Summary
- Celebrating wins, sharing appreciation, and building a healthy culture by recognizing team players fuels employee engagement.
- When praise is tied to your company’s core values and performance, employee recognition drives your culture in a positive direction.
- Read more about the top 6 employee recognition platforms of 2025
Employee recognition boosts morale, job satisfaction, and productivity. According to Deloitte, employee engagement, productivity, and performance are 14% higher than in organizations without recognition. Employee recognition also encourages teamwork, helps retain and attract talent, reduces stress, fosters innovation, and increases employee loyalty. In essence, it makes employees happier and benefits the organization at large.
Frequent and intentional praise for positive workplace behaviors, in a public or private format, shows employees that their presence is valued and that their contributions are noticed and make a difference. Additionally, having the opportunity to recognize other colleagues for a job well done creates an environment of appreciation and solidarity. That is precisely how healthy workplace culture is created and embedded into everyday work life.
The 6 Best Employee Recognition Platforms
Choosing an employee recognition software that aligns with your company culture and is easily adoptable by your employees can be daunting. Ultimately, the best software for your team will be the one that:
- is user-friendly for everyone, from the corporate office, to the field, to frontline workers
- supports the values that matter most to you
- integrates seamlessly into your everyday workflows
We have assembled a list of the top 6 employee recognition platforms that meet the above criteria and have highlighted what sets each platform apart, key features, and the specific problem each one solves.
What is the platform?
WorkDove allows you to save time and money with one integrated, affordable platform to streamline employee recognition, performance reviews, continuous feedback, and more all in one place. With WorkDove’s Recognition tool, you can celebrate wins, share appreciation, and build a healthy culture by recognizing team players based on your core values. Recognize employees directly in WorkDove, Slack, and Microsoft Teams.
Notable Features:
- Integrate Employee Recognition- Integrate recognition into perform performance reviews. Recognize employees through MS Teams™, Slack, or WorkDove
- Drive Culture- Visible public praise creates a culture of celebrating and recognizing employees within your work environment. Improve the employee experience with a culture of core value alignment, high performance, and appreciation.
- Increased employee engagement by recording and tracking who gives and receives recognition, keeping employee satisfaction, performance, and retention front and center
- The ability to keep in-office and remote teams more connected wit ha tool tha tstreamlines positive feedback and recognition
Best for:
Driving a values-based culture of recognition through easy-to-use software for any level of technology familiarity.
What is the platform?
Nectar is the building block of honey and the main ingredient that makes it sweet. Nectar believes that the building block of a strong company culture is frequent, meaningful recognition. This platform allows you to recognize great work, redeem rewards, make nominations easy, and communicate seamlessly- all in one simple culture platform.
Notable Features:
- Nectar’s Recognition & Rewards solution allows you to recognize great work, reinforce core values, and redeem meaningful rewards
- The Nomination Program makes nominating individuals for big awards an easy process where everyone in the company participates
- Internal Comms build and broadcast announcements, newsletters, and updates to employees in the channels where they spend time
Best for:
SHRM recognition and rewards partner
What is the platform?
Kudos is a results-driven employee recognition software designed to have an impact. Their purpose and north star is to enable everyone to reach their full potential, through belonging and purpose at work.
Notable Features:
- An extensive selection of rewards, from merchandise and gift cards to experiences, ensures there is something for everyone
- Insightful analytics uncover deep insights into performance, workplace culture, and the employee experience
- Simplified culture through automated employee celebrations, group eCards, pulse surveys, and nomination programs make it easy for HR leaders to build strong and resilient cultures
Best for:
Automated employee milestones
What is the platform?
Motivosity is the people-first recognition and rewards solution that creates engaged employees, automates your programs, and connects people across teams. Its engaging people-first approach to employee recognition and rewards is about building software your entire company will use and love.
Notable Features:
- Employee recognition program that simplifies processes, celebrates milestones, and cultivates a culture of continuous recognition.
- Flexible employee rewards from gift cards to to custom swag
- The ability to run all people programs in one place
- Connection between remote hybrid, and international workers through a social hub
Best for:
Custom rewards for mid-sized companies
What is the platform?
Guusto helps HR and Operations leaders create recognition programs that engage employees from head office to the frontline. It has been built to include employees at desks, on the floor, or out in the field, for industries like healthcare, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, and financial services.
Notable Features:
- Employee recognition program designed for all people whether they’re on the store floor, in the field, or at a desk
- Offline recognition for employees who do not have company emaisl or phone numbers
- Customer and milestone rewards
- Integrations that allow for streamlined workflows for employee data management and login experiences
Best for:
Industries with frontline workers
What is the platform?
Bucketlist is on a mission to help build the best cultures in the world. From recognition tools to rewards and incentives, Bucketlist allows you to access all you need to appreciate your people and inspire great results.
Notable Features:
- Peer-to-peer recognition that fosters a culture of recognition with easy team member participation
- Manager-to-report recognition that enforces regular positive feedback
- Group shoutouts with fun GIFs, memes, and more
Best for:
Diverse reward options
Must-Have Features for an Employee Recognition Platform
Here is a list to assist you in refining your choices among the various employee recognition software solutions available.
1. Integration with existing systems.
The flexibility to recognize team members directly through everyday systems, such as communication tools like Microsoft Teams™ or Slack, ensures recognition fits seamlessly into daily operations. Employees remain engaged because they do not have to leave one system to log into another to give praise to a fellow colleague. When positive workplace behaviors are noticed, integration allows recognition to happen in the moment, making public or private praise more meaningful.
2. Core values-based recognition
When employee recognition programs are rooted in company core values, every recorded employee recognition reinforces culture. Healthy culture is built on the foundation of a shared set of values. Strategic recognition allows organizations to operationalize their values, removing subjectivity out of praise and rewards. When specific workplace behaviors are elevated, it gives employees a clear, tangible picture of how to put a set of static words or phrases into real action.
3. Improve engagement, productivity, and retention
Celebrating team members increases connection, loyalty, and results. Consistent and purposeful employee recognition enhances the employee experience and inspires team members to put in more effort, understanding they are part of something greater than their individual contributions. Employees who feel acknowledged and appreciated are more likely to remain with the company because they recognize their value to both leaders and colleagues. Collaborating with an employee recognition platform that promotes positive workplace behaviors in line with company culture ensures your organization is on the right path for engagement, productivity, and retention.
Interested in exploring WorkDove’s best-in-class employee recognition tool? Learn more below!
