Apply now for Recognize Awards 2026

 

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

It only takes a moment to thank someone, but that recognition stays with them and inspires them to do even better.
Soosan Abidali
Office Manager, Strategy & Development, Dubai Airports
Dubai Airports
There's plenty of research that shows the compounding impact of how when other people can see recognition, it creates that snowball effect. And so it just makes people work better together. They feel more as part of the team.
Zach Makoutz
Sr. Manager, Category Sales Product
Kodiak
If we retain a teacher, that’s 20 students we get to serve. Going from 45% turnover to 8% means we’ve kept 85–90 more staff. That’s an incredible impact on both our children and our budget.
Amber Lease
Human Resource Director
Southern Oregon Head Start
We launched our The Collaborative Way initiative with a half-day workshop for all colleagues, facilitated by internal Collaborative Way Champions that traveled from office to office. We would do these engaging workshops across the company, and leaders would ask us, ‘Now that colleagues have completed the workshop, how do we keep these principles front and center?’ While we developed other standalone follow-ups, it was only when we implemented Awardco that we truly felt like we had a compelling, daily solution to that question.
Kristie White
AVP Change Strategy & Organizational Development
Alera Group
We wanted to make recognition easy and exciting for our blue collar workers to participate in, and Awardco's capabilities have made that possible.
Mason Ongarato
HR Software & Employee Benefits Expert
All Access Staging and Productions
Awardco is not just a recognition tool—it’s a risk mitigation solution. Our tax and payroll teams love that we can now accurately track and report gifting, with proper IRS compliance.
Selia Wood
AVP, Talent & Engagement
Lockton
We have a lot of different programs to ensure we encompass all our employees. Three of them tie directly to our core values: our peer-to-peer program, our manager-led programs, and our safety programs—like our Safety All-Stars, which is a monthly automated award.
Marna Lagerquist
Manager, Talent Acquisition and Development
4Refuel
Awardco has definitely helped us do recognition even better. Recognizing someone you work with, even if you don’t see them every day, has been empowering.
Ashley Martin
President & CEO
NIBCO

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.