You might be thinking, “does employee recognition software actually work?” and the answer to your question is YES!
Take yourself back to times when you have provided valuable recognition to your team members for their hard work. How many of them have you recognised, and how many recognised and appreciated each other for their efforts? You might struggle to remember, but with employee recognition software, you don’t have to remember off the top of your head.
What is employee recognition software?
Employee recognition software or employee recognition platforms are solutions designed to let companies appreciate and often systematically reward their employees. The apps are dedicated to sending and receiving messages of appreciation and rewards for employees’ accomplishments or good performance. Often, companies will also be able to send their employees rewards through the platform.
What should I look for in an employee recognition platform?
If you find the buying process a bit overwhelming, don’t worry, we’re here to help. Try not to get too lost in the details and emphasise what matters most – factors that will increase participation and justify your investment!
Here are some of the things we suggest looking out for:
- Easy to use: If you’re looking for a solution to use company-wide, then look for software that is easy to use and access (check that it’s available on web, iOS and Android). Tech-loving Millennials and Gen-Z now dominate the workforce , so ensure your chosen software is user-friendly to increase participation.
- Integrations: If your employees are accustomed to workplace apps and would benefit from integration with Slack or Microsoft Teams, then check if your chosen solution offers that.
- Usage drivers: Look for the different prompts and triggers associated with the solution that can drive engagement to minimise the time spent campaigning to drive engagement and adoption of your recognition program.
- Flexibility: Flexible employee recognition platforms allow you to tailor access to the tools you need. For example, there’s no point in having access to a rewards store if you don’t have a huge rewards budget and only wish to use the platform for recognition.
- Rewards: If you’re planning to implement a solution with rewards, ask for more information about the rewards catalog available, which countries rewards are available in, and what kind of gifts are available – just rewards or physical gifts too?.
- Strategic support: Check whether the platform offers implementation and ongoing support in best practices, can help with new feature launches and also help tie your recognition program to business goals.
- Security: As your chosen software will be dealing with employee data, it needs to be protected. Look for solutions with the best possible security and compliance protocols.
Top 10 Best Employee Recognition Software in 2023
1. Mo
Mo is a recognition platform that can help leaders improve collaboration and morale, reduce employee churn and drive change. The platform creates a vibrant culture by developing team habits, encouraging people to celebrate success, recognise results and appreciate colleagues. You can access Mo via web or mobile app, and there are also integrations with Slack and Teams.
Why Mo is different:
Moments: Mo is short for Moments. Anyone, whether that’s manager-to-peer or peer-to-peer, can share a Moment (recognition post) to appreciate a colleague, celebrate a win, share a key result and lots more. Teams can share posts publicly or privately with specific people or the whole company. You can also pin special moments to a work highlights reel on your profile.
Moments can help you boost the visibility of employee contributions and desirable behaviours, automate triggers around the employee lifecycle to ensure teams never miss an important occasion and create a social recognition culture that boosts employee retention.
Boosts: We all know we should take the time to celebrate wins, appreciate one another and share results, but unless we form new habits, it often doesn’t happen. Mo’s unique Boosts feature helps nudge teams to share and celebrate Moments that align with your goals, forming game-changing new habits over time.
Boosts can help you create a progress-oriented, collaborative culture that improves performance, drives change by developing new habits and rituals, and creates regular feedback loops for culture and engagement initiatives.
Rewards: Elevate Moments of recognition with rewards and gifts. The platform enables you to make an empowerment framework for your people with reward pots, simply issue and redeem rewards at the click of a button. You can also seamlessly report on the rewards received by your people, keeping the finance team happy.
No company credit card to use for gifts? No problem, Mo can load cash into the platform for you.
Company Awards: Mo makes automating, scheduling and sending out your company award nomination requests effortless. You can view results as colleagues nominate in real-time and issue the winners’ rewards from the results page. Great for any monthly, quarterly or annual awards in your organisation.
Insights: Understand usage stats and employee behaviours across the organisation. Segment by location, department and characteristics to more effectively partner with the business areas.
Mo intelligently uses behavioural insights to drive changes through targeted prompts to increase employee adoption without the need for you to campaign to drive usage.
Occasions: The best way to never miss a moment that matters to a colleague. Mo provids leaders and teams with subtle nudges and prompts to celebrate important occasions such as their first day, birthday, or work anniversary.
Pricing: Starting from £2.55/$3.40 per user per month.
Businesses Mo work with:
Ovo Energy, Punch Pubs, SHL, Involvement, NHS, William Hill, The Grand Brighton.
2. Vantage Rewards
Vantage Rewards by Vantage Circle is a reward and recognition program that uses AI and machine learning to deliver easy-to-use and effective recognition solutions. Vantage Rewards has been designed to enhance productivity and simplify and automate organisations’ recognition processes.
Notable features:
Rewards redemption, rewards catalog, experiential rewards, budget management and allocation, peer-to-peer recognition, manager-to-peer recognition, instant recognition, dashboard and analytics.
Pricing: Starts from $3 per user per month. Free trial available.
3. Bonusly
Bonusly is an employee reward and recognition software that offers a wide range of rewards catalogs and analytics to help you drive employee engagement. Bonusly has been designed with both users and admins in mind and encourages and simplifies the peer-to-peer recognition process. The tool allows you to automate celebrations and provides customisable reward options.
Notable features:
Value-based recognition, point-based rewards, peer-to-peer recognition, rewards catalog, social feed, analytics and reporting, digital signage, integrations with Slack and Microsoft Teams, and manager-to-peer recognition.
Pricing: $2.70 per user, per month. Free version available. Free trial available.
4. Nectar HR
Nectar is a 360 recognition and rewards platform which helps organisations with frequent, meaningful and timely recognition. The platform also supports manager-to-peer and peer-to-peer recognition. In Nectar, your organisation can bring together various employee rewards such as discounts, swag management and social recognition to create a positive environment.
Notable features:
360 rewards and recognition, on-demand swag, integrations with Slack and Microsoft teams, rewards catalog, gift cards, point-based rewards, customised rewards, and wellness initiatives.
Pricing: Starting from $2.75, per user per month based on usage. Free version available. Free trial available.
5. Kudos
Kudos is an employee recognition platform designed to build meaningful employee relationships and improve company culture. This tool offers multiple recognition levels to support employee performance and appreciation. The dashboard also provides you with an accurate standing on your rewards process. Best suited to larger organisations.
Notable features:
Peer-to-peer recognition, manager-to-peer recognition, customisable awards, team wall, record video recognition, digital gift cards, third-party rewards, value-based recognition.
Pricing: Provided after you receive a demo. Free trial available.
The Complete Reward & Recognition Software Buyer’s Guide
Trying to find the right reward and recognition tool can be daunting. Download our FREE guide to help you choose the perfect solution for your business.
6. Guusto
Guusto is a gift-based recognition platform that offers flexible redemption options to employees, allowing them to choose gifts. It also allows employees to pass their gift forward to someone else. This platform has a point-based redemption system, allowing you to claim full credit for unclaimed gifts.
Notable features:
Pay forward option, budget reports, value-based recognition, nominations, social recognition, peer-to-peer recognition, rewards catalog, and manager-to-peer recognition.
Pricing: Starting from $80 per month for 35 team members. Free version available.
7. WorkHuman
WorkHuman is a social recognition platform aiming to create a culture of excellence within organisations. Managers and employees can participate in recognition, and it contains a social feed where everyone across the company can instantly join in on the celebrations. The tool also has powerful analytics and reporting functions.
Notable features:
Social recognition, community celebrations, life events, service milestones, data analytics and insights, point-based rewarding, manager-to-peer and peer-to-peer recognition.
Pricing: Provided after you receive a demo. Free trial available.
8. Achievers
Achievers’ dynamic employee recognition software aims to empower every employee as an owner of organisational engagement and culture. The tool allows you to bring all your employee engagement programs to a single core culture and communications hub. It facilitates both reward-based recognition and social recognition.
Notables features:
Social and monetary recognition, workflow integrations, mobile-first experience and social feed.
Pricing: Provided after you receive a demo.
9. Perkbox
Perkbox is a global benefits and reward platform to help connect companies to their employees. Their employee recognition program lets businesses care for their employees and celebrate them. The tool also offers a personalised recognition experience for companies to show how much they value employees’ personal and professional interests.
Notable features:
Mobile app, value-based recognition, peer-to-peer recognition, manager-to-peer recognition, polls and voting, and custom rewards.
Pricing: Provided after you receive a demo.
10. WorkTango
Formerly Kazoo, WorkTango is an employee experience platform that enables meaningful recognition and rewards, offers actionable insights through employee surveys and supports alignment through goal setting and feedback. The tool allows priorities to become clear, achievements to be celebrated, and gives employees a voice.
Notable features:
Employee surveys, insights and reporting, employee experience programs, recognition in a social activity feed, nominations, integrations with Slack or teams and HRIS tools, and awards.
Pricing: Provided after you receive a demo.
Find out more about Mo!
Transform your culture with Mo
- Reduce employee churn
- Improve engagement
- Build a collaborative culture
Ready to find out more about Mo’s employee recognition solution? Book your demo today!
