Building a Monetary Peer to Peer Recognition Program

This article will guide you through the basic steps of creating a monetary peer-to-peer recognition program. The structure of this program will empower all users within your organization to acknowledge each other's contributions with points. While the Recognition Program builder offers numerous configurations, this article will cover the essential settings needed to establish a peer-to-peer program. Refer to the links provided in each step for more detailed information about the specific settings or features mentioned. 

If you find yourself needing help with building this program, please reach out to the Technical CSM team for assistance.

1. Creating a Recognition Program
2. Recognition Program Settings
   • General
   • Eligibility
   • Points
   • Limits
   • Approvals
   • Display
   • Questions
3. Scheduling/Publishing a Program
4. Editing/Managing a Recognition Program
5. Additional Recognition Program Settings
6. Front-End View

Creating a Recognition Program

To create a recognition program:

1. Select the “Admin” button at the bottom of the left navigation menu.
2. From the left navigation menu, select “Recognition,” "Programs," then "Recognition Programs.”
3. Click “Create Program” on the Recognition Programs page.
   • Selecting “Add Automated Program” button begins the process of creating a recognition program that will allow you to link recognitions from service awards, birthdays, and onboarding programs to recognition programs for reporting and award network associations.‌

Recognition Program Settings

The following sections detail each setting available in the recognition program setup.

General

Upon clicking Add Program, provide a program name and click Create Program.

The General tab then displays the complete list of settings, including:

• Program Name: Enter a descriptive name for your program.
• Program Description: Brief description to help users identify the program (125-character limit).
• Program Tile Image: Upload a header image for the program; recommended dimensions are 1200x600 px.
• Program Category: Select the appropriate category. 
• Program Notification Email Template: Choose the email template recipients will receive upon recognition. Click the ‘Manage Templates’ link to see all the email templates in your platform. 
• Recognition Assistant: When enabled, the Recognition Assistant uses AI to guide givers through selecting a value, describing a moment, and explaining its impact, then crafts a polished recognition message tailored to the giver's tone and style. 
  • Note: The Recognition Assistant must first be enabled at the platform level under the Settings tab on the main Recognition Programs page (including acceptance of the Consent and Privacy Notice) before it can be toggled on for individual programs.

Clicking Show Advanced Settings enables these options:

• ‘Learn More’ Link Message: Text shown when users select "learn more" for program information (2,000-character limit).
• FAQ: Enable to display program guidelines on the recognition submission page. The HTML editor allows hosting images, PDFs, or other documents in a pop-up.
• External Program: Link to any external recognition programs, requiring a URL. This enables recognition consolidation.

Click Save Changes after making any changes.

Eligibility

Select who's eligible to give and receive recognitions in this program.‌ If this program is available to all employees imported into your recognition platform, make sure both Giver and Recipient Eligibility toggles have “Everyone” selected. To begin:

1. Giver Eligibility
   • Select “Everyone” to allow all users to give recognitions.
   • Select “Limit Givers” to define eligible users by:

• Users: Specify individual users.
• Metadata: Define eligibility using metadata tags, e.g., users with "VP" or "Manager" titles, or users tagged as "Employee" in one category and "Part-time" in another.

2. Recipient Eligibility
   • Select “Everyone” to allow all users to receive recognitions.
   • Select “Limit Recipients” to define eligible recipients by Users or Metadata, using similar logic as above.

Click Save Changes to continue to the Points tab.

Points

Within the Points tab, configure these options:

• Points: Toggle the points option “on” to allow points to be given or received through the program.
• Display Award Preset As: Choose how preset award amounts are displayed.
  • Preset label - Define labels (e.g., Bronze, Silver, Gold) that correspond to specific point values. For example, if you've chosen "Labels" in the "Units" section and entered 5, 10, and 15 points in the points field and "Bronze," "Silver," and "Gold" in the labels field, the program will only show the "Bronze," "Silver," and "Gold" labels at a value of 5, 10, and 15 points respectively to the user submitting the award.
  • Award Value in Points - Displays the point value of the award in the platform. Labels will use custom labels defined on this page.
  • Award Value in local currency - Displays the value of the award in local currency.
• Presets: List preset recognition amounts.
  • Preset label - List preset recognition amounts, e.g., $5, $10, $15. For example, if you would like users to choose from $5, $10, and $15 when submitting an award in this program, you would enter those values here in either the platform currency field (USD) or points field. You will only need to enter values in the currency or points input fields. Select “Add another preset” for each preset recognition amount.
  • Award Value in Points or Award Value in local currency - Enter the preset amount. Select “Add another preset” for each preset recognition amount.
• Allow Custom Amounts: Enable a custom amount field for users to specify recognition amounts, within set minimum/maximum limits.
• Budgets: Select the budget(s) from which points will be drawn.‌
  • Display Available Budget Balance: Toggle on to display budget balances to eligible users (recommended for non-central budgets).
  • Budget Access: Determine which budgets will be accessed by this program. 
    1. Central Budget- Choose a single budget from which all points awarded through this program will be sourced. 
    2. Allowable Access Budgets 
       • All - If the "All" option is selected, any budget to which an individual nominator has access to will be available for use in this program. For example, if a sales manager has access to the organization's "Culture Award" and "Quota Award" budgets, when set to "Allowable Access Budgets = All" the manager would be able to access both budgets in the program. 
       • Limited - When "Limited" is selected, you are able to designate a range of budgets from which a nominator can attach points. For example, if you are creating one culture award for the whole company but there is a culture budget assigned to each department, you would use this option to link the individual departmental culture budgets to the program. This would ensure no budgets other than the approved culture budgets would be used in the culture program. If you have several budgets to add, you are able to bulk upload these budgets via a .csv file with a single column of all budget IDs you'd like to include. 
       • Recipient Based Budget Group - Link budgets based on recipients' metadata (e.g., department) without direct access requirements. Find out more in this support article. 
• Supplement with Credit Card: Decide whether to allow supplementing an award with money from a credit card payment. 
  • Note: This option is only accessible when budget access is designated as “Allowable Access”. 
• Clicking Show Advanced Settings will allow you to set the following:
  • Award Network: The designated award network determines the redemption options available for points awarded in this program. In most cases, selecting “Standard” is recommended. For further guidance on limiting redemption options for program-awarded points, see the Managing Award Networks support article. 
• Giving Guide: When enabled, the Giving Guide integrates your custom award rubric directly into the recognition flow, guiding givers through a series of prompts to recommend an appropriate point amount based on your organization's predefined metrics and award levels. 
  • Note: The Giving Guide requires at least two active award presets to function and is available only for monetary programs.

When finished, click Save Changes and proceed to the Limits tab. 

Limits

Control the maximum number of points or recognitions that can be given or received through this program.

1. Toggle the Recognition Limits option on.
2. Determine the limit period that will apply to all limit rules:
   • Program start date - Sets the limit rule based on the most recent anniversary of the program start date. For example, if the program start date is 6/23/19, the most recent anniversary on 4/12/21 would be 6/23/20.
   • Calendar year start date - Configures the rule to restart with each new calendar period (e.g., year, month, or quarter).
3. Click Add Rule.
4. Determine the limit type:
   • Giver: Users who give recognitions.
   • Recipient: Users who receive recognitions.
   • Same User: Limits the number of recognitions a nominator can award to a specific recipient. To set a restriction where a nominator can only award the same user up to a certain limit, select Recipient = Same User and Nominator = All Users or Role.
5. Select which givers/recipients the rule applies to:
   • All users
   • Metadata
   • Role
6. Decide if limits are determined by frequency or amount:
   • Frequency: Set the number of recognitions that can be given or received within a specific time frame (1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months; e.g., 1 Time per 1 month).
   • Amount: Set the number of points that can be received or given within a specific time frame (1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months; e.g., 50 points per 3 months).
7. If you want users to see their remaining balance (the number of recognitions or points they have left to give), enable the Display Remaining Limit Balance option. This will show the remaining balance on their recognition submission form. For example, if users can submit 4 recognitions per quarter, they will see how many they have remaining for that quarter on the submission page.
8. Click Add Rule.

To apply point-receiving rules across all programs and any method of point distribution, refer to the Determining How Many Points Users Receive with Global Receiving Limits support article. 

Click Save Changes and proceed to the Approvals tab.

Approvals

Enable approvals to require recognition approvals within this program. If recognitions do not require approvals, leave this setting empty. Upon enabling, a Level 1 approval will automatically appear.

The approval system uses flexible If/Then rules for approval routing. Conditions ("If") can evaluate multiple attributes of a recognition — not just monetary thresholds — and automatically assign the appropriate approver ("Then") when those conditions are met.

To configure an approval rule:

1. Click Add Rule on the Level 1 tile.
2. When a new rule set is created, the first condition defaults to "Always." This means all recognitions that enter that level and rule set will be sent for approval unless you change the condition.

3. If you want to use a different condition, click +Condition. This opens the panel on the right side of the page, where you can choose the condition you want to use.
4. Configure the "If" condition(s): Select the condition type that will trigger this approval rule. Available condition types include:

• Multiple conditions can be combined using "And" logic within a single rule (e.g., If the amount is between $50–$100 AND the content contains specific keywords, then route to [Approver]). This enables highly targeted approval routing within a single program.

3. Configure the "Then" — Approver Determined By: Choose who will approve recognitions routed to this rule. Options include:
   1. Supervisor — Uses the user hierarchy to route approvals based on the giver's or recipient's supervisor.
   2. Hierarchy Metadata — The approval system will follow the manager hierarchy — for the giver, recipient, or last approver — until the system finds a user who matches the metadata value specified. For example, to route this level of approval to users with the role of department head, include "Job Title" in the file metadata and select "Department Head" here. If the system is unable to identify an individual matching the metadata entered in the proper supervisor hierarchy, the approval will go to all administrators.
   3. Association — Approvals can be handled by users who are not direct managers of either the giver or the recipient. To use this approval flow, an Associated Metadata Column must be added to the user file (see the Formatting User Files article). If Association is selected as the approval rule, only Associated Metadata values will populate in the Metadata field drop-down menu.
   4. Specific User(s) — Assign specific users to approve awards routed to this rule.
   5. Manual Override (via CSV) — Approvers are specified for each user via a CSV upload. If the approver field is left blank for a user, the approval request will be routed to that person's supervisor. If no supervisor is assigned in the system, the approval will go to all administrators.
4. Based On:
   1. Giver — The rule will follow the giver's manager hierarchy (i.e., the recognition giver's manager would approve).
   2. Recipient — The rule will follow the recipient's manager hierarchy (i.e., the recipient's manager would approve).
   3. Last Approver — The rule would follow the person who approved the recognition last (i.e., the last approver's manager). This option is only applicable for a multi-level approval structure.
5. Once finished, click Add Rule. The newly created rule will appear in the Level 1 tile. Select the stacked three dots next to any approval rule to either edit or delete it.

Rule Sets

Each approval level can contain multiple rule sets. Rules within a level are evaluated from top to bottom, and the first rule whose conditions match the recognition will be used to determine the approval flow for that level. Once a matching rule is found, subsequent rules at that level are skipped.

Because rules are read top to bottom, the order in which rules are arranged matters. More specific or higher-priority rules should be placed above broader, catch-all rules to ensure the intended approval routing is applied.

NOTE: Because new rule sets start with an "Always" condition, an "Always" rule placed above a more specific rule may catch recognition approvals first.

If another approval level exists, you can also configure what happens when no rules apply at the current level. If no rules match, the recognition moves to the next level. If there are no other levels, the recognition sends.

Multiple Approval Levels

Up to four levels of approval can be configured. Recognitions progress through each level sequentially, starting with Level 1. To add another level, click "Add Level." Each tiered level requires a unique rule.

The first level of approval can be based on either the giver or the recipient. Subsequent levels (second, third, and fourth) can be based on the giver, recipient, or the last approver in the preceding level. If a manager is the recognition recipient, the approval will route to their direct manager instead.

For more detailed guidance on approval configuration, including examples and FAQs, refer to the Conditional Approval Configuration Options article.

Approval Notifications

Set the notifications recognition givers and approvers receive by selecting the appropriate email templates in the drop-down menus below:

• Recognition Needs Approval: Notifies approvers that a recognition awaits their review.
• Recognition Was Approved: Informs recognition givers when their recognition is approved.
• Recognition Was Declined: Informs recognition givers when a recognition is declined, with an option to include the approver's reason.

Advanced Settings

Clicking Show Advanced Settings enables the following options:

• Giver Funded: If "No," the approver provides points for recognitions. If "Yes," and the giver lacks points, the approver may still fund the recognition.
• Allow Giver to Suggest Amount: Lets the giver propose an award amount, while the approver makes the final decision.
• If the giver is the only approver, who approves?: Giver or Supervisor (e.g., if a supervisor is recognizing their direct report, should they be able to approve their own recognition, or should the giver's supervisor approve it?)
• If the recipient is the only approver, who approves?: Recipient or Supervisor (e.g., if the recipient of a recognition is also the only approver, should the recipient approve their own recognition or should it be approved by the recipient's supervisor?)

Once finished, click Save Changes. Proceed to the Display tab.

Display

Use the Display settings to customize how recognitions are presented:

• Recognition Settings
  • Public Feed: Choose whether recognitions appear in the social feed. If “Off,” recognitions remain visible only to the recipient, giver, and within reports.
  • Scheduled Recognitions: Allow users to set a future date for recognitions, with notifications and approvals triggered on that date.
  • Delayed Recognition Notifications: Enables givers to delay when the recipient is notified.
• Feed Banner Image: Use a 1200x300 image for recognitions in the feed. Ideal for distinguishing recognitions, this can be customized with icons.
• Tags: Tags: Using the Tags section, you can make company values or other identifiers available for users submitting awards to select and attach to the award. To mandate a single tag, set Required (1) to automatically apply it to each recognition. To reorder existing tags, simply click and drag the name of the tag to the desired position. To add a new tag to the program, click Add Company Tag, and a modal will appear where you can select the checkboxes of the tags you want to add. Edit the tags available in your platform by clicking the Hashtags sub-tab in Settings. Control tag visibility in the feed by toggling Display Tag Icon and Display Tag Text options.
• Achievement Badges: Toggle this option on to automatically award a badge to recognition recipients through this program. Enter a name for the badge and upload a badge image. Once a user receives a badge, it will be displayed on the recognition in the feed (if the recognition visibility is public) and on their user profile. Note: If enabled, every recipient of a recognition through this program will receive the badge. We recommend caution when enabling this in peer-to-peer recognition programs.

Click Save Changes and proceed to the Questions tab.

Questions

Customize the questions asked during recognition submissions. The default question is “Reason for recognition.”, but you can modify this open ended question with text specific to your program. To edit or add questions: 

1. Click the three-dot menu next to “Reason for recognition.”
2. Edit the prompt (600 characters max), set character limits, and make the question required or optional. Click Save.

To add additional questions: 

1. Click Add Question, choose a question type, and configure settings:
   • Multiple Choice - Enter answers directly.
   • Text - Set character limits
   • Image - Allow users to upload their own image or select one from a category in the Image Library. 
   • Date - This question type allows recognition submitters to select a date from a pop-up calendar; the date selected must be the day of submission or in the past. Possible questions for this prompt could be: "When did the event mentioned in this recognition happen?" or "On which date did the exemplary behavior occur?" No additional settings here. 
   • Determine if the question is required or optional. 
2. Press Save.

Reorder Questions by dragging and dropping the six-dot icon next to any question.

Scheduling/Publishing a Program

To make a program "active" or "live," select "Publish Now" or "Schedule," located at the top of any program settings page. "Publish Now" will activate the program immediately upon selection. "Schedule" allows you to activate the program at a specified date and time in the future.

Editing/Managing a Recognition Program

On the main Recognition Programs page, all active recognition programs are listed with their details, including images, names, program ID, funding methods, start dates, end dates (if applicable), and status. To edit, reorder, or duplicate any program, click the three-dot icon to the right of the program's name.

The Archived tab displays all inactive programs. Clicking the three-dot icon next to any archived program provides options to edit or duplicate it. To reactivate an archived program, select “Publish Now” or “Schedule” (and set a start date) within that program's settings.

Additional Recognition Program Settings

Additional settings are available on the main Programs page by selecting the Settings tab at the top. These settings offer further customization options for user interactions with recognition programs:

• Recognition Programs: Enable this setting to activate recognition programs and allow employees to recognize each other. This should be turned on only once setup is complete, as it makes the Recognize tab visible on the homepage.
• Page Title: Enter the name displayed in the navigation bar on the homepage and in the page header.
• Question: Customize the prompt on the recipient search page. By default, the question is set to “Who do you want to recognize?”
• Recognize a Large Group
  • File Upload: Enabling this feature displays an “Upload a CSV” option on the recipient selection page, allowing users to upload a single-column CSV file with employee IDs or emails, streamlining bulk recognitions.
  • Allow Groups in Recognize Search: When enabled, options like Peers, Direct Reports, and All Reports become available for selection on the Recognize page.
  • Allowed Metadata Fields: Specify metadata fields available in data imports to support group recognitions by clicking Edit Selected Fields.
• Giver Settings: If your recognition program has approvals in place, you're able to determine if users submitting recognitions can see the status of their recognition and who is pending its approval.
  • Giver Can See ‘My Submissions’ Approval Tab: When enabled, this setting allows users to view recognitions submitted by them while they are in a pending state in the approval queue.
  • Giver Can See Names of Approvers: Enabling this option lets users see the name of the current assigned approver in their pending approvals queue.
  • Giver Can See Reason for Declined Recognitions: This setting allows users to view reasons for any declined recognitions.
• Recognition Assistant: Enable to activate AI-powered recognition assistance. Givers select a value, describe a moment, and explain the impact. The AI refines the message based on the recipient's past recognitions. Admins must accept the Consent and Privacy Notice to enable this feature. Once activated, the Recognition Assistant can be added to individual recognition programs. Reference this article for instructions. 
• Approval Reassignment: This setting enables automatic reassignment of approvals based on the Supervisor ID field in the user file. If toggled on, any pending approval in an archived user’s queue will reroute to the appropriate approver according to updated information in the user file.
• Reporting: Display programs with identical names as one: If multiple programs share the same name, enabling this option will group them in reporting views for a consolidated display.
• Allow GIFs as a Media Type: Enable GIFs as a media type for recognition program questions. This feature is powered by GIPHY, and only GIFs with a "G" content rating will be displayed. After enabling GIFs, you must configure them in individual program settings under the Questions tab by clicking "Add Question," selecting "Media" as the question type, filling out the question text, toggling "Allow User Selected GIFs (powered by GIPHY)" on, and clicking "Save."
• Advanced Settings
  • Allow Others to Be Notified of Recognitions: Activate this feature to add a new field to the recognition flow where givers can select additional people to be notified via email that a recognition has been given.
    • Allow External Email Addresses - Turning this on will allow recognition givers to add any external email address to be notified of the recognition.
    • Enable Grouped Recognition Notification Email Option - Enabling this will allow givers the option to send a grouped email where notified people and recognition recipients can replay all in an email chain
    • Grouped Notification Recipient Limit - Set the maximum number of recipients in a grouped notification. Once this limit is hit, emails will automatically switch to indiviudal notifications to reduce email fatigue. Max: 30
    • Exclude programs from allowing others to be notified - Excluded programs will not allow recognition givers to select additional user to be notified of the recognitions
  • Thank You: Toggle this option on to have a recognition suggestion appear upon redemption of points awarded from particular recognition programs. Then, select the program from which the recognitions thanking users for their points would be sent from. Detailed instructions on this setting can be found in this support article. 
    • Once enabled, users will receive a notice when they place an order prompting them to thank the specific users that awarded them points allowing them to make that redemption. Once they press “Send a Thank you”, the user will be brought to a recognition form with the user(s) already selected for recognition.

To edit or archive an existing rule, click the stacked dots icon next to the rule and select Archive or Edit. Archived rules can be restored by clicking Restore in the Archived tab. For more detailed guidance on editing global receiving limits, refer to the Determining How Many Points Users Receive with Global Receiving Limits support article.

Front-End View

Test the front-end view of your recognition program by selecting Return at the top right of the screen. Click the Recognize button on the homepage and enter the name(s) of the individuals you would like to recognize. Select your newly created program and click Next.

Enter a test recognition, select a recognition amount, and click Submit. 

View the recognition on the public social feed. 

Note: For monetary recognitions, the point amount is not visible to others on the feed. Only the recipient, giver, and super admins can see the amount.

If you have any questions, please contact Awardco Admin Support.