Employee Onboarding Recognition That Builds Engagement

Create lasting first impressions

Welcome new employees with personalized recognitions, swag, and messages from their team—all automated to set the stage for long-term engagement.

Return on recognition

Why celebrate new hires?

A warm welcome sets the stage for continued success for every employee. Recognition during onboarding helps new hires feel valued, connected, and ready to contribute from day one.

Retention
Smiling professional woman shaking hands during a business meeting
69
%
of employees are more likely to stay if the company has a strong onboarding structure.
69
%
of employees are more likely to stay if the company has a strong onboarding structure.

Quick Quack Car Wash saw a 20% reduction in turnover after implementing Awardco for their employee recognition programs.

Productivity
Diverse business team laughing and collaborating in modern office
50
%
more productivity for new hires if they feel welcomed and supported.
50
%
more productivity for new hires if they feel welcomed and supported.

Effective recognition builds culture and drives performance—and even drives better management approval scores. See how CPS Group saw these results and more.

Engagement
Colleagues high-five and laugh together in an office workspace
54
%
increase in employee engagement with effective onboarding.
54
%
increase in employee engagement with effective onboarding.

Hertz successfully took their recognition programs global to over 24,000 employees and saw increased engagement as a result.

end-to-end flexibility

Kickstart engagement from day one

Give every employee a warm, personalized welcome—fully automated and without extra admin work.

Company-Wide visibility

Warm welcomes and first-day shoutouts

Showcase new hire recognitions on rotating screens, Slack, Teams, and more to build a sense of belonging from day one.

testimonials

What customers are saying

The Awardco team is very experience and always so responsive. Issues are always resolved quickly and updates are quickly shared.
Anonymous
SR HRIS Analyst
Pacific Life
 
 
We do a lot of remote work activities where you can win something. We do a lot of these contests, and I used to go to Amazon and send a $25 gift card to the winners, but now I do it through Awardco. It's in the system, trackable, and much more streamlined.
Amberlee Taylor
Sr. Communications Specialist
Ampirical
 
 
Our client success rep helped us create a training and recording module of the platform to show employees how to properly use it. You rarely find a company willing to spend the time to make sure you're properly equipped.
Ryan Zellner
Marketing & Corporate Communications Manager
I've used Awardco at two different companies in two different industries—not only is the platform easy to navigate, it allows you to customize it to fit your employees' needs.
Anonymous
Human Resource Business Partner
Dubai Airports
 
 
I’ve been recognized myself, and it felt wonderful—surprising, but also deeply motivating. I’ve also had the privilege of recognizing teams for delivering major projects, which brought departments together in a unified sense of achievement.
Smiling man wearing a blue suit, white shirt, and orange tie against a white background.
Kan Ni
Vice President, Airport Operations Control Center, Dubai Airports
Ultradent Products
 
 
We're present in pretty much every continent in the world, and there's no limitation to our recognition system. We see recognitions from Brazil to the US, from Japan to China, from South Africa to France, and everyone is engaged.
Favio Paiva
Workday Specialist
Texas Roadhouse
 
 
One of our employees needed their virtual gift card ASAP, but it had somehow gotten lost when it was sent. I worked with Awardco and they immediately resolved the issue and I contacted the employee with their gift card. I didn't know this at the time, but later found out that this employee needed that gift card to purchase something important. 'I needed this gift card to get an urn for my Mom who had recently passed away. Thank you so much for getting this to me so quickly!' Without Awardco's exemplary service, we may not have been able to help this employee in time. And that's typical of the service we enjoy with Awardco, whether that's surrounding gift cards or the awards we offer through the platform.
Storey O'Barr
Recognition and Communications Specialist
McCormick & Company
 
 
We know that there is a direct tie between how recognized and appreciated someone feels and how engaged they are and productive in their work.
Smiling woman with blonde hair wearing a floral-patterned navy jacket and white top against a textured beige background.
Sierra Capone
Director, Wellbeing & Employee Experience
Janitronics
 
 
The platform helps to put a spotlight on the good behaviors—on things that demonstrate people going above and beyond or outside their normal scope or taking initiative. As people see that in the feed, everybody else on the team can be like, ‘Oh, that’s the kind of stuff that people get shouted out and recognized for. The more you see the same thing, the more you’re like, ‘Okay, if I want the result, I’m going to do that thing.’
Smiling bald man with a beard wearing rectangular glasses, a blue floral shirt, and a navy blazer against a gray background.
Andrew Goodman
Site Manager
WebPT
 
 
I cannot tell you what a relief it was to be able to integrate metadata from our HRIS system so that birthdays and service awards were automatically recognized and sent to our WebPTers. This was a huge, huge accomplishment for our employee engagement.
Britney Burns
Employee Experience Program Manager
The flexible rewards offered are my favorite part. Rather than giving gift cards or merchandise that individuals might not use, they get to decide what they want.
Anonymous
HR Manager
Lockton
 
 
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.
Smiling woman with shoulder-length wavy dark hair wearing a green blouse with textured dots against a black background.
Tisa Penny
Engagement & Events Lead, 2025 Recognition Rockstar Winner
Crumbl
 
 
It's a very fast paced environment. There's a lot of rapport between people and everyone gets along really well and we can joke about the things that are maybe stressful, but we also really celebrate the big wins together.
Young woman with long dark hair smiling against a pink vertically striped backdrop.
Alejandra Caceres
Senior Vice President of Marketing
The Nest Schools
 
 
The best decision we made was switching from our previous platform to Awardco. The customer service is excellent, the features are amazing, and we LOVE that they take our ideas and make them happen. They are always looking at innovating, which is one of our core values. We are extremely satisfied with Awardco and everyone here at The Nest LOVES the program.
Sara Beer
Director of Core Values
I love how simple Awardco is to use, both the main platform and the admin side, with how many reporting features it has to offer.
Anonymous
HR Generalist

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Can new hires use onboarding rewards to choose company swag or other items?
 

Depending on the program configuration, new hires may be able to redeem onboarding points for curated company merchandise, branded swag, gift cards, products, or other available rewards.

Organizations can use a focused catalog for onboarding or provide access to a broader selection of configured reward options. Catalog availability, fulfillment, currency, and shipping vary by country and reward type.

The organization determines which options are appropriate for its onboarding program and policies.

Can onboarding be monetary, non-monetary, or both?
 

Yes. An onboarding program can use a welcome message or recognition without a monetary award, it can include points or another configured reward, or it can combine recognition and rewards across multiple onboarding moments.

Organizations can choose whether a particular onboarding event includes an award and can define the available values and redemption options when rewards are enabled. A non-monetary welcome can still recognize the employee and introduce company values without creating a financial reward.

Reward availability, eligibility, and tax treatment depend on the organization’s policies, program design, and applicable requirements.

Can different employee groups have different onboarding programs?
 

Yes. Organizations can tailor onboarding based on available employee and organizational data, such as location, department, role, employment type, business unit, or other employee groups.

For example, an organization may use different messages, timing, reward options, or onboarding resources for employees in different regions or roles. Central teams can maintain an overall framework while allowing the experience to reflect local or team-specific needs.

Available segmentation depends on the data provided to Awardco and the organization’s program configuration.

Can onboarding communications and awards be triggered automatically from our HRIS?
 

Yes. Awardco can use employee data from an HRIS or another supported employee-data source to identify new hires and trigger configured onboarding communications or recognition.

Organizations can define timing around events such as an employee’s start date or selected points during the first weeks or months of employment. Depending on the program design, onboarding moments may occur on the employee’s first day, during the first week, or at later checkpoints such as 30, 60, or 90 days.

Automation depends on the employee fields, integration method, data timing, and onboarding rules configured for the organization.

What does Awardco’s onboarding program do?
 

Awardco onboarding programs help organizations welcome new employees with timely communications, recognition, and—when configured—rewards during the early stages of employment.

Organizations can use onboarding to introduce employees to company values, explain how recognition works, share important resources, and create an early connection with managers and peers. Onboarding recognition can be used alongside broader recognition, rewards, and employee-engagement programs. And Awardco empowers all of it.

The content, timing, and reward components are configured to fit the organization’s onboarding approach.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Can new hires use onboarding rewards to choose company swag or other items?
 

Depending on the program configuration, new hires may be able to redeem onboarding points for curated company merchandise, branded swag, gift cards, products, or other available rewards.

Organizations can use a focused catalog for onboarding or provide access to a broader selection of configured reward options. Catalog availability, fulfillment, currency, and shipping vary by country and reward type.

The organization determines which options are appropriate for its onboarding program and policies.

Can onboarding be monetary, non-monetary, or both?
 

Yes. An onboarding program can use a welcome message or recognition without a monetary award, it can include points or another configured reward, or it can combine recognition and rewards across multiple onboarding moments.

Organizations can choose whether a particular onboarding event includes an award and can define the available values and redemption options when rewards are enabled. A non-monetary welcome can still recognize the employee and introduce company values without creating a financial reward.

Reward availability, eligibility, and tax treatment depend on the organization’s policies, program design, and applicable requirements.

Can different employee groups have different onboarding programs?
 

Yes. Organizations can tailor onboarding based on available employee and organizational data, such as location, department, role, employment type, business unit, or other employee groups.

For example, an organization may use different messages, timing, reward options, or onboarding resources for employees in different regions or roles. Central teams can maintain an overall framework while allowing the experience to reflect local or team-specific needs.

Available segmentation depends on the data provided to Awardco and the organization’s program configuration.

Can onboarding communications and awards be triggered automatically from our HRIS?
 

Yes. Awardco can use employee data from an HRIS or another supported employee-data source to identify new hires and trigger configured onboarding communications or recognition.

Organizations can define timing around events such as an employee’s start date or selected points during the first weeks or months of employment. Depending on the program design, onboarding moments may occur on the employee’s first day, during the first week, or at later checkpoints such as 30, 60, or 90 days.

Automation depends on the employee fields, integration method, data timing, and onboarding rules configured for the organization.

What does Awardco’s onboarding program do?
 

Awardco onboarding programs help organizations welcome new employees with timely communications, recognition, and—when configured—rewards during the early stages of employment.

Organizations can use onboarding to introduce employees to company values, explain how recognition works, share important resources, and create an early connection with managers and peers. Onboarding recognition can be used alongside broader recognition, rewards, and employee-engagement programs. And Awardco empowers all of it.

The content, timing, and reward components are configured to fit the organization’s onboarding approach.

Day one, done right

Show appreciation and intention with meaningful onboarding recognition that makes an immediate impact.