Special Occasions

Celebrate lifeoutside of work

Celebrate employees’ real-life milestones—because when you recognize the whole person, not just the job description, magic happens.

Return on recognition

Why celebrate life’s big moments?

Recognizing your employees’ personal milestones shows that you see them, value them, and care about more than just deadlines or ROI. When people feel truly appreciated, they stick around, work harder, and show up happier.

Belonging
Woman blowing out candles on birthday cake during office meeting
90
%
of employees say being recognized for life milestones boosts their sense of belonging at work.
90
%
of employees say being recognized for life milestones boosts their sense of belonging at work.

Effective recognition builds culture and drives performance—and even drives better management approval scores.

Satisfaction
Baby items including knitted bunny, shoes, sweater, and brush
22
%
lift in employee satisfaction scores for companies that celebrate life’s big moments.
22
%
lift in employee satisfaction scores for companies that celebrate life’s big moments.

Big or small, boost employee satisfaction and reduce attrition by celebrating all of life's big moments.

Engagement
Two professionals working together in a high-tech industrial laboratory setting
3
X
higher engagement among employees who feel personally valued, not just professionally.
3
X
higher engagement among employees who feel personally valued, not just professionally.

Triple your employee engagement by making your workforce feel seen, heard, and appreciated through personalized recognition.

end-to-end flexibility

Recognize the people

behind the job titles

Celebrate any employee's real-life wins and major moments in a meaningful, genuine, and rewarding way.

Admin Flexibility

Budget-friendly. Admin-approved.

Celebrating life’s milestones shouldn’t mean sacrificing budget clarity. Set limits by department, occasion, or region, and track redemptions in real time. Awardco delivers transparent reporting without the manual processes or stress.

‍

testimonials

What our customers say

America First Credit Union
 
 
After COVID hit we had over 1800 employees go remote. Our HQ campus became a ghost town. We couldn't do the high touch thing anymore, but still wanted to engage our workforce. Because of the nature of remote work, we didn't even know which employees were where, and there was no way we could use our old system of bi-annual distribution. We had gotten so much positive feedback with our service anniversary program that we reached out to Awardco to see if they could do something to help us with our bonus program.
Jodi Gonzales
HR Manager
Southwest Gas Corporation
 
 
Anybody who is partaking in this program actually gets noticed and is brought to our attention...and I think that's wonderful.
Misti Trombley
HR Analyst
SEF Energy
 
 
One of the biggest things we were looking for was a platform that's easily accessible for all of our employees. We needed it to be simple and intuitive, and not take a lot of training.
Lauren Long
HR Operations Manager
I love the customization of the platform and the constant innovation. There are constant evolutions and enhancements being released to keep our solution cutting edge.
Anonymous
Director of Human Resources
I love the social aspect of the platform—seeing how others are being recognize and rewarded inspires me to give more awards myself.
Anonymous
HR Manager
Kodiak
 
 
Recognition just reminds you that no, you are seen. Your work is not for nothing. You are appreciated. It feels great and helps you stay motivated, even when things are tough.
Smiling man wearing a blue Patagonia fleece jacket standing outdoors in a snowy landscape with evergreen trees in the background.
Zach Makoutz
Sr. Manager, Category Sales Product
Lockton
 
 
Talented, motivated, competitive people are just attracted to this brand. Humans are very similar. They wanna be seen. They wanna be recognized. They wanna be valued.
Smiling woman with long wavy blonde hair wearing a black top and a necklace against a black background.
Melissa York
SVP, Head of People & Culture
Utah Valley University
 
 
Any workplace that wants to have a great culture needs to be great at recognizing when people go the extra mile.
Man with glasses wearing a checked blazer, light blue shirt, and red striped tie against a white background.
Luke Dean
CFP Program Director
Lockton
 
 
Associates love it. We've had over 95% user adoption in the first six months. It's been a huge success.
Smiling woman with long dark curly hair wearing a lavender blouse and white earrings against a black background.
Selia Wood
AVP, Talent & Engagement
Cinemark
 
 
Our Regional Vice Presidents take these cards [AwardCodes] to the General Managers conference, enabling them to award GMs on the spot for their exceptional contributions.
Ann O'Keefe
Director of Benefits
Southern Oregon Head Start
 
 
Our job was to solve the continuous problem of helping staff feel connected—to each other and to the organization.
Woman with dark hair pulled back, wearing hoop earrings and a black patterned blouse, looking thoughtfully off-camera in an indoor setting.
Shandy Phelps
Family Community Engagement Supervisor
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
MagnaFlow
 
 
Our turnover definitely went down after implementing Awardco, especially compared to the previous year. We've noticed that recognition, along with rewards like Amazon items and prepaid Visa cards, has had a big impact on retention without being a huge cost to the company.
Sonia Magdaleno
Talent and Engagement Specialist
Citizens Business Bank
 
 
Every year, we encourage our associates to go get their annual physical. If you turn [a] form in, you get Awardco points. It's another way to tie healthy lifestyle to what's important to us in the bank to making an impact with our associates.
Smiling woman with long dark hair wearing a pink top against a light gray background.
Jenny Ketchepaw
VP, Talent Engagement
Americare Senior Living
 
 
When people join Americare, we want them to feel like they're part of something bigger than just a job, that it's part of having purpose because they get to make a difference in residents' lives.
Smiling woman with wavy blonde hair wearing a red blazer, black top, and a silver cross necklace against a blue-gray background.
Mary Eaves
Senior VP of Operations (Assisted Living Division)

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Can special-occasion rewards be limited to an event-specific catalog?
 

Where supported, organizations can limit an award to a selected catalog or reward category. Examples may include a baby-gifts catalog for a new child, a graduation collection, a marriage or new-home collection, company merchandise, or another event-specific selection.

A focused catalog can make the experience more relevant and help the organization align the reward with the purpose of the occasion. Organizations should confirm the available catalog controls, country coverage, supplier inventory, currency, fulfillment, and employee visibility before promising a specific item or delivery outcome.

Can organizations set different reward values, budgets, or approval rules?
 

Organizations can configure special-occasion programs around their preferred reward values, budgets, eligible populations, and administrative rules where supported.

For example, a company may use different values for a wedding, new home, graduation, or new child; provide supervisors with a separate budget; or require HR or another administrator to review a recognition before it is delivered.

Organizations should define ownership, budget limits, approval requirements, corrections, unused balances, employee departures, and any tax or payroll review before enabling monetary awards. The available controls vary by program and agreement.

Who can send or initiate a special-occasion recognition?
 

Depending on the program, a special-occasion recognition may be initiated by an administrator, manager, supervisor, peer, or another authorized sender. Organizations can use automated awards for recurring events and human-led recognition for moments that require context or discretion.

Programs may also give managers or supervisors a defined budget for life-event recognition. An organization can decide whether the sender can issue the recognition directly or whether it must go through an approval workflow first.

The available sender roles, permissions, budgets, and approval steps depend on the selected program and administrator configuration.

Can special-occasion recognition be automated?
 

Where the required employee data and workflow are available, organizations can automate recognition tied to a date or an approved employee event. Automation can help deliver a reward, notification, or memory-book invitation on or around a meaningful date without requiring HR or managers to remember each event manually.

Organizations may also combine automated programs with manager, administrator, or peer-initiated recognition when an event is not available in the employee data source or when a more personal process is appropriate.

Automation depends on the source data, event type, trigger, timing, employee eligibility, and configuration. Organizations should validate how events are added, corrected, canceled, or removed before launch.

What special occasions can Awardco help organizations recognize?
 

Organizations can configure programs for meaningful employee moments such as weddings, new babies, adoptions, graduations, new homes, birthdays, retirements, service anniversaries, and other approved occasions.

Organizations may also choose whether to support sensitive events, such as bereavement, based on their policies, culture, employee preferences, and local requirements. Not every event must be enabled, and organizations should use respectful, inclusive language that fits their workforce.

The available event types and experiences depend on the enabled Awardco product and the organization’s configuration. A public page should avoid implying that every event, country, or employee population is supported identically.

Make every occasion awesome

It's no secret that when employees feel appreciated, they perform better in all aspects of their work. Spread appreciation more effectively by celebrating personal milestones with Awardco.