Create your 2027 engagement playbook (plus live giveaway!)

 

Spot Recognition Programs

Instant recognition, lasting impact

Express appreciation for great work to anyone, anywhere, anytime.

How It Works

What is spot recognition?

Show appreciation for employees right in the moment, exactly when it matters most.

Administrative Flexibility

Experience effortless appreciation

Total Budgetary Control

Enjoy total control over rewards budgets by providing customized points for teams, managers, or peers to distribute.

Non-Monetary Programs

The impact of recognition is the same, with or without points. Build culture and power engagement on a minimal budget.

Only from awardco

More ways to recognize

AwardCodes™
 

Create custom, physical reward codes that are easy to distribute, simple to redeem, and pain-free to manage. Make in-person recognition effortless, memorable, and personal.

External Recognition
 

Outside-in appreciation made easy. Give customers, patients, clients, and partners an impactful and simple way to recognize your employees, no login required.

Customer stories

The power of recognition

Paramount
52
days saved

Paramount used Awardco to spread recognition to their 20,000+ global employees, all while saving 52 day’s worth of time over the year.

 
960
%
increase in recognition

Pilot implemented recognition to their retail, corporate, and transportation teams, leading to more company-wide appreciation than ever.

 
200
%
increase in value-driven award nominations

Citizens Business Bank achieved a 200% increase in value-driven award nominations, boosting meaningful recognition and reinforcing company values across the organization.

 
209
%
increase in annual recognitions

Texas Roadhouse saw a substantial increase in annual recognitions, thanks to Awardco’s user-friendly platform, customizable location-based experiences, and standout customer support that ensured a smooth rollout across all teams.

 
10
hours saved each month

By crafting a tailored recognition program for their specific goals, ClickUp achieved a 94% recognition rate and gave an incredible amount of time back to busy HR admins.

 

integrations

Send shoutouts without switching apps

Easily integrate with your daily tools so recognition happens where work happens.

Testimonials

What ourcustomers say

As an evolving company, I like to ask myself if we're better than we were a year ago—and with employee recognition and employee engagement, the answer is absolutely.
Dan Higbee
Senior Director of HR
Sorenson Communications
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
Southern Oregon Head Start
Awardco actually cost us less than what we were doing in the past, and it's had a bigger impact on our ROI and employee engagement.
Jay Adhvaryu
Director of Finance and Compliance
WOW! mobile boutique
We know we’re a people-first organization… and to keep delivering, we needed the right tools and technology to build a culture of everyday impactful recognition.
Smiling young woman with blonde hair wearing a floral jacket and white top against a concrete background.
Sierra Capone
Director, Wellbeing & Employee Experience
McCormick & Company
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
America First Credit Union
AwardCodes are like handing out cash—they’re quick, powerful, and remove all the admin work. I call it the Oprah moment: ‘You get AwardCodes! And you get AwardCodes!
Smiling woman with wavy dark hair wearing a green blouse with textured dots against a black background.
Tisa Penny
Engagement & Events Lead, 2025 Recognition Rockstar Winner
Lockton
At the end of the day, it's a positive experience for our members, and we want to have as many of those as possible. Having that Awardco platform and the Awardco offer gives us an opportunity to be able to do that.
Smiling man in a gray suit and patterned tie against a plain gray background.
Casey Glines
Director of Member Experience, Utah Jazz / SEG
Utah Jazz
It’s super easy to use and very intuitive.
Smiling man with short brown hair wearing a black suit jacket and white shirt standing indoors near a window.
Mark Nelson
Senior Human Resources Business Partner
Hertz

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What reporting and controls are available for spot recognition?
 

Awardco reporting can help administrators understand who is giving and receiving spot recognition, which programs and teams are participating, how budgets are being used, and how recognition activity changes over time.

Organizations can use available roles, permissions, filters, and exports to support program administration, budget review, and reconciliation. Reporting fields and visibility depend on the organization’s employee data, configuration, and access controls.

‍

How are spot recognition budgets allocated and controlled?
 

Organizations can establish budgets for spot recognition and assign them to managers, departments, business units, programs, or other groups. Budget controls can help define who may award points, how much they may award, and which populations they may recognize.

Depending on the configuration, budgets may be replenished on a recurring schedule, transferred, limited by program, or subject to approval. Rules for unused balances—including whether they reset, expire, or carry forward—are organization-specific and should be defined during program setup.

‍

How do approvals and governance work for spot recognition?
 

Organizations can configure approval requirements and routing based on their recognition policies. An award may be sent directly, or it may require review by a manager, program owner, HR administrator, budget owner, or another designated approver.

Approval rules can help organizations apply additional review to higher-value awards or specific programs while keeping lower-value recognition simple. The appropriate workflow depends on the organization’s governance model and configuration.

‍

Can spot recognition be monetary, non-monetary, or both?
 

Yes. Organizations can use spot recognition for simple, non-monetary appreciation, points-based awards, or other configured reward options. The available approach depends on the program design and the organization’s policies.

A spot recognition message can explain what the recipient did and connect the recognition to a company value, behavior, or business outcome. Where a monetary award is enabled, the organization can define the available award values and redemption options.

What is spot recognition and how is it different from other recognition programs?
 

Spot recognition is timely, discretionary recognition for meaningful contributions, behaviors, or accomplishments. It helps managers and other authorized senders recognize employees close to the moment the contribution occurs.

Organizations can use spot recognition alongside automated programs such as birthdays and work anniversaries, as well as nomination-based programs that require a formal review. Spot recognition is typically used for flexible, in-the-moment appreciation rather than a scheduled milestone or a formal nomination process.

Ready to see Awardco in action?

Build culture, incentivize performance, and power modern engagement strategies—all in one place.