Rewards: Step-by-Step Instructions

Being able to redeem rewards is a key feature of the Recognize platform. Not only does it provide employees with a digitized and seamless process, but it also gives them more autonomy in selecting their desired compensation options. Recognize offers two types of rewards; Company-Fulfilled Rewards, and Provider-Fulfilled Rewards. 

Company-Fulfilled Rewards 

Company-Fulfilled Rewards are Rewards that are offered and supplied by your organization. You can create any kind of reward you want and add it to your Recognize Platform, and they can be redeemed by employees using points earned through Recognition. Recognize manages the process, and your organization fulfills the redemptions. This requires no deposit, and you can get as creative as you wish! 

Provider-Fulfilled Rewards 

Provider-Fulfilled Rewards are rewards offered and fulfilled through Recognize. Once you have successfully deposited funds for rewards and have received confirmation from the Recognize team that those funds have been loaded onto your account, you will then be able to create Gift Card Rewards in your Rewards Catalog. Recognize supports major US brands and a multitude of international reward options for your company to add to your rewards catalog. You can find a list of eGift cards that we support here.

Note: To use Provider-Fulfilled rewards, your organization must be in our Mid-Market (Silver) package or higher.

Here are some helpful instructions for setting up and leveraging the Rewards feature of the Recognize platform:

Enabling Rewards:

  1. Select 'Menu' from the upper right corner of Recognize
  2. Select 'Company Admin' from the drop-down menu
  3. Select 'Settings' from the navigation panel on the left
  4. Select 'Rewards' from the quick-navigation panel on the right side of the 'Settings' page
  5. Toggle 'Allow rewards' from 'OFF' to 'ON'
  6. If you wish for your employees to be notified by SMS when redemptions are made, toggle 'Allow SMS notifications for redemption' from 'OFF' to 'ON'
  7. Toggle 'Require approval for gift card redemptions' to 'ON', if you would like every redemption to require approval by a Company Admin or Rewards Manager

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  8. Select 'Points' from the quick-navigation panel on the right
  9. Set your Default Sending Limits (optional). The Default sending limit will limit the default total number of Recognitions a user can send, and will only apply to badges that don't already have sending limits applied already in the 'Custom Badges' section
  10. Set your Global Sending Limits (optional). The Global sending limit will limit the total number of Recognitions a user can send, regardless of the badge settings on the 'Custom Badges' page
  11. Select 'Save badge limits' when you are done
  12. Set 'Point Values' that will be awarded to users for Sending a Recognitions, Receive a Like on a Recognition or Sending a Like on a Recognition. Remember: these points can add up quickly. You must check the box 'Redeemable' to make these points redeemable for rewards. Otherwise, the specified points for these actions will be awarded, but will not be able to be redeemed for rewards. We recommend that if you are going to offer these points, to make all points Redeemable to avoid confusion of point totals for end users
  13. The 'Hide point for end users' option will hide all mention of points to end users. Note: If this option is toggled to 'ON', users can still receive redeemable points if rewards are enabled and badges have point values attached to them. It will also, however, hide the rewards catalog from end-users, so they will not be able to redeem those points while this is toggled to 'ON'
  14. Once you have finished editing point values, select 'Save point settings' to save your changes

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Depositing Rewards Funds:

  1. Once rewards have been enabled, you can offer 2 types of employee rewards:

    • Provider-Fulfilled (gift cards for external vendors - e.g. Starbucks, Amazon, etc.)
    • Company-Fulfilled (company-sponsored items - e.g. merchandise or time-off)

  2. For provider-fulfilled rewards, Recognize works with a third-party vendor to offer a wide range of digital gift card options for recipients. A deposit must be made to Recognize prior to offering these rewards. Recognize does not charge a fee per redemption. We place your deposit in a holding account, and it is your money until points are redeemed by your employees for rewards.

    • Note: deposits are not required for company-fulfilled rewards.

  3. In order to deposit funds for rewards, send a request to support@recognizeapp.com with the following details:
     
    • Name
    • Company
    • Amount (minimum: $1,000)
    • Payment Method (check, credit card, or ACH/wire transfer)
      • Note: transaction fee(s) may apply

Creating Rewards (Provider-Fulfilled):

  1. Once you have successfully deposited funds, and have received confirmation from the Recognize team, you can now create provider-fulfilled rewards. Start by selecting 'Rewards' from the far left navigation menu
  2. Click 'Create Catalog' in the upper right corner of the rewards page

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  3. Once you are on the 'Create Catalog' page, choose which currency you wish your catalog to be redeemed in.

  4. Confirm the number of assigned points per $1 under 'Points Ratio to 1'

    Note:     Once this is set, this ratio can not be changed without contacting our Support Team. For more information on how to set a points-to-currency ratio, please see our step-by-step guide, here.  

  5. Choose which company roles will have access to this catalog if you plan on limiting this catalog to only specific users. If you will not be limiting this catalog to specific users, leave this option blank.

    Note: If you assign Company Roles to a rewards catalog, only users who are assigned the same Company Role will be able to access it. If you want the Rewards Catalog to be accessible to all users and  assign Company Roles such as "All Users" or "Staff" to the catalog, this Role must then be added to every employee on the platform, including new employees you may add later on. It is recommended that you leave this section blank if it will be available to all users to avoid errors. To find out more about Company Roles, see our guide here.

  6. Toggle 'Enable' to ON to make the rewards catalog available to users

  7. Save your new Rewards Catalog

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  8. Select your Rewards Catalog to open it and start adding gift cards you will offer

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  9. Click 'Create Reward' to drop down a menu of three options:
     
    • 'Add from template' -These are pre-created rewards you can quickly add to your catalog
    • 'Add custom' - This is the option you choose to add company-fulfilled rewards (rewards offered and fulfilled by your company)
    • 'Add gift card' - These are provider-fulfilled rewards (eGift cards offered by Recognize through a third-party provider)

      Select 'Add gift card' from that dropdown menu.

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  10. From the gift card list, click 'Add' next to the gift card of your choice to add it to your list. You may also select 'Edit' to the right of an existing gift card if you wish to edit its details.

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  11. If you wish to limit how often this reward can be redeemed by each employee, enter that limit here
  12. Enter the reward variants you wish to offer your staff here (for example $5, $10, $20, $50, $100)
  13. If you wish for this reward to be approved by a manager before it is redeemed, assign that manager here
  14. Check 'Enabled'
  15. Select 'Add'

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  16. Further details can be found in the 'How to Create a Gift Card Reward (Provider-Fulfilled)'

Creating Rewards (Company-Fulfilled):

  1. If you decide to create company-fulfilled rewards, you can get started right away (no deposit necessary). In the Company Admin > Rewards section, within the catalog for your currency, select 'Catalog' to drop down a menu of options.
  2. From the dropdown menu select 'Create Reward'.

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  3. From the drop-down menu, select 'Add Custom' and populate the following fields:

    • a. Title of Reward (e.g. half-day off work, sweatshirt, parking space, etc.)
    • b. Description of Reward (e.g. good for redeeming one afternoon off work!)
    • c. Reward Type (optional)
    • d. Instructions displayed to the user (e.g. requires manager approval)
    • e. Image Upload (option to upload a picture of the reward)
    • f. Reward Options (different variants/increments - e.g. 2, 4, 8 hours, or S, M, L sizes, colors)
    • g How often can this be redeemed by each employee (optional limits)
    • h. Total quantity (of all items offered in reward)
    • i. Rewards Manager Required (optional approval)
    • j. Enabled (makes this reward redeemable). 

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  4. Click 'Add' when finished, and you will see this card displayed in your 'Catalog'.

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    Further details can be found in the 'How to Create Custom Employee Rewards (Company-Fulfilled)' article.

Redeeming Rewards:

  1. Select 'Rewards' from the top navigation menu
  2. Once in the portal, users can select which catalog they wish to see if there are multiple catalogs
  3. Users can browse through a wide range of company-fulfilled and vendor-fulfilled Rewards options. If they are looking for something specific, they can use the filters on the top right to pare down their search to options Value (sorts the rewards by point value - either low to high, or high to low) or see options that are only currently redeemable based on how many points they presently have. Users with more points will be able to redeem more rewards 
  4. For each reward, you can toggle between the different point value options in the dropdown menu
  5. Once you've decided which reward to select, click 'Redeem' and 'Redeem' again on the pop-up

    Note: once a vendor-fulfilled reward (e.g. Chipotle gift card) is selected, it cannot be refunded!

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    For more information on redeeming and claiming rewards, see our help article.

Approving Rewards:

  1. Once an employee has selected a reward, it must be approved via the Manager Portal. Start by selecting 'Menu' from the top right of the page
  2. Select 'Manager Portal' from the dropdown menu
  3. Select Redemptions from the left-side menu to access the 'Redemption approval' page.
  4. Select one of two actions for each 'Pending' reward:
    • Approve (accepts the selected user reward) 
    • Deny (declines the selected user reward)
  5. After clicking either action, a small pop-up window will appear. The Manager has the option to add notes if necessary

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Reviewing Rewards Reporting:

  1. Reports of employee rewards redemptions can be downloaded via the Company Admin portal.
  2. Select Rewards from the left-side menu.
  3. Navigate to the 'Redemptions' option on the right-side menu.
  4. Determine the time interval and entries for your report.
    1. Note: you must select 'All' entries to obtain a report of all employee redemptions.
  5. Under 'Export', select which output format you'd prefer.

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Please refer to the 'How to activate or deactivate rewards?', 'Approving a reward', 'How are rewards redeemed?', and 'How to download an accounting report of all the reward redemptions?' help articles.