Recognition Badges are the core visual element of the Recognize platform, linking company values to employee recognition. They highlight achievements, reinforce desired behaviors, and align recognition with organizational goals, driving productivity and fostering a positive workplace culture.
How Badges work
Staff can officially thank each other for the good work they do by sending recognition through the platform. Each recognition is paired with a Recognition Badge, which serves as a visual representation of the acknowledgment. Company Admins have the flexibility to create an unlimited number of Badges, making them symbolic of anything that aligns with your company culture and values.
Badges can be customized to provide flexibility in recognition and come in three types:
- Point Range Badges: Allow employees to assign points within a set range when giving recognition.
- Fixed-Point Badges: Automatically include a specific, predefined number of points for consistency.
- Non-Monetary (0-Point) Badges: Used for symbolic recognition without attaching point values, such as a “Thank You” or “Shoutout.”
Recognize comes with a collection of pre-loaded Badges that can be leveraged for your company's recognitions and nominations. Additionally, we have over 100 pre-made value badges icons available here: Company Culture Value Badges. If desired, you also have the option to create your own custom Badges to fit your specific company initiatives.
See the below video for an overview of the Custom Badges section in the Company Admin portal.
Use the below menu to jump to specific topics:
Creating Badges with an Approval Process
Setting Achievement Limits on a Badge
Setting a Global Badge Sending Limit
Setting Badge Privileges with Roles
Creating New Badges
- After signing in, click on the 'Menu' icon in the upper right-hand corner
- Select 'Company Admin' from the drop-down menu
- Once in the Company Admin portal, select 'Custom Badges' from the left-side menu
- Click the 'Create Badge' button and complete the following fields:
A. Title (badge title)
B. Description (optional)
C. Badge sending limits (optional)
D. Image (see more about 'Badge Image Dimensions' below) NOTE: you are not able to create a new badge without an uploaded image.
E. Click 'Create badge' and your new badge will appear under the 'Active Badges' section.
Note: You can configure additional badge details, such as approvals, permissions, monetary value, and more, by following the steps outlined here: Editing Badges
Badge Image Dimensions:
- We recommend the badges are 200px by 200px and are transparent pngs.
Other Restrictions
- A title and image are the minimum requirements to create a badge.
- No two badges can have the same title.
- Once a badge is created and has been used at least once, it can not be deleted as that would delete the associated recognitions, however, it can be disabled.
Editing Badges
- After signing in, click on the 'Menu' icon in the upper right-hand corner
- Select 'Company Admin' from the drop-down menu
- Once in the Company Admin portal, select 'Custom Badges' from the left-side menu
- Scroll through the 'Active Badges' to explore the different, pre-populated badge options
Note: You can arrange the order in which the badges will appear on the Badge Listing and Badge Selection pages by dragging to the left of the badge icon. - You can access previously used badges as well as additional stock options by changing the 'Status' filter to 'Disabled.'
- Once you've found a Badge you'd like to edit, click 'Details' next to the Badge.
- Complete the following fields for each Badge as needed:
A. Title (e.g. a company value)
B. Change badge image
C. Enable (activates the Badge)
D. Show in Badge listing (determines if the badge will appear on the Badge listing page for employees to view)
E. Description (visible during the Badge selection process and on the Badge listing page)
F. Additional details (visible on the Badge listing page)
G. Once the updates are completed, click 'Save Badges' at the bottom of the page
H. Delete (Note: Once a badge is created and has been used at least once, it can not be deleted as that would delete the associated recognitions)
Adding Points to Badges
Badges can be customized to carry different point values, or can be non-monetary, offering flexibility in how recognition is given:
- Point Range Badges: Employees can assign a specific number of points within a set min/max range (e.g., 10–50 points) when giving recognition, allowing them to tailor the reward to the contribution's impact.
- Fixed-Point Badges: These badges automatically include a predefined number of points, simplifying recognition for consistent or recurring contributions. To make a fixed-point badge, set both min/max values to the same number.
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Non-Monetary (0-Point) Badges: These badges allow for symbolic, non-monetary recognition, such as a “Thank You” or “Shoutout” badge, to emphasize appreciation without tying it to points. To make a non-monetary badge, set both min/max values to 0.
Note: Make sure to Click 'Save' to apply your changes.
Creating Badges with an Approval Process
If you would like to allow staff to give monetary Badges to others but want to manage a budget per Badge, Recognize provides an option to implement a process by which Company Admins or Managers can approve such Recognitions before they are sent to a recipient.
- Toggle ON 'Require approval' (subjects submissions of this Badge to an approval process)
- Set the Points min/max values (Senders will be able to choose the maximum amount of points they would like to give within the min/max range set)
- To make a fixed-point badge, set both values to the same number
- To make a non-monetary badge, set both values to 0
- Approver (Designate either Company Admins or Manager to be the approver)
- Checking this box allows either the sender's manager or recipient's manager to approve the Recognition (when left unchecked, only the recipients manager can approve the Recognition)
- Click 'Save' to apply your changes.
Note: Visit this article to learn how to Approve or Deny Recognitions as a Company Admin
Setting Achievement Limits on a Badge
An Achievement Limit sets a restriction on how many times a single user can earn a specific badge within a defined time period:
- Toggle ON 'Achievement' on the Badge details page.
- Set the number of times an employee can receive this badge in a given time period.
- Set the time interval to daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly.
- Click 'Save' to apply your changes.
Setting a Badge Sending Limit
A Badge Sending Limit allows you to control how many times an employee can send a specific badge within a set time frame, such as daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, trimester, or yearly. Here’s how to set up a sending limit for your badges.
- Set the number of times an employee can send this badge in a given time period.
- Set the time interval to daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, trimester, or yearly.
- Click 'Save' to apply your changes.
Setting a Global Badge Sending Limit
A Global Badge Sending Limit allows you to cap the total number of recognitions an employee can send across all badges within a specific time frame (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly, etc.). Unlike individual badge limits, this setting applies universally, regardless of the specific badge settings on the custom badge page. Here’s how to configure a global sending limit for your organization.
- Click on the 'Menu' icon in the upper right-hand corner
- Select 'Company Admin' from the drop-down menu
- Once in the Company Admin portal, select 'Custom Badges' from the left-side menu
- Click 'Settings' from the top right tertiary menu.
- Set the number of total badges an employee can send in a given time period.
- Set the time interval to daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, trimester, or yearly.
- Click 'Save badge limits' to save your changes.
Setting Badge Privileges with Roles
To control who can send specific badges, you can set badge privileges by assigning role-based permissions. This ensures that only employees with the designated role can send the badge. Before assigning badge privileges, you’ll need to create a role and assign it to the appropriate employees. For guidance on creating and assigning roles, please refer to this resource: Adding & Designating Company Roles in Recognize
Once the roles are set up, you can assign the role to your badge on the Badge details page:
- Enter one or more 'Roles' to set badge privileges. (A role must be created before it can be added to a badge)
- Click 'Save' to apply your changes.
Setting a Badge to Private
In certain situations, you may want a specific badge to be sent privately. This means the badge will only appear on the recipient's profile page and will not be shared on the company stream. When a badge is sent privately, it can only be viewed by the recipient, the recipient's direct manager, and company admins.
You will first want to make sure that the global badge privacy setting is 'ON':
- From your Company Admin Portal, select 'Settings' from the navigation panel on the left.
- From the quick menu on the right, select 'Recognitions'.
- Toggle 'ON' the setting that says 'Allow staff to make recognitions private within your company that only sender, recipient, and admins can see'.
Once you have toggled the global privacy setting 'ON', you can force a badge to always be given privately on the Badge details page:
- On the badge details page of the Badge you would like to be private, toggle 'Force private recognition' ON.
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Save your changes. All new Recognitions sent with this badge will be private.
If the global privacy setting is 'ON' but the badge-specific privacy setting is 'OFF', badges will be sent publicly by default. However, employees will have the option to send a badge privately by selecting the 'Private' checkbox when sending a Recognition: