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Better recognition. Better engagement. Better together.

 

Micro Incentives for Employees

Instantly incentivize almost anything

Perfect for driving specific behaviours without complicated processes or fanfare, micro incentives can be an important part of any recognition strategy.

Return on Recognition

Incentives that drive behaviour

Not every incentive needs to be life-changing to be effective—micro incentives are built to subtly reinforce and reward behaviours without taking too much time or effort on admins’ part. And the results don’t lie.

22
%
increase in productivity
87
%
increase in retention
300
%
greater engagement

Custom incentive programs

Small behaviours. Big impact.

Build micro incentives to drive almost any behaviour, small or large, and let automation minimize administrative hassle.

How it works

Build programs people actually use

STEP 1

Create goal-oriented micro incentives

What do you hope employees will do with a little more motivation?

STEP 2

Set specific parameters

Who qualifies to participate in the micro incentive? Tailor these to teams, locations, or other employee data.

STEP 3

Decide on the reward for participation

What point amount is the right reward for the action?

Testimonials

What our customers say

It’s incredibly accessible. You don’t have to be tech-savvy—you can use it on your phone, through Outlook, or even a Teams plugin. It meets people where they are.
Mallory Pence
Marketing Manager
Lockton
It’s really meaningful to see CRPs who are out on the road on their own, along with employees working from home, still interacting and connecting through the platform. It’s almost like our own 4Refuel Facebook—bringing everyone together no matter where they’re working.
Lynne Harkness
VP, People & Culture
4Refuel
You get the same feeling when you are recognized as when you are recognizing someone else. Awardco gives you that platform and makes it so easy to gain those feelings. I love seeing my team being recognized or my leaders recognizing the teams.
Tisa Penny
Engagement & Events Lead, 2025 Recognition Rockstar Winner
Lockton
We really like the redemption options and how Awardco integrates with Amazon — the platform's ease of use has empowered us to manage our growing employee population.
Monica Delgado
Senior Manager of Total Rewards
BPM
Modern recognition with Awardco has created an ecosystem of appreciation. What we've found is that as employees recognize one another, they stay motivated for the long term. Employees want to enjoy their work and succeed; when we recognize their achievements, they know they're doing a great job and can keep improving every day.
David Alsop
CHRO
Ultradent Products
Never underestimate the power of recognition. Years after I recognized a colleague, they still send me a message on the anniversary of that moment to say it continues to make their day.
Khulood AlMarzooqi
Director of Total Rewards & Employee Engagement, Dubai Airports
Dubai Airports
Awardco has not only provided us with a recognition platform, but also real-time data to drive strategy across our people organization—insights we couldn’t even measure before.
Sierra Capone
Director, Wellbeing & Employee Experience
McCormick & Company
Since joining, I’ve found myKudos [Awardco] posts to be a great way to learn what others are doing across the agency. I’ve even picked up ideas from shout-outs that I’ve been able to implement on my own accounts. It’s more than recognition—it’s a source of inspiration.
Colby Green
Senior Associate, Paid Social
PMG

Integrations

Seamless connectivity

Connect incentives to your existing processes and platforms, ensuring everyone can participate without adding to anyone's workload.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Can micro-incentives require proof or approval?
 

Yes, where the selected workflow supports it. A program can be designed to collect evidence, such as a form response, photo, screenshot, completion record, or other supporting documentation, and route the submission to an appropriate reviewer.

Approval may be assigned to a manager, program owner, safety or quality team, administrator, or another designated reviewer. Organizations can also define budgets, limits, eligibility rules, and other guardrails to help manage how rewards are issued.

The right level of review depends on the risk, value, frequency, and purpose of the program. Requiring unnecessary approval for a low-value, high-volume activity can reduce participation, while insufficient review can create budget, fairness, or compliance concerns.

How do employees earn a micro-incentive?
 

The earning experience depends on the program design. Employees may complete an activity in Awardco, submit a response or proof, use an award code or QR code, participate in a challenge, or have qualifying data flow into the platform from another system.

Some programs allow employees to indicate that they completed the requirement. Others require manager or administrator review before the reward is issued. Where supported, organizations can use integrations, data feeds, or configured workflows to reduce manual administration and automate eligibility or reward issuance.

Employees may access programs through the channels enabled for their organization, which can include web or mobile experiences and other configured access methods. Organizations should design the process so frontline and deskless employees can participate without relying on a desktop workflow they cannot reasonably access.

What behaviours or activities can micro-incentives reward?
 

Organizations can use micro-incentives for many types of defined behaviors and activities, including:

  • Training, learning, or certification milestones
  • Safety observations, improvement ideas, or participation in safety initiatives
  • Survey or employee-feedback completion
  • Wellness challenges and activity goals
  • Onboarding or open-enrollment tasks
  • Attendance, timeliness, or process-completion goals
  • Customer, quality, or operational behaviors
  • Short-term team challenges and participation campaigns

The program should reward a behavior the organization can describe clearly and administer consistently. For safety, quality, compliance, or regulated activities, organizations should involve the appropriate HR, legal, safety, compliance, and operational stakeholders when designing the rules.

How are micro-incentives different from spot recognition or larger incentive programs?
 

Micro-incentives, spot recognition, and larger incentive programs can all use rewards, but they serve different purposes.

  • Spot recognition is typically a manager- or peer-initiated way to recognize an individual for something they did.
  • A micro-incentive is usually a smaller, repeatable reward tied to a defined action, challenge, or behavior.
  • A larger incentive program may run over a longer period, involve more complex eligibility or performance rules, and include larger rewards, rankings, or a broader business objective.

These approaches can coexist in one employee experience. The right structure depends on whether the organization wants to reinforce a moment, drive participation in a defined activity, or manage a formal performance-based program.

What are micro-incentives?
 

Micro-incentives are small rewards offered for completing a specific action, reaching a short-term milestone, participating in an initiative, or demonstrating a desired behavior.

Examples may include completing a training, submitting a safety observation, participating in a survey, completing an onboarding task, meeting a wellness goal, contributing an improvement idea, or taking part in a short-term challenge.

The value is usually in the frequency, clarity, and immediacy of the reinforcement—not in making every reward large. Organizations should define the behavior, eligibility, evidence, reward value, timing, and success measure before launching a program.

Small things that actually add up

Incentivize the little things that make a big difference.