancing user experience and functionality.
Verdict: Warm? It's a cool feature, but I'm not sure how much of an impact it will truly have on employee recognition or engagement at large.
Kudos Update Notes
Kudos recently introduced an enhanced Culture Insights Dashboard to help organizations assess and improve workplace culture.
This dashboard consolidates five key indicators—Recognition Reach, Recognition Participation, Employee Churn Rate, Morale, and Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)—into a comprehensive Culture Index. By monitoring these metrics, leaders can identify trends and make informed decisions to boost employee engagement and satisfaction.
Addressing the new feature, Muni Boga, President and CEO of Kudos, commented:
The Culture Insights Dashboard gives organizations the power to measure and better understand its culture. With this tool, we are providing a comprehensive view of an organization’s culture, bringing together often-overlooked data points essential for fostering a positive and high-performing work environment.
For users, this tool offers a data-driven approach to understanding and enhancing organizational culture. It provides actionable insights, enabling HR professionals and executives to foster a positive work environment and drive performance improvements.
Verdict: Hot! This new dashboard will help teams increasingly approach employee recognition using a data-driven approach.
Employee Recognition Platforms: Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some answers to frequently asked questions you may have about employee recognition programs and platforms and how they work:
Why is employee recognition important?
Employee recognition is crucial for fostering a motivated, productive workforce. Here are several reasons why it matters:
- Employee recognition boosts morale, engagement, and retention.
- It drives productivity, with recognized employees performing up to 14% better (according to research by Deloitte).
- It creates a positive work culture and fosters trust between employees and management.
- Recognition helps reduce absenteeism and increases loyalty.
- Businesses with strong recognition programs attract top talent and encourage continuous improvement.
- It enhances the company’s reputation and turns your employees into brand ambassadors.
Basically, employee recognition leads to happier, more productive teams and a stronger overall company culture. This deepens employee loyalty to the company and turns your staff into brand ambassadors, making them less likely to leave.
What are the benefits of employee recognition platforms?
Employee recognition platforms offer many benefits. They’ll give your employees a voice, and create a fun digital space where your staff can interact. They’ll also help you celebrate key milestones, identify top performers, and build a positive company culture. They can even help you establish clear and comprehensive employee recognition and awards programs at your business.
These platforms also use automation workflows to ensure no milestones slip through the cracks. As the public praise starts to pile up, you can expect your employee morale to go up, while your turnover goes down. All thanks to a platform that gamifies the process of giving feedback and credit, where credit’s due.
What is an employee recognition program?
An employee recognition program is an employer-led initiative to reward employees who exceed expectations, reach personal or work-related milestones, or stand for your organization’s values.
Employee recognition programs can vary greatly in their depth. Many companies offer basic reward options and acknowledgments, such as birthday treats, or Years of Service Awards. While this does fall into the category of employee recognition awards, it often falls a little flat on the receiving end.
In contrast, a proper employee recognition platform, like the ones in this list, can take your employee recognition program to the next level. You can use these systems to foster more employee engagement across your workforce, while recognizing hard work publicly. You can also essentially set them to run on autopilot, so they don’t take up a lot of your time.
Are there different types of employee recognition platforms?
Yes, there are, and the type you choose depends on what your company needs. Some take the form of a social engagement platform where employees can post peer-to-peer feedback publicly. These systems — including like Nectar, Awardco, and Motivosity — feature activity feeds where all other employees can see peer-based shout-outs and respond to them with their own comments or emoji-based reactions.
Other platforms — such as Lattice, Bonusly, and Cooleaf — focus more on performance and productivity, often with links to company-wide goals or OKRs (objectives and key results). In these systems, 360-degree feedback is often collected privately upon request, and automatically linked to formal performance reviews to provide a full picture of each employee’s accomplishments.
The best employee recognition platforms are the ones that take a blended approach — combining peer recognition with a point-based corporate rewards system that gamifies the employee recognition process. Employees can earn reward points for reaching pre-determined goals or giving peer-to-peer feedback, which can then be redeemed for an employee reward of their choice. Also known as employee incentive software or reward gateways, this type of blended software serves a dual purpose as a combined employee engagement platform and employee recognition solution merged into one.
Choosing the right platform comes down to what you value most: building team camaraderie, tracking and rewarding performance, or a bit of both.
Do employee recognition programs work?
Yes, absolutely! Employee recognition and awards programs have been shown to increase employee morale, company culture and productivity. Beyond that, recent research has shown that properly recognized employees are 63% more likely to stay in their job for the next 3-6 months than those who received no recognition at all. On the flip side, in a 2022 survey, 44% of employees cited a lack of recognition as their main reason for changing jobs or quiet quitting.
In another 2022 study, 80% of employees stated they would work harder if they were shown more appreciation, and 92% of employees would likely repeat a specific action if given proper recognition for it. Both these stats clearly show why it’s important to reward your top performers, if you want them to keep performing at the same level.
At the end of the day — whether in comes in the form of money, certificates, personal or public appreciation — employee recognition programs lead to increased job satisfaction and employee engagement levels.
How do employee recognition platforms support team recognition?
Employee recognition platforms encourage team recognition by providing a structured frameworks and tools that facilitate acknowledgment and appreciation among team members. Through features like peer-to-peer recognition and team-based awards, employees can easily nominate and commend their colleagues for outstanding efforts or achievements, promoting a sense of camaraderie and collaboration within the team.
In addition, the best employee recognition programs usually include features for publicizing achievements, such as an employee recognition board or newsfeed updates, improving the transparency of staff recognition across the entire team or organization. This visibility not only amplifies the impact of staff recognition but also reinforces organizational values and goals.
Lastly, by integrating with supplementary corporate rewards systems and employee engagement platforms, the software ensures that team recognition efforts are aligned with broader organizational objectives, encouraging sustained motivation and loyalty among employees.
Are there other ways to reward and recognize employees?
There is no limit to the ways you can recognize and reward your employees, and it pays to get creative. There are simple approaches that won’t cost you anything, such as adding all your staff to your company website’s About Us page, mentioning their achievements in a company newsletter, or giving them a special shout-out in a group staff meeting.
On the other end of the spectrum, you could offer top performers financial incentives, such as establishing profit-sharing incentives, stock options, or an ownership stake in the business.
To help you get your creative juices flowing, take a look at our well-defined list of 30 creative employee recognition ideas for more inspiration and employee recognition examples.
What are experiential rewards?
Experiential rewards are a type of incentive that provides employees with a real life experience instead of a physical or monetary reward. Sometimes called experience-based rewards, this type of employee reward is often highly valued because they create long lasting memories and deepen emotional connections between your staff and your company. Due to this fact, offering experiential corporate rewards can help you improve your employee morale and motivate your employees to strive for top notch performance.
Here are some examples of experiential rewards you could consider offering your employees:
- Special event tickets
- A weekend trip or hotel voucher
- A spa day or wellness retreat
- A gourmet dining experience (e.g., a cooking class or private chef tasting)
- Outdoor adventure activities
- Exclusive access to a company event
- A chance to meet a celebrity or influencer (if your company has connections to one)
As you can see, any one of these items would create more positive memories than a gift card or some free company swag. Definitely some food for thought!
Our comprehensive list of employee incentive ideas is also packed with other suggestions if you want some extra help.
What is Employee Appreciation Day?
Employee Appreciation Day is an unofficial holiday that’s celebrated on the first Friday of March each year to recognize and thank employees for their hard work and contributions.
It’s a day for companies to express gratitude and foster a positive workplace culture by showing employees they are valued. Whether through small tokens of appreciation, team lunches, or special events, the goal is to boost morale, strengthen team bonds, and enhance overall engagement.
For ideas on how to make the most of this day with your team, refer to our guide to Employee Appreciation Day next.
Other Recognition Resources
As you can probably tell, employee recognition is something we're passionate about at People Managing People. And we practice what we preach.
To help you bring the best employee recognition practices to your own workforce, here's a collection of my favorite in-house resources on this topic:
- 4 Fun Ways to Showcase Your Personality Through Employee Recognition
- 51 Employee Engagement Survey Questions and Best Practices
- How To Collect 360-Degree Feedback With Example
- How to Overcome Targeting In The Workplace
Other Software Reviews
Looking for other ways to develop a culture of recognition at work? Here are some other types of software that'll point you in the right direction:
- Employee Engagement Software
- Employee Perks Programs to Automate Rewards
- Employee Evaluation Software For Performance Reviews & Recognition
- 360-Degree Feedback Software for Employee Reviews
- Employee Survey Tools for Staff Feedback
- Employee Wellness Platforms for Employee Health & Well-Being
Improve Your Company’s Culture With Employee Recognition Platforms
Consistent recognition is key to boosting employee morale and keeping your staff engaged. Employee recognition platforms make the recognition process easy and transparent, ensuring your employees feel appreciated regularly. They bring your employee recognition program to life and motivate your team to provide feedback, praise co-workers, and respect company values.
By implementing an employee recognition platform that automates processes and increases visibility across teams, you'll reduce your turnover and foster a better company culture.
The best employee recognition system for your needs is one that addresses your current pain points, uses automation to simplify the process, makes recognition more visible, and ultimately, works within your budget. By aligning your software selection with your needs and challenges, your new software will help you create a thriving, motivated, and loyal team.
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