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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

Lineage
 
 
Recognizing your team members...it's a great way to build moral. To to get those team members to do that extra truck. There's a saying, take care of the people and they'll take care of you. And by taking care of you, it's making sure that every truck is turned in on time and every pallet is pushed through the warehouse.
Rafael Becerra
Manager, Automation Operations
Quick Quack Car Wash
 
 
Awardco has made employees' lives easier. Working outside in the elements with the customers can be tough, but being recognized, seen, heard, and valued makes it easier.
Christina Castro
Training Leader
Kodiak
 
 
Awardco makes it really easy to select colleagues that you want to recognize, whether it's one, whether it's multiple. Recognition helps build trust with teammates and leaders.
Smiling man with short hair and beard wearing a dark collared shirt in an outdoor setting.
Brett Miller
VP of Creative
Paramount
 
 
I was really looking for a user-friendly, up-to-speed, and easy-to-use program that can expand in different ways, and I found it with Awardco.
Shaye McCoy
Manager, Global Total Rewards Experience
America First Credit Union
 
 
Previously, every manager hand-wrote a message to their employees every six months thanking them for their hard work, and it was all tied in with the bonus distribution. It was very high-touch, very labor intensive, and we had the process down to a science. We liked the connections that formed between managers and employees as a result of this program, but after COVID-19 most of our workforce went remote. Our semi-annual tradition wasn't possible any longer, nor was it feasible.
Smiling man wearing glasses, a black suit, white shirt, and a red patterned tie against a dark blurred background.
Kent Streuling
SVP of HR
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
From the admin side, managing and ensuring that gifts are timely and fair is dramatically easier. Everything can be scheduled in advance and fulfillment happens automatically.
Anonymous
System Administrator
CloudFit Software
 
 
We hear positive feedback about Awardco from employees all the time! They love the program, especially the peer-to-peer recognition feature. Reading through the recognition feed and seeing what employees are posting about one another reinforces our culture and just brings joy.
Smiling woman with braided hair wearing a blue blazer and black top, outdoors with trees in the background.
Kymberlee Stephens
Director of Employee Experience and Wellness
Greenfield Global
 
 
Recognition can mean different things to different people, but for everyone, you want to feel seen and valued for the work you do. We were able to launch our first global recognition program, STAR, with the help of Awardco.
Smiling woman with long dark hair wearing a purple cardigan, black top, and a white pendant necklace, standing with hands on hips.
Ashley Cato
Vice President People and Culture
SEF Energy
 
 
We haven't heard one bad thing about Awardco from our employees. It's taken off much better than we expected it to because the employees love it.
Lauren Long
HR Operations Manager
From the intitial implementation, the regular administration, and the support, Awardco has been a great option for our employees.
Anonymous
Human Resources Manager
Janitronics
 
 
Turnover in our industry is anywhere from about 130% to 200% annually. Our turnover is down to about 70%, which is a crazy number when you think about cost to hire and how much it takes to interview and bring people on.
Smiling man with short light brown hair wearing a dark blazer over a burgundy shirt against a plain gray background.
Frank Eschberger
Human Resource Business Partner
Utah Jazz
 
 
Prior to Awardco, our process was clunky. Our reps were spending hundreds of hours stacking gifts, delivering them, packaging them. Now that we've been using Awardco, they've been able to focus their [time] elsewhere.
Smiling man in gray suit, white shirt, and patterned tie posing against a gray background.
Casey Glines
Director of Member Experience, Utah Jazz / SEG
Janitronics
 
 
I love using data to inform the programs we run with employees. Being able to understand the relationship between recognition and engagement is the next level of being able to meaningfully impact how people experience their time here at Janitronics. This Culture Graph is unlike anything I’ve seen, and I’m excited for the future innovations the Awardco team will continue to bring to the Engage product!
Portrait of a smiling man with short light brown hair, blue eyes, wearing a dark blazer over a purple button-up shirt and white undershirt, set against a plain gray background.
Frank Eschberger
Human Resource Business Partner
Our team loves that they can spend their points on anything—from company swag (print-on-demand) to Amazon purchases and gift cards from thousands of merchants. That flexibility makes recognition feel truly personal.
Vanessa D.
Sr. Manager Employee Engagement & CSR

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.