How to create and give awards?

Awards are a company-driven way to recognize employees using points, budgets, and optional approvals set by admins. Unlike kudos, which are peer-to-peer, awards are controlled by the organization and usually given by managers or designated employees.

Award types

Award type defines whether an award has fixed, preset details or allows the giver to customize values such as points and the message when giving the award.

Who’s involved

• Award givers are employees who have permission to give a specific award.
• Recipients are employees who receive the award.
• Approvers (optional) review and approve award requests before they are granted.

1. Creating an Award 

You, as an admin, can create and manage all awards from:
Admin View → Kudos → Awards

1. Click New Award.
2. Enter:
3. • Award Name (required)
   • Description (optional; shown to award givers)

Choose one of the following:

• Fixed points per award
  The same number of points is given every time.

• Custom points per award
  The giver selects the point value at the time of giving.

Set how many points can be spent on this award within a specific period:

• Monthly
• Quarterly
• Annually

3. Message & Visibility Settings

Default Message Template

You can set a pre-filled message that appears when the award is given.
Givers can personalize it unless restricted.

Show Points in Message

Enable this to automatically display the points at the top of the award post.

Post Visibility

Choose how and where the award appears:

• Public feed
  Shows the award to the entire organization.
• Private
  Sends notifications only to the giver, recipient and approvers.

You can also allow or restrict the giver’s ability to change visibility while sending the award.

4. Award Image Template

Set a default background image for the award. Givers may replace this image when sending the award (if allowed). The recipient's name and profile photo are always updated dynamically.

5. Choose Participants

Givers

Select who can issue this award:

• All employees
• Managers / Department Heads / Group Heads
• Smartlists
• Specific employees

Restrict award requests per giver

Limit how many points or how many awards a giver can request within a budget period (for example, 100 points per month). This helps prevent overuse while awards are pending approval.

Choose who can receive this award:

• All employees
• Departments
• Smartlists
• Specific individuals

6. Set Up Approvals (Optional)

Awards can be automatic or routed through multi-level approval.

Approval Options

• Auto-approve (default)
• Custom approval flow with up to 4 sequential levels

For each level:

• Add one or more approvers
• Only one person needs to approve at that level

Approvers receive notifications only when their level is active. Admins can override approvals regardless of the approval chain.

Important:
Once approved or declined, the decision cannot be undone.

7. Managing Awards

From the Awards page, admins can:

• Edit awards
• Archive awards (after clearing pending approvals)
• Duplicate awards
• View approval history

Changes affecting giver/recipient eligibility may require clearing pending approval queues.

8. Giving an Award 

(Only employees with award-giver permissions can give awards.)

Employees can give awards from:
Employee View → Home → Give Award

Step 1: Choose an award

You’ll see a list of awards you’re eligible to give.

For each award, you can view:

• Award name
• Points associated with the award (fixed or configurable)

Step 2: Add Details

Fill in:

• Recipients (single or multiple, depending on eligibility)
• Message (default text is pre-filled)
• Points (if custom points are allowed)
• Visibility (if enabled by admin)
  

• If approvals are enabled → request enters the approval chain
• If auto-approve is ON → the award is granted immediately

Once approved:

• Points are added to the recipient
• Notifications are sent
• The award appears on the feed if it’s public

Employees can track:

• Awards they’ve given
• Awards they’ve received
• Status of pending approvals

9. Approver of an award

As an approver, your decision directly affects the award’s monthly budget.

• Every award has a predefined budget (for example, 500 points per month).
  
• Points are deducted only after an award is fully approved, but the deduction is counted against the date the request was created, not the approval date. (Example: An award was requested on January 28 and approved on February 2. The points will still be deducted from January’s award budget, not February’s)
  
• When you approve an award, the points associated with that request are consumed from the award’s budget for that grant period (month, quarter, etc.).
  
• If multiple awards are approved and the budget is exhausted, no further awards can be given until the next budget refresh cycle.