How It Works
In Recognize users give peer-to-peer recognition. Users must assign a badge to each piece of recognition they give. These admin-created badges control the number of points recognition is worth, who can send certain types of recognition, and how often certain recognition can be sent. Badges can be worth monetary points, non-monetary points, or no points. Monetary points carry over and can be exchange for digital gift cards.
Pricing
Subscription Fees
Recognize offers four subscriptions tiers with each level adding additional features that may be more desirable for larger companies. Their "Mid-Market" tier is the lowest tier at which you still get a complete recognition program. Their pricing is not public, but we've seen quotes in the range of $2.50 per user per month for mid-market sized companies, though it's worth noting that they do offer price matching and claim they will beat any price.
Point/Reward Budget
Your rewards balance must be funded upfront in order for users to be able to redeem their points for rewards. They accept ACH (push or pull), wires, checks, and credit/debit cards. However, they require a $1,000 minimum deposit, you must reach out to them in order to initiate deposits, and all refunds on deposits are sent via check.
Getting Started
Recognize offers a trial of their lowest tier, the “Start Up” plan, which is a convenient way for companies to begin using the platform. However, most companies will follow the traditional route of requesting a quote for the higher-tier plans and going through the sales process.
During the sales process companies get to choose between three tiers of onboarding service. This will affect your setup and onboarding, with the higher tiers offering more hands-on support and customizations to ensure a smooth launch.
After signing an annual agreement, companies have 30 days to use Recognize and cancel for a full refund.
Ease of Use
Recognize has a basic look that feels lacking in polish in some areas, though that at least minimizes the feeling of a cluttered interface for standard users. Menu options such as submitting recognition, going to the rewards catalog, or viewing personal stats are always within reach of a standard user thanks to an ever-present top navigation menu.
The many more options available to admins, however, can feel a bit unwieldy due to menu options that will be available in a top, left-side, or right-side menu, depending on what you need to do. The menu layout can make it tricky to find minor settings the first time, but you rarely need to relearn where the more frequently-used settings are.
Reward Catalog
Recognize’s reward catalog consists of over 150 digital gift cards. You can also add company swag through integrations with swag management platforms like AXOMO and custom rewards fulfilled by your own company.
The rewards catalog is fully customizable in Recognize. You can choose: the catalog’s currency, the point conversion value, which gift cards are available, which users can access it, if all/certain rewards require approval, and if all/certain reward will have redemption limits.
You can also create multiple rewards catalogs, each with their own settings and rules.
However, the availability of the default gift cards is very limited outside of a few first-world countries like the US, Canada, Great Britain, and Australia.
Integrations
HRIS
Recognize has pre-made integrations with only a small few of the major human resource information systems (HRIS) platforms. These integrations allow you to easily connect to the HRIS so that your user list is automatically kept up to date when users are added, removed, or updated.
If using one of the many other HRIS platforms, Recognize does offer custom SFTP setup. In this setup you configure your HRIS to transfer your user list to Recognize periodically. Recognize then updates your users based on the info in the file. Most HRIS are compatible with this kind of setup.
SSO
Offers custom SAML single sign on (SSO) configuration, which enables you to connect to any identity provider. Also offers default OAuth SSO with Microsoft and Google accounts.
Common Tool Integrations
Recognize has integrations with several common business software, including most of the common Microsoft suite: Teams, Outlook, Yammer, and Sharepoint. They also provide integrations with Slack, Facebook Workplace, Gmail, and Asana, giving employees a variety of options to use Recognize within the tools they are already familiar with.
Additional Integrations
Recognize can be configured with certain swag store management platforms, such AXOMO. This allows a company to offer company-branded swag that is entirely managed and fulfilled by the swag platform when users redeem their Recognize points for swag.
Accounts can choose from different kiosk modes to display recognition on a TV or monitor via digital signage.
Recognize also has a publicly available API so companies can develop custom functionality as needed.
Analytics & Reporting
Recognize has a few basic graphs for top-performer-type metrics and recognition breakdowns, but for more advanced analysis, you’ll be exporting the various data reports in the form of CSV, Excel, and JSON files. There aren’t any default reports pre-compiled for easy download, but Recognize does allow you to export all the key data you might need.
Support
Recognize primarily offers support via email as well as phone support during standard business hours.
Their help center covers all the common topics a regular user or admin would need to know, though it isn’t exhaustive enough for an advanced user looking for finer details.
Additional Features
Mobile Apps
Recognize has an Android and Apple app, letting users view the feed, send recognition, and redeem rewards from their smartphone.
Additional Notes
- Recognize will customize the system to work how you want with custom development work at a rate of $125/hr.
- Admins can setup “tasks” that can be completed by users to earn points. Tasks can be anything and admins choose who can complete them and how many points they’re worth.
- Editable certificate generator to create downloadable PDF certificates for any recognition.
- Users can login with their cell phone number as well as receive text message notifications for activity and announcements sent by admins/managers.
- Accounts get a custom CSS stylesheet allowing control over what is visible and how the Recognize platform looks. Complete product whitelabeling available on the “Enterprise” plan.
The Bottom Line
Recognize offers some powerful customization options to create a solid recognition program that uniquely fits your company, even if the end result doesn't have the slick and polished look of some of its competitors and falls short for international employees.
