Special Occasions

Celebrate lifeoutside of work

Celebrate employees’ real-life milestones—because when you recognize the whole person, not just the job description, magic happens.

Return on recognition

Why celebrate life’s big moments?

Recognizing your employees’ personal milestones shows that you see them, value them, and care about more than just deadlines or ROI. When people feel truly appreciated, they stick around, work harder, and show up happier.

Belonging
Woman blowing out candles on birthday cake during office meeting
90
%
of employees say being recognized for life milestones boosts their sense of belonging at work.
90
%
of employees say being recognized for life milestones boosts their sense of belonging at work.

Effective recognition builds culture and drives performance—and even drives better management approval scores.

Satisfaction
Baby items including knitted bunny, shoes, sweater, and brush
22
%
lift in employee satisfaction scores for companies that celebrate life’s big moments.
22
%
lift in employee satisfaction scores for companies that celebrate life’s big moments.

Big or small, boost employee satisfaction and reduce turnover by celebrating all of life's big moments.

Engagement
Two professionals working together in a high-tech industrial laboratory setting
3
X
higher engagement among employees who feel personally valued, not just professionally.
3
X
higher engagement among employees who feel personally valued, not just professionally.

Triple your employee engagement by making your workforce feel seen, heard, and appreciated through personalized recognition.

end-to-end flexibility

Recognize the people

behind the job titles

Celebrate any employee's real-life wins and major moments in a meaningful, genuine, and rewarding way.

Admin Flexibility

Budget-friendly. Admin-approved.

Celebrating life’s milestones shouldn’t mean sacrificing budget clarity. Set limits by department, occasion, or region, and track redemptions in real time. Awardco delivers transparent reporting without the manual processes or stress.

‍

testimonials

What our customers say

Dubai Airports
 
 
We were looking for a simple yet effective platform with a user-friendly interface, and Awardco ticked all the boxes. Through Awardco, we’ve been able to integrate multiple recognition touchpoints into one platform.
Maha Salem
Senior Manager, Rewards & Recognition, Dubai Airports
Lineage
 
 
I always wanted recognition in Attaboy whenever I was working. I had managers who didn't provide that. I was eager to have someone on my team who was willing to recognize the effort I was putting into the company.
Rafael Becerra
Manager, Automation Operations
Children's Nebraska
 
 
Being a nurse, I know that oftentimes it's hard to keep coming back day over day. It often goes without recognition or without gratitude, but Sunshine's given us the opportunity to empower our team, empower our leaders to have that ability proud that we've had such a high engagement of our team members submitting recognitions on the platform.
Madeline Quinn
Employee Experience Manager
Kodiak
 
 
The emphasis Kodiak places on putting people and employees first is truly unique. We are always looking for opportunities to recognize the important, special, and above-and-beyond work our coworkers are doing.
Black and white portrait of a woman with long wavy hair smiling gently at the camera.
Cassidy Barsdoff
Director, Project Management Office
Cineplex
 
 
We are excited to announce the introduction of AwardCodes cards to our rewards program. This new initiative allows Assistant Managers to recognize and reward employees on the spot for their outstanding performance. The response has been overwhelmingly positive.
Ann O'Keefe
Director of Benefits
We’ve been using Awardco for nearly three years now and have received great feedback and strong engagement.
Anonymous
Director of Human Resources
Lockton
 
 
Awardco lets me save my points for things that really matter. I’m using mine to cover excursions and transportation for my wedding in Mexico. It’s a huge stress relief and makes me feel truly valued.
Smiling young woman with long blonde hair wearing a red jacket over a black top with a scalloped neckline, against a black background.
Mallory Pence
Marketing Manager
Hertz
 
 
Once [Microsoft] Teams became more accessible and we could use Awardco directly through that platform, everything changed. Recognition started happening in real time, right when great work was done, which made it feel truly authentic and helped strengthen our culture.
Trish Concepcion
Revenue Management Team Lead
Dubai Airports
 
 
As a manager of a team of seven, I use High Flyer to recognize and thank my team each quarter. It makes them feel appreciated and motivated, knowing their efforts are seen.
Soosan Abidali
Office Manager, Strategy & Development, Dubai Airports
The Awardco team is very experienced and always so responsive. Issues are always resolved quickly and updates are shared promptly.
Anonymous
Sr. HRIS Analyst
Dubai Airports
 
 
We held our first cycling project on the runway. It was a wild and challenging idea, but the team did an amazing job—and receiving a High Flyer award for it felt incredible.
Smiling man with dark hair and a beard wearing a black shirt against a grey background.
Barkin Ozdemir
Content Development Manager, Brand & Communications, Dubai Airports
Lockton
 
 
We used to give everyone a trophy at our annual event. Now, we reward true top performers. Awardco enables smarter, more meaningful recognition and spending.
Smiling woman with long wavy blonde hair wearing a black top and a pendant necklace against a black background.
Melissa York
SVP, Head of People & Culture
Pacific Life
 
 
We host plenty of remote team activities with prizes up for grabs. I used to head over to Amazon to send $25 gift cards to winners, but now I use Awardco. It’s integrated into our system, easy to track, and much more efficient.
Amberlee Taylor
Senior Communications Specialist
4Refuel
 
 
We offer a variety of programs to ensure we include all our employees. Three of these are tied directly to our core values: our peer-to-peer program, our manager-led programs, and our safety programs—such as our Safety All-Stars, which is a monthly automated award.
Marna Lagerquist
Manager, Talent Acquisition and Development
NIBCO
 
 
We have invested significant resources and focus into employee engagement, morale, and wellness. Thanks to the initiatives we launched this year, we have achieved an 8.2% reduction in our turnover rate.
Smiling woman with long dark hair with auburn highlights wearing a black top and silver earrings in front of a grey background.
Dawn Bloch
Chief People Officer

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Can special-occasion rewards be limited to an event-specific catalog?
 

Where supported, organizations can limit an award to a selected catalog or reward category. Examples may include a baby-gift catalog for a new child, a graduation collection, a marriage or new-home collection, company merchandise, or another event-specific selection.

A focused catalog can make the experience more relevant and help the organization align the reward with the purpose of the occasion. Organizations should confirm the available catalog controls, country coverage, supplier inventory, currency, fulfillment, and employee visibility before promising a specific item or delivery outcome.

Can organizations set different reward values, budgets, or approval rules?
 

Organizations can configure special-occasion programs based on their preferred reward values, budgets, eligible populations, and administrative rules where supported.

For example, a company may use different values for a wedding, new home, graduation, or new child; provide supervisors with a separate budget; or require HR or another administrator to review a recognition before it is delivered.

Organizations should define ownership, budget limits, approval requirements, corrections, unused balances, employee departures, and any tax or payroll review before enabling monetary awards. The available controls vary by program and agreement.

Who can send or initiate a special-occasion recognition?
 

Depending on the program, special-occasion recognition may be initiated by an administrator, manager, supervisor, peer, or another authorized sender. Organizations can use automated awards for recurring events and human-led recognition for moments that require context or discretion.

Programs may also provide managers or supervisors with a set budget for life-event recognition. An organization can decide whether the sender can issue the recognition directly or whether it must go through an approval workflow first.

The available sender roles, permissions, budgets, and approval steps depend on the selected program and administrator configuration.

Can special-occasion recognition be automated?
 

Where the required employee data and workflow are available, organizations can automate recognition tied to a date or an approved employee event. Automation can help deliver a reward, notification, or memory-book invitation on or around a meaningful date without requiring HR or managers to remember each event manually.

Organizations may also combine automated programs with manager, administrator, or peer-initiated recognition when an event is not available in the employee data source or when a more personal process is appropriate.

Automation depends on the source data, event type, trigger, timing, employee eligibility, and configuration. Organizations should validate how events are added, corrected, canceled, or removed before launch.

What special occasions can Awardco help organizations recognize?
 

Organizations can configure programs for meaningful employee moments such as weddings, new babies, adoptions, graduations, new homes, birthdays, retirements, service anniversaries, and other approved occasions.

Organizations may also choose whether to support sensitive events, such as bereavement, based on their policies, culture, employee preferences, and local requirements. Not every event must be enabled, and organizations should use respectful, inclusive language that fits their workforce.

The available event types and experiences depend on the enabled Awardco product and the organization’s configuration. A public page should avoid implying that every event, country, or employee population is supported identically.

Make every occasion awesome

It’s no secret that when employees feel appreciated, they perform better in all aspects of their work. Spread appreciation more effectively by celebrating personal milestones with Awardco.