Explore the new State of Recognition 2026 report

 

External Recognition™

Recognition from the outside in

Give customers, patients, clients, and partners an easy way to spotlight your employees—no login required.

How It Works

What is External Recognition?

Provide customer-facing roles with customer-sourced compliments.

Administrative Flexibility

External recognition made easy

Awardco makes it easy to source and display recognitions from satisfied customers.

Print or Link QR Codes

Outside parties scan an employee’s personalized code to recognize them instantly for the entire organization to see.

Celebrate Wins

Add simple approval flows and optional points to celebrate standout employees to make sure no good work goes unnoticed.

Only From Awardco

Where External Recognition works

Healthcare

After receiving outstanding care, a patient’s family scans the nurse’s QR code and shares a meaningful message—instantly visible on Awardco to all employees—inspiring better care everywhere.

 
Food Service

After great service, diners scan a QR code and leave recognition for their server. Their manager adds points, and it’s posted for the team to celebrate, encouraging continued spectacular service.

 
Education

A simple thank you from a student shows a teacher their extra effort mattered. Recognition that deepens connection and fuels engagement from student and teacher builds a better world for everyone.

 
Retail

A grateful customer scans a QR code to recognize a cashier’s friendly service. It’s instant, visible, and celebrated company-wide, which builds a culture of customer service that will set you apart.

 
Hospitality

After a technician finishes a job with care and professionalism, the homeowner scans a QR code to send recognition. The shoutout is instantly visible across the company, boosting pride and inspiring service excellence in every home.

 

Testimonials

What our customers say

When we unified our recognition programs, we saw a strong correlation between recognition and employee engagement. Teams led by managers who consistently recognized their people were the most engaged.
Khulood AlMarzooqi
Director of Total Rewards & Employee Engagement, Dubai Airports
Dubai Airports
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
Pacific Life
Using the Awardco mobile app has made it so much easier to recognize our team in the moment. I love being able to snap a quick photo and send recognition right from my phone while I am on the go, so those feelings of appreciation are never lost. In a hospital environment where our people are rarely at a desk, having that kind of flexibility is incredibly important.
Madeline Quinn
Employee Experience Manager
Children's Nebraska
I also nominate others for High Flyers—especially stakeholders who go above and beyond their regular work to help deliver a project. It’s important to recognize that kind of support.
Lav Kumar
Senior Manager, Project Management, Dubai Airports
Dubai Airports
This integration to our Slack channel… makes it very easy and seamless. There’s this running log of all of these shout outs, which I think is really powerful.
Zach Makoutz
Sr. Manager, Category Sales Product
Kodiak
Employees look forward to seeing their monthly Safety All-Star points. Those conversations happen in lunchrooms, dressing rooms—it becomes part of our culture.
Roshan Varghese
Sr. Director, Environment, Health & Safety
4Refuel
Getting buy-in was super easy. No one really questions it. After all, what's wrong with recognizing people and telling them they did a good job?
Christina Castro
Training Leader
Quick Quack Car Wash
Awardco checked all the boxes for us, from onboarding all the way up to senior leadership.
Pam Buyers
Head of Culture
PMG

Integrations

Simplify your workflow

Make recognition part of the daily flow of work, building culture at every touchpoint.

Let everyone say thanks

Close the loop on recognition by enabling customers, patients, and partners to celebrate great work through External Recognition.