Create your 2027 engagement playbook (plus live giveaway!)

 

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

Crumbl
 
 
Beyond birthdays and anniversaries, Awardco gives us a meaningful way to recognize our values, which is honestly my favorite part of the program. Every company has values and a mission statement, but they can be easy to forget in the day-to-day. Awardco helps keep our values top of mind by tying them directly to recognition.
Smiling young woman with long brown hair wearing a black top against a pink background.
Shannon Martell
Employee Experience Specialist
Janitronics
 
 
We had more participation from our first survey with Engage than we did from the two previous biannual surveys that we did combined. The Engage platform is beneficial over Microsoft Forms and some of those other things because it is all in one platform.
Portrait of a man with short light brown hair and blue eyes, smiling slightly, wearing a dark blazer over a maroon button-up shirt against a gray background.
Frank Eschberger
Human Resource Business Partner
McCormick & Company
 
 
With 70% of our workforce in what we call frontline, so that would be our frontline manufacturing and distribution roles, it was really important to us when implementing this that we would be able to connect more effectively.
Smiling woman with glasses, pearl necklace, and pearl earrings wearing a red blouse and black blazer against gray background.
Sarah Piper
CHRO
Aptive Environmental
 
 
We now have complete visibility into budgetary usage and recognitions. Before, nobody could see recognitions at all—it was always done on a small scale, one-on-one from manager to employee. Now everyone in the company can see the successes of others and celebrate those with them, and we can see how managers are using the funds we've given them. Our budgets have equalized almost entirely—down to the dollar.
Smiling woman with straight brown hair wearing a light gray sweater against a light paneled background.
Lacy Andersen
Project Manager
Lockton
 
 
When I joined Lockton, we didn’t have a recognition platform. It was the first thing I pushed for—because I’ve seen firsthand how important it is. People want to feel seen and validated.
Smiling woman with long dark hair wearing a purple blouse and white earrings against a black background.
Selia Wood
AVP, Talent & Engagement
Velsera
 
 
We fell in love with the Awardco platform from the start because it's so simple, and yet it also has so many customization options to add to it.
Marko Zecevic
Employee Experience Manager
4Refuel
 
 
Often, you're on the road for an entire shift, and you may not necessarily interact with a lot of other colleagues… And so being recognized helps you feel more connected with the team.
Christopher Whilsmith
Certified Refueling Professional
Utah Valley University
 
 
I love being able to see the full feed of the entire university… before Awardco, I had no idea what was happening in other departments. Being able to see what’s happening across the university really helps you feel more connected.
Smiling woman with long brown hair, wearing hoop earrings and a patterned black, white, and green top against a dark background.
Julia Escobar
Executive Assistant, Engagement & Effectiveness
McCormick & Company
 
 
We really got serious about thinking through how recognition fit into our strategic roadmap as a company. Our Bravo feed rapidly expands the number of people I feel like I'm in contact with and can interact with.
Smiling woman with glasses, pearl necklace, and pearl earrings wearing a black blazer and red top against a gray background.
Sarah Piper
CHRO
Kodiak
 
 
It's really important for relationship building and strengthening. Having this platform that makes it super easy to recognize is what sets Kodiak apart from the rest.
Black and white portrait of a woman with long wavy hair smiling gently at the camera.
Cassidy Barsdoff
Director, Project Management Office
Great platform to help us engage our global workforce. Awardco is one of the few solutions that offers language support across Asia and the Americas, and our workforce has embraced it positively.
Anonymous
Group Manager, Transformation Projects
TaylorMade
 
 
Awardco is the perfect platform for our employee recognition program. It supports our unique employee culture and community.
Rosie Scannell
Global HR
Team members are more willing to call out team members for a job well done since the Awardco is easy and user-friendly. We are very happy with the platform.
Anonymous
HR Operations 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
Awardco is truly better than any other vendor I've implemented for any type of platform—and I've done a lot! The user experience is second to none.
Anonymous
HR Operations Director

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.