Employee recognition software…is it actually beneficial?

The short answer is “absolutely.”

Brace yourself for a list of questions.

• How many times did you provide valuable recognition, let’s say, 2 months ago?

• How many employees did you recognize?

• How many employees recognize one another on a regular basis?

• Does this recognition impact your mission or revenue?

Employee Recognition software can help you answer these questions. We know you’re wonderful at making employees feel valued, but expertly designed software can help make your feedback more strategic, consistent, and measurable.

Employee recognition software is technology that helps you manage abstract human concepts—like employee satisfaction and relationships—with as much purpose and efficiency as you use to manage project deadlines and sales goals.

In the hands of thoughtful peers and managers, employee recognition software can enhance your company culture.

Luckily, there are plenty of employee recognition software options out there. We made this roundup to help you find one appropriate for your team, your goals, and your budget. Keep browsing to take the first step in optimizing your recognition culture.

1) Bonusly

Bonusly is an online platform for rewarding, recognizing, and generally celebrating awesome employees. It enables everyone to recognize anyone. Peers can recognize each other, managers can recognize direct reports, and so on and so forth. (The good vibes are basically endless.)

Why we love it: It makes recognition fast and legitimately fun for everyone.

Standout features:

• Social features make recognition visual and interesting

• Analytics point out team members’ strengths

• Monthly allowance features ensure everyone can give recognition

Notable companies using Bonusly:

• Chobani
• Headspace
• ZipRecruiter
• Gilt
• TripIt

Pricing options:

• Core: $2.70 per user/month
• Pro: $4.50 per user/month
• Custom: Price dependent on needs
• Visit the Bonusly pricing page for details.

One happy user wrote the following review on G2.com:

“The opportunities that employees have to recognize their peers for various ways that they have gone above and beyond has been invaluable to the morale of the company! Morale and camaraderie have increased significantly.”

2) Assembly

Assembly puts intuitive tools for peer-to-peer recognition at employees’ fingertips. With just a few clicks, anyone in your company can make someone else’s day by acknowledging their hard work with a custom badge or a culture reward.

Why we love it: It “closes the recognition loop,” making something everyone wants to do into something everyone can easily do.

Standout features:

• Top core values sidebar helps everyone see highly valued qualities

• A variety of badge options highlight specific skills

• Public anniversary and birthday feeds help everyone feel special

Notable companies using Assembly:

• Amazon
• Coco-Cola
• MVMT
• BloomNation

Pricing options:

• Free forever
• Team: $2/mo/seat
• Business: $3/mo/seat
• Visit the Assembly plans page for details.

One pleased participant loves creating unique awards and animated gifs. Here’s the full review from G2.com:

“It allows for creativity, it’s honestly fun to create awards, use badges and find fun animated gifs, and worth seeing what other people have posted. And, while it’s a small gesture, and we help each other out anyway, it really does help you feel appreciated when you go the extra mile. The weekly summaries are also fun. Overall creates a little friendly competitiveness but it never gets past friendly.”

3) Kazoo

Kazoo is a work hub that connects recognition to employees’ career goals. Employees enter goals, and as they receive recognition, feedback, and assessment results, Kazoo tracks their success. This visible progress motivates employees to grow and develop.

Why we love it: It makes continuous feedback and continuous improvement part of day-to-day work—not something restricted to performance reviews.

Standout features:

• Talent assessments highlight hidden team strengths

• Pulse surveys help managers make data-driven decisions

• Nominations provide layers of recognition across all teams and levels

Notable companies using Kazoo:

• Meredith
• Patagonia
• Kaiser Permanente
• Hitachi
• Kia

Pricing options:

• Performance: Starting at $7.00 monthly per employee
• Growth: Starting at $9.00 monthly per employee
• Enterprise: Price dependent on needs
• Visit the Kazoo pricing page for details.

In a review posted on G2.com, one customer says peer-to-peer recognition can even lead to supervisor recognition:

“I enjoy the conversations that are started by recognizing fellow employees. It’s nice to be able to bring to light that you appreciate them, but also to show to their Supervisors, as well!”

4) Kudos

Designed to enhance company culture and build meaningful relationships, Kudos provides a one-stop shop for recognition, communication, feedback, and overall camaraderie. Employees use Kudos to come together, celebrating epic achievements or simply offering words of thanks.

Why we love it: It helps foster a lasting culture of gratitude.

Standout features:

• Private and public feedback options promote participation and honesty

• Video options make recognition even more meaningful

• Kudos TV feature lets you stream and display recognition events

Notable companies using Kudos:

• Make-A-Wish
• DHL
• Chewy
• Meals on Wheels
• Kronos

Pricing options:

• Kudos Basic: Price available on request
• Kudos Plus: Price available on request
• Kudos Enterprise: Price available on request
• Visit the Kudos plan page to request details.

This review from G2.com illustrates what makes Kudos so special:

“Kudos is an amazing tool that brings coworkers together. By giving someone Kudos I acknowledge the impact they made, whether it be to a customer, another coworker, or myself. Kudos facilitates having a great working environment by giving people an easy way to show appreciation between coworkers, Getting rewards for the Kudos I have earned is delightful, and only further entices me to earn more Kudos, and thus be a better coworker.”

5) Blueboard

Blueboard makes it fast and easy to reward employees with memorable experiences and thoughtful gifts that would otherwise require months of planning. In addition to offering the rewards, Blueboard pairs recipients with a concierge to take care of all the details necessary to redeem and fully enjoy each reward.

Why we love it: It helps companies give super-premium gifts with absolutely no fuss.

Standout features:

• A hands-on client success team helps companies develop recognition programs

• Story capture helps build excitement and engagement

• Experiential wellness incentives bring added health benefits

Notable companies using Blueboard:

• Salesforce.org
• GoPro
• Boeing
• Guidewire

Pricing options: Request a demo to learn more about Blueboard’s pricing structure.

Blueboard users appreciate how the team takes care of all the details. Check out this glowing review:

“I love that the Blueboard Employee Recognition Platform makes the experience so seamless and gratifying. The Blueboard team takes care of everything – from selecting the activity, personalizing it, to making sure that the recipient enjoys the reward. I appreciate the team’s effort at constantly sending reminders, directly communicating with me and the activity provider, considering all options and guiding me through choosing the best one.”

6) Snappy

Give employees rewards they really want with Snappy—a virtual gift-giving platform that allows recipients to choose from a vast catalog of rewards. The platform can accommodate peer-to-peer gifting, bulk gift sends, virtual gifts, and so much more.

Why we love it: It provides companies with their very own flexible rewards portal that ensures employees get items they love.

Standout features:

• Real-time thank you notes indicate reward success

• Automations make recurring annual rewards a snap

• Campaign-based gifting helps track ROI for different reward types

Notable companies using Snappy:

• 21st Century Fox
• Zynga
• TaskRabbit
• Uber
• Zoom

Pricing options: Request a complimentary Snappy gift to talk to the team about your needs.

One customer posted this review on featured customers.com:

“We care deeply about our employees at TaskRabbit and Snappy really helps us live our core values by allowing us to recognize milestones, life events and stellar performance! Managers and employees enjoy opening their inbox to find that they have received a Snappy which celebrates the wins and motivates our team as we lead the future together!”

7) Giftogram

Giftogram is your streamlined platform for tons of gift cards from tons of brands your employees love. Easily send personalized physical or virtual gift cards to reward your employees for any special occasion or achievement.

Why we love it: It helps you put a personal touch on the fuss-free, classic gift card.

Standout features:

• Massive design library makes cards feel special

• Logo upload helps you brand each gift

• In-house designers can create fully custom designs

Pricing options: Giftogram charges no monthly fees and their classic Giftogram gift cards carry no cost. Visit the Giftogram pricing page for details.

8) Tellinga

Tellinga makes story-centric greeting cards, each one as unique as each one of your employees. Perfect if you’re looking for sentimental gifts employees will cherish, Tellinga will take your story and photos and turn them into illustrated masterpieces.

Why we love it: It’s about as thoughtful and unique as employee recognition can get.

Standout features:

• Story length options accommodate your content

• On-staff artists hand-draw each story

• A library of existing stories provides plenty of inspiration

Notable press on Tellinga:

• Houston Public Media
• Art Houston Magazine
• AP News

Pricing options:

• One Day Card: $9.99
• One Week Story: $22.99
• Two Week Story: $39.99
• One Month Story: $69.99
• Visit the Tellinga pricing page for more details.

Tellinga’s customers are delighted by the quality artistry of their cards. Check out this glowing review:

“I am so impressed with the quality of work these artists put out. They really took the time to read what I wanted, and then transformed it into something amazing! This is definitely a great idea for a gift, and I can’t wait to see more of my own story through their detailed artwork!”

9) Guusto

Guusto helps companies partner with merchants to easily send rewards. Companies can assign budgets, send gift cards, and track all gifting initiatives from a helpful command center.

Why we love it: It’s a gift-based recognition program you know will align with employee interests

Standout features:

• Pay-forward feature empowers recipients to pass a gift to someone else

• Claim periods allow companies to recoup expenses for unused gifts

• Expense reports make accounting a breeze

Notable companies using Guusto:

• DSW
• Purdy’s Chocolatier
• DLA Piper

Pricing options:

• Basic: Free
• Premium: $1.50 per person per month
• Custom: Price dependent on needs
• Visit the Guusto pricing page for details.

Customers posting on G2.com love how easy Guusto is. Check out this glowing review: 

“How easy it is to use ! 🙂 Simple and user friendly and you can make kind gestures towards colleagues to thank their tireless efforts. Even better is the fact that you can choose what type of gift card you’d like from a few dozen partners in different areas. Payment options are pretty easy to choose from and the merchants are pretty abundant.”

10) HeyTaco!

HeyTaco is a Slack integration focused on verbal recognition and acts of kindness. The service gets your entire team using a taco icon as a universal symbol of gratitude and props. Employees can hand out as many tacos as needed to acknowledge someone awesome.

Why we love it: It focuses on the powerful relationship-developing aspect of recognition.

Standout features:

• Taco “budget” gives everyone plenty of props to hand out

• Gift unlock feature spotlights extra-special achievements

• Team reward feature lets users turn in tacos for custom activities and treats

Notable companies using HeyTaco!:

• Boys and Girls Club of Hood County
• Shopathome

Pricing options:

• Team and Workspace: $3 per person per month
• Enterprise: Price dependent on needs
• Visit the HeyTaco pricing page for details.

Reviewers love how HeyTaco provides immediate feedback:

“HeyTaco allows me to give my coworkers a small token (well, up to five small tokens) of gratitude in coordination with the event in which they earned it. This is immediate feedback. No more waiting for peer reviews (that may not even occur), or losing track of reasons to thank them.”

11) Cooleaf

Cooleaf’s platform helps companies reward positive behaviors with the aim of cultivating long-term business growth and solid relationships. By facilitating behavior-based awards, Cooleaf empowers employees to better understand company values and expectations.

Why we love it: Behavior-based rewards help boost employee-employer harmony.

Standout features:

• Team challenges provide healthy competition

• Machine learning technology provides specific recommendations

• Team-, location-, and role-based analytics point out trends

Pricing options: Request a demo to learn more about Cooleaf’s pricing structure.

Here’s what one reviewer likes best about Coolleaf:

“I love the different features and the accessibility it provides. I like being able to connect with my coworkers and give them kudos. The platform is easy to use. I like that we can vote on people who have joined in on the challenges and make it a fun way to show support. We are able to share pictures, give thanks and interact with employees that work in different states.”

12) Credly

Credly is a digital credentialing platform companies can use to celebrate employees for their demonstrated skills and talents. Teams can create their own digital credentials and then start recognizing employees who achieve them.

Why we love it: Employees will love receiving recognition for specific skills.

Standout features:

• Promotion tools let employees show off their credentials in other platforms

• Metadata options allow users to add testimonials to their creds

• Analytics pinpoint employee interests as well as achievements

Notable companies using Credly:

• IBM
• Dell
• Adobe
• Oracle
• Pearson

Pricing options: Request information to learn more about Credly’s pricing structure.

This quote from a case study explains why IBM started a digital credentialing program:

“IBM will always attract the world’s best and brightest. With our digital credentials program, we want to shift mindsets in our industry and make tech more diverse and inclusive. We want to bring in people with non-traditional backgrounds, attract people re-entering the workforce or relaunching their careers. We want to create more jobs for people where tech jobs are scarce to create a more diverse and inclusive workforce.”

13) Bonfyre

Bonfyre is a one-touch platform for communications, recognition, idea exchange, and even event management. By giving employees what they need to connect, Bonfyre aims to enhance the holistic employee experience.

Why we love it: The events integration adds engagement value away from the desk.

Standout features:

• Live polling for events and speakers

• Quick polls produce valuable feedback fast

• Broadcast feature gets your key messages noticed

Notable companies using Bonfyre:

• Commerce Bank
• Marriott
• Southwest
• Teach for America

Pricing options: Request a quote on Bonyfyre’s pricing page.

Here’s what users love about Bonfyre:

“Bonfyre” is a great social networking app that allows you to share your photos and videos, as well as group chat with what you’re doing and who you’re doing it with. It’s simply picture messaging that ties in with how you live your life: one moment at a time.”

14) Bravo

The Bravo platform aims to optimize, as well as enable, employee recognition. An intelligent interface offers suggestions for who to recognize and tips for making the most impact through your recognition.

Why we love it: It helps everyone learn how to provide truly meaningful recognition.

Standout features:

• Bravo lens helps employees snap pictures of recognized employees in action

• Augmented writing helps everyone best craft recognition messages

• Machine learning algorithm provides recognition suggestions based on emails and other interactions

Pricing options: Request more information on Bravo’s get-in-touch page.

One reviewer loves how Bravo makes peer recognition easy.

“It’s maintaining proper data of all my company members, I can easily select the peer whom I want to appreciate, we can choose recognition from multiple categories.”

15) Reflektive

Reflektive aims to maximize the net benefit of recognition by linking it to specific goals and performance. The team has found this goal-centric approach to boost productivity, engagement, and retention.

Why we love it: It keeps morale and engagement high as employees receive recognition that’s meaningful to their priority goals.

Standout features:

• Custom hashtags socialize core values

• Charts highlight team members working on shared goals

• Feedback requests empower employees to seek input on key issues

Notable companies using Reflektive:

• Airbnb
• Braintree
• Comcast
• Eventbrite
• Squarespace

Pricing options: Request more information on Reflektive’s let’s-talk page.

One manager says Reflektive is perfect for understanding employee goals:

“I love the Outlook extension that allows me to view the goals of any employee, add/edit topics for upcoming 1×1 meetings (savings tons of money on post-its) and give them real-time feedback and potentially rewards points right there. 89% of our users have given feedback and 100% have received feedback in the first few months of use.”

16) Preciate

Preciate’s model is based on what they call Culture Nirvana,™ the balance between cognitive culture and emotional culture. This software helps companies find and recalibrate any out-of-balance culture touchpoints.

Why we love it: It promotes an emphasis on balance that feeds healthy, holistic workplace cultures.

Standout features:

• Activity feeds may be displayed to applicants and customers

• Portraits feature makes recognition personal and shareable

• Trending strengths reports give managers a big-picture view

Notable companies using Preciate:

• Allegis Group
• Amazon
• American Airlines
• Aramark
• Mission Wealth

Pricing options:

• Free
• Preciate +: $1.00 /mo/per user
• Premium: $1.50 /mo/per user
• View the Preciate pricing page for details.

One happy reviewer loves how Preciate makes it easy to feel connected:

“A quick and easy way to share appreciation and feedback in the moment! Love the ability to “scroll” the wall and see all the amazing things happening throughout the company. In a company with multiple locations it helps feel more connected to the buzz.”

17) Workstride

Workstride offers feature-packed recognition programs that can be catered to nearly any company style or goal. From widgets to gamification tactics, incentives keep employees engaged in programs.

Why we love it: This software channels insight on what motivates employees into features that make engagement soar.

Standout features:

• Gamification leaderboard keeps recognition exciting

• Employee interest groups foster organic socializing

• Highlights feature delivers key updates on login

Notable companies using Workstride:

• Cleveland Clinic
• Orlando Health

Pricing options: Contact WorkStride Sales for details.

One user was particularly impressed with WorkStride’s variety and ease of use.

“They were easy to deal with and I received the information I needed. There were a very good selection of different options that would meet a variety of different people’s needs. I was pleased with the variety. I was very satisfied with the value this program provided. It was worth the value I received from it and was happy with the results. I was pleased with how easy it was to use this program. It would be easy for a wide variety of individuals and it was a good experience.”

People Also Ask These Questions About Employee Recognition Software

Q: What is employee recognition software?

• A: Employee recognition software is technology that helps you manage abstract human concepts—like employee satisfaction and relationships—with as much purpose and efficiency as you use to manage project deadlines and sales goals. This type of software helps companies provide feedback strategically, consistently, and measurably.

Q: How do I get company buy-in for an employee recognition software?

• A: Get company buy-in for an employee recognition software by telling leadership about amazing reporting features and telling employees about usability. Management will love using reporting features to link recognition to goals and ROI. Employees will love easily providing meaningful feedback. Use all the information and bullet points in this roundup to start your pitch.

Q: What do I need to do to get started with a rewards software for employees?

• A: To get started with a rewards software for employees, you’ll need to consider your budget, your program goals, and your employees’ technology preferences. Keeping all these factors in mind, you can browse a list of rewards software options and pick an option that best fits your team and your goals.

Q: How do I measure the success of my employee recognition platform?

• A: You can measure the success of your employee recognition platform in several different ways: direct feedback, quick polls, ratio of adoption, platform usage rate, reward redemption rate, influence on job performance, and so much more. Most available employee recognition platforms have robust tracking and analytics in place. Once you establish your key metrics, your program success should be a breeze to evaluate.

Q: Are there free employee recognition softwares?

• A: There are plenty of free employee recognition software options available that still boast a variety of useful features. Browse this list to find softwares with free plans.

Q: How does an employee recognition platform help with employee engagement?

• A: An employee recognition platform can help with employee engagement by making it easier for employees to get and also review the feedback they need. These platforms empower employees to get more feedback than they’ve ever received before. This visibility removes doubt and uncertainty, helping employees engage deeply in pursuing crystal-clear goals and trajectories.

Q: Does software for employee recognition really work?

• A: Employee recognition software works for many companies because it helps them provide strategic, consistent, and measurable feedback. Even companies with strong casual recognition cultures can benefit from software that provides a framework and platform for managing abstract, but incredibly important, work concepts, such as satisfaction, happiness, and camaraderie.

Q: Can a peer-to-peer recognition platform improve company culture?

• A: A peer-to-peer recognition platform can improve company culture by fostering goodwill, accountability, collaboration, and so much more. Consider how it feels each time you receive a compliment from a colleague. Recognition platforms help employees feel those positive feelings on a daily basis.

Q: What makes a good peer-to-peer recognition software?

• A: A good peer-to-peer recognition software will be easy for employees of all technological skill levels to use and adopt. Software that incorporates social sharing features helps increase program adoption and buzz. Browse features for a variety of recognition softwares here.

Q: How many hours a week will it take to manage an employee recognition platform?

• A: Most employee recognition platforms manage themselves; after an administrator completes the initial setup, organic participation should flourish with little hands-on management. The specific hours it takes to manage an engagement platform will ultimately depend on the platform you choose and how involved you wish to get in pulling reports and studying analytics.

Q: How do remote employees benefit from a peer-to-peer recognition software?

• A: Remote employees benefit from peer-to-peer recognition software that makes them feel more connected. Remote employees may feel disconnected or isolated, but even just a few kind words can help them remember they’re valued members of a team.

The post 17 Effective Employee Recognition Softwares To Help Build Company Culture in 2020 appeared first on SnackNation.