When it comes to choosing employee recognition software for large companies, leaders should ensure that an employee recognition program can fulfill company goals while integrating smoothly with existing technologies.

Recognition software represents a significant investment that will affect almost every part of a company, especially when the organisation employs tens or hundreds of thousands of workers. A rewards and recognition program that helps the company recognise employees can be a great benefit to employee engagement, productivity, and retention. To best match a software solution to your desired outcomes, you’ll want to find a solution that fits your company culture.

But like any search for an enterprise-wide software solution, this challenge requires special consideration by company executives and HR leaders alike. In this article, we offer employee recognition software advice with the ten top features to look for when shopping for an employee recognition platform.

1. Choose a highly secure, cloud-based solution

Large companies need a flexible, long-term, cloud-based solution that can be implemented globally throughout the organisation. This includes features like Single Sign On (SSO) access so employees don’t have to wade through different integrations or applications. Verified security protocols are also essential for enterprise-level solutions.

Security is not an optional feature. Employee appreciation platforms must meet high standards such as EU-US Privacy Shield, a framework for transatlantic exchanges of personal data between the European Union and the United States; SOC 2 reporting to attest that controls are in place to safeguard data; and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance to meet Europe’s high standard for data privacy and security.

Part of O.C. Tanner’s Culture Cloud suite of apps for recognising and rewarding employees, the Victories Employee Recognition Software, is an example of a highly secure solution that meets enterprise-level security requirements.

2. Ensure both leader and peer-to-peer recognition

National organisations require a powerful recognition platform that allows leaders in multiple locations to show appreciation to their employees. Managers should be able to recognise team members for outstanding work, either with or without an attached monetary reward. Building a culture of recognition is essential to helping employees feel appreciated, improve performance, and gain a desire to stay with the organisation longer. Recognition software with flexible and customisable features for leaders is essential.

But what about peer recognition? Peer-to-peer recognition, where employees recognise each other for their accomplishments, is also essential for the enterprise and can help improve employee engagement. In 4 Surprising Benefits of Peer-to-Peer Recognition Programs , we discover that as employees recognise each other more often, they increase altruistic social behaviors that benefit the organisation such as helping, sharing, donating, and volunteering. This is in addition to the other positive emotions that come from being appreciated for good work. A personalised note from a peer can go a long way to lifting an employee’s spirits and fostering team bonding.

3. Infuse years-of-service recognition

It makes good sense for growing enterprises to choose a recognition software that can integrate years-of-service (also called work-anniversary) awards. But HR leaders should look for a software that does more than merely deliver an award on a specific date to mark a special day. Employee recognition program ideas, such as the Yearbook solution from O.C. Tanner, can automatically collect team comments, photos, and memories to create a memorable digital and/or printed keepsake of the achievement.

4. Look for robust analytics and dashboards

Performance management is critical for company and HR executive teams to understand how a new recognition platform is performing across the organisation. For example, if an objective of the program is to increase employee engagement, leaders will want the ability to access dashboards that highlight daily program activity. With intuitive dashboards, managers can gain real-time insights into what kind of recognition activity is happening across teams and the entire organisation.

Keeping employees engaged may be one goal of a program. Another may be employee retention. Analytics that track the success of a recognition program over time, such as the period of a three-year contract, can help demonstrate the effect of the program in helping employees stay with the company longer. Custom reports allow HR leaders to demonstrate the program’s ROI to executives and other leaders across an enterprise.

5. Insist on a native mobile app

6. Check configurability of workflows and rules

This is an important feature that is especially important for larger organisations. Configurability of workflows means that you can apply certain rules—company-wide or by region—based on how you work. For example, you could choose to set specific award and point levels by geography or business unit. You could also choose to customise user experiences based on the type of recognition, such as safety award, sales award, etc. The ability to configure the approval workflow is also something you’ll want to ensure. That way you can have the right people approving certain kinds of nominations.

Another type of configurability to look for is the ability to scale at the team level. This means that leaders can create their own recognition programs to rally their team around a specific goal. Some leading solutions, including the Victories Platform, allow you to create a distinct set of rules, award levels, and budgets for recognition tied to specific team achievements. This kind of functionality allows individuals to feel recognised for team-specific accomplishments in addition to company-wide appreciation.

7. Link to global rewards and fulfillment

The literal features of an employee recognition software are not the only factors to weigh when evaluating a solution. Other factors to consider are the employee rewards and reward options. A superior program offers not only a wide selection of merchandise and gift cards, but also global fulfillment. This is important to large enterprises that operate in many national and/or international locations.

Employee recognition program examples can vary in scope. Some solutions offer only gift cards or a limited amount of merchandise. Others may offer thousands of third-party merchandise options. A program that offers a vast inventory of products and that manages its fulfillment in-house may be the most attractive option for many sizable organisations. A good reward variety will include brand-name merchandise, tech gadgets, adventures, concerts, sporting events, trips, gift cards, charitable giving, and more.

8. Explore budget management and tracking 

Recognition platforms are only as good as your ability to manage them—and that includes managing the budget. An effective rewards program is flexible and configurable. For example, does the software allow you to choose whether to be billed when points are awarded vs. when points are redeemed? Depending on how your organisation allocates its budget, you may find one of these options more appropriate.

It’s also important to ensure it offers the ability to set budgets by location, business unit, or based on eligibility. This is especially important for larger organisations with a presence in many cities, states, or countries. You’ll want the option to set how often budgets are refreshed and also the ability to manage taxes in various locations. Finally, you’ll want robust reporting that allows you to track your budget usage and make adjustments accordingly.

9. Connect people to a purpose

Purpose is part of what makes up an organisation’s workplace culture. The O.C. Tanner Institute’s 2019 Global Culture Report  found that “employees are 121% more motivated to do their best work when recognition is tied to their organisation’s purpose.” This is not only true of everyday performance recognition, but of years-of-service recognition as well. Leaders who regularly build a positive company culture are very much aware of how recognition can contribute to the effort.

When sharing remarks for a job anniversary, leaders should be personal, specific, genuine, and aligned with the organisation’s purpose. This helps connect the accomplishments and growth of the award recipient to the purpose of the organisation. It also helps other team members to connect to the purpose and goals of the team and company as a whole.

10. Plan for custom integrations

The O.C. Tanner Institute’s 2021 Global Culture Report clarified one goal organisations should include as part of their employee experience is to bring recognition into the flow of everyday work. “[Companies] should seek to embed the ability to recognise employees directly into employees’ existing processes. This means including the capability to recognise others in email, web browsers, social tools, intranets, HR portals, and other programs employees already use daily.”

Making your decision

The topic of how to choose employee recognition software is broad enough that you’ll have to do some research—and that research may not lead to a single solution that wins in every category we’ve mentioned. That’s why it’s critical to choose a platform that will best match your company culture and integrate with your existing technology. But choosing a solution that will keep thousands of employees engaged and doing great work is well worth the effort. Odds are, you’ll narrow your search down to two or three best options.

As you consider the employee recognition software advice in this article, remember that the right employee recognition platform can be different for every organisation. But for most enterprises, the ten employee recognition ideas and software features listed above will help you make a solid choice. As you make your final decision, you may also want to review Your Comprehensive Guide to Employee Recognition Programs. This article details many of the benefits of a recognition program, and how recognition impacts the six essential aspects of workplace culture: purpose, opportunity, success, wellbeing, appreciation, and leadership.

See more on "Employee Recognition"

• Tips to Celebrate Work Anniversaries
• Guide to Employee Recognition Programs
• Benefits of Peer-to-Peer Recognition
• Modern Guide to Years of Service
• Victories: Modern Recognition Platform