April 23, 2025
Awardco can be a good fit for companies looking for a company-wide employee recognition program. But it also has some drawbacks:
- Limited reporting capabilities: Reviewers mention that reporting is hard to navigate and that the platform has limited analytics beyond tracking spending and usage.
- High administrative workload: Setting up rewards and maintaining accurate user information was overwhelming for some administrators, and employees often needed support with redeeming points.
- Limited customization on program levels: According to Awardco reviewers, reward options available for separate recognition programs are limited. For mission-driven companies, not having gift cards for local stores or being locked into Amazon Business can also be a downside.
These issues are a deal-breaker for companies that want programs to help motivate specific behaviors or improve employee retention instead of just running in the background. Together, they limit HR teams’ ability to find best-fit program formats for achieving business goals and explicitly measuring their impact.
Most Awardco alternatives have similar limitations: they lack strong analytics features to connect engagement metrics to business KPIs. Plus, they have limited options for designing programs that address unmet employees’ needs, like more recognition from leadership, a sense of belonging, or a better work-life balance.
This is why we’re going to present our employee engagement platform, Terryberry, first.
In addition to providing the employee recognition features that HR teams expect in any platform, Terryberry makes it possible to align employee engagement programs with business goals on company, team, and even cohort levels, and track each program’s impact on employee satisfaction and retention.
Below, we’ll talk in depth about Terryberry features and how our customers use them. We’ll also present other Awardco alternatives to consider for your employee recognition program.
1. Terryberry
Terryberry is an employee engagement solution that combines employee recognition, employee surveys, and in-depth analytics in one platform. It’s used by over 40,000 companies, including Ford, Unilever, and Little Caesars, to easily build and manage employee recognition programs, such as milestone and anniversary awards, manager and peer-to-peer recognition programs, incentives, and more.
Terryberry’s platform integrates with major HRIS and workplace communication tools for easy onboarding and employee notification when they’re awarded points or recognized by peers. It can be used on desktop or as a mobile app to increase employee adoption, even for deskless or frontline employees (if mobile access is impractical, they can also use brochures to choose and order rewards).
In addition to these employee recognition platform capabilities, Terryberry helps HR teams configure programs to address weak spots in company culture based on six factors: belonging, purpose, leadership, empowerment, wellbeing, and equity.
Further reading: Employee Engagement: Best Practices, Examples & Tools
By understanding company culture weaknesses at the team, cohort, and individual level, HR teams can design engagement programs to address specific business challenges like low productivity, low employee retention, or high burnout rates for top-performing employees.
Below, we’ll show how Terryberry is used to:
- Configure programs to align employees’ behavior with company goals
- Automate program management and metrics analysis, and
- Prove the ROI of employee recognition, wellness, and award programs
Tailoring Employee Recognition Programs to Achieve Business Goals (with Examples)
Many recognition platforms don’t address a core issue: that incentives — including peer-to-peer recognition, praise from managers, and even awards for top-performing employees — need to be aligned with company culture, employee preferences and motivations, and overall business goals.
Small company with strong leadership? Personal recognition from the CEO will go a long way. But for employees working at a larger company, this approach may feel impersonal and bland. Employees feel they’re underpaid? They’ll choose monetary rewards, but they probably won’t feel a stronger sense of belonging or appreciation. Launching a recognition program for frontline or deskless employees without a mobile app? You can expect low participation, since it’ll be hard for them to log in.
The same holds true on a team level: if you have cliques and managers who play favorites, it’s possible some of the team members won’t get the recognition they deserve, leading to even lower employee retention instead of boosting morale.
With Terryberry, you can combine wellness programs, custom awards, and recognition programs to accomplish specific goals, from improving employee performance to reducing staff turnover. These programs can be tailored for different types of recognition, such as peer-to-peer or top-down, and include various reward levels and incentives.
Note: You can now give your team an unbeatable rewards experience through Terryberry’s integration with Amazon Business. Employees get access to the largest selection of rewards on the market, giving them freedom to choose items they’ll truly value. And with no markups to account for, you’ll be investing directly in your people.
At the same time, you’re not locked into Amazon Business. You can celebrate employees with Terryberry’s premium rewards catalog, allowing employees to redeem for merchandise, company swag, unforgettable experiences, or meaningful charitable donations.
You can roll them out for the whole company or specific departments, teams, and cohorts.
Here are some quick examples of custom programs created by our clients:
- Increasing retention through a combination of recognition programs: Freedom Financial Network motivated its call center employees to stay with the company through top-down and peer-to-peer recognition programs combined with service awards.
- Building a high-performance culture with tailored approaches for sales teams: Not all sales teams are in it for the bonuses. To incentivize their salespeople, La-Z-Boy launched a yearly celebration of top performers. For the North Star Memorial Group sales team, the answer was recognition through custom award rings for top employees.
- Creating a sense of community through wellness challenges: EverWalk helped its ambassadors stay connected during the COVID pandemic when they initiated 20 million activity conversations. At Moda Health, automating activity tracking freed up more time to reach out to employees and led to a 210% participation increase in the walking challenge.
Not sure which programs are the best fit for your team?
Terryberry will tailor your initiatives to match your goals, budget, and values — and our experts are on call to help optimize your strategy.
Schedule a demo to see how we can help you build a personalized employee engagement program.
Streamlined Administration & Automated Insights
There’s more to building an efficient, automated engagement program than adding employee email addresses or setting up user accounts. In our experience, working with engagement data without having to clean it up manually or deal with data exports and spreadsheets to generate meaningful reports is even more important for building impactful employee recognition programs.
That includes being able to connect the dots between:
- What our program engagement data is telling us
- What we know about overall employee satisfaction
- What we’re aiming to achieve — at the team level, with new hires, and for top performers
Most employee recognition platforms don’t make it easy to see all that data in a single view. In fact, many don’t even give you the option of doing that at all.
With Terryberry, all recognition programs get access to our built-in survey tool (and Plus subscribers also get a survey library).
Without having to leave the platform, HR teams can effortlessly answer the following questions:
- Do teams participating in employee recognition programs feel more valued for their contributions than teams that are not being recognized?
- Are there differences in how team members perceive their leaders across teams? Is there a tangible difference in their work satisfaction based on that metric? How does it correlate with participation in manager-driven recognition programs?
- Is there a difference in well-being, sense of belonging, or feeling empowered across employee cohorts and/or top performers? Are there early indicators of burnout or risk of employees leaving the organization?
In addition, our platform tracks employee NPS scores (eNPS) and shows how they’re influenced by participation in recognition programs. Those trends are automatically monitored over time and can be filtered to display team or cohort data (more on Terryberry’s analytics features below).
In-Depth Analytics to Measure Program Impact
As we already mentioned, Terryberry’s analytics capabilities go way beyond the standard set of features offered by other employee recognition software. It can combine program usage metrics with targeted pulse and engagement surveys that measure changes in employees’ leadership acceptance, sense of wellbeing, perception of company culture, and so on.
Having access to this information empowers HR teams to correlate recognition data with retention, eNPS, and engagement, automatically track changes in engagement rates, and connect those trends to business KPIs.
In practical terms, HR teams can find answers to questions, such as:
- How does recognition (or lack of recognition) impact job satisfaction at the company level? Department level? Team level? What about employee cohorts?
- Has employees’ attitude toward the company and their retention risk changed since launching the program?
- Did higher participation in wellness programs translate into better results for employee well-being surveys and higher productivity?
- Was the peer-to-peer recognition program an efficient approach in increasing remote employees’ sense of belonging?
Team members can also generate reports comparing key metrics across employees who do and don’t participate in recognition programs, making it easier to show the program’s impact on employee engagement and retention trends.
Terryberry Reviews
“Terryberry does all the work and we get the 'thank you' from the employee,” says one of our customers.
Other reviewers, such as on G2 and in case studies, mention their appreciation of our customer success team’s support in building recognition programs and making employee and HR experiences go smoothly:
“What I like most about Terryberry is the focus on recognition and their commitment to improving the platform. Terryberry does a great job at helping an organization develop a culture of recognition.”
– G2 Reviewer in Health, Wellness and Fitness
“The customer service. They are incredible and always willing to help. Their communication skills are what really sells the company for us. I can email them, even a few hours before our portfolios are ready and they respond and fix any of my issues instantly.”
– HR specialist for a mid-market organization
Additionally, managers and administrators mention the ease of use and available options to align program settings with organizational needs:
“Keeping my staff interested and motivated is my biggest concern as a team manager. For this, Terryberry is the ideal solution. Recognition and awards are made simple by its various features and user-friendliness. The support team is always on hand to assist with any issues, and the customer service is superb.”
– Accounting Associate for a small business organization
“Terryberry's GiveAWow product is a fantastic software to address any and all employee recognition and engagement needs a company has. There are a lot of different features to choose to include or leave out, depending on your needs and your company. Their programs are really easy and user-friendly. In addition to the great software, I really appreciate the team. Everyone I have worked with at Terryberry has been fantastic - very helpful, informative, and kind!”
– G2 Reviewer at a mid-market organization
Terryberry Pricing
Our goal is to ensure cost-efficiency for our clients. This is why we don’t have hidden service charges and only invoice our customers when their employees redeem points, instead of charging for points issued in a certain time period.
We also work with local providers across 100+ countries to reduce shipping costs and keep our admin fees at 30-40% below market average.
With us, you only pay for the features your company is ready to use. You can add new functionalities as your recognition programs grow and expand.
Schedule your personalized demo to see how Terryberry can help you achieve business objectives through targeted employee recognition programs.
2. Kudos
Kudos is a recognition platform offering a variety of ways to recognize employees through peer-to-peer, top-down, and milestone-based programs. It also supports internal communications spaces that can be used as an internal social media site for employees or company-wide announcements.
What program administrators are saying about Kudos
Based on online reviews, administrators mention automation features and the ability to democratize recognition as positive aspects of launching Kudos at their organizations. On the other hand, they also report a lack of protection from favoritism and employees gaming the system.
(Note: Terryberry’s extensive analytics and AI content monitoring can quickly help uncover and resolve similar issues.)
Kudos pricing
There’s currently no information on pricing or available plans on the Kudos website.
3. Bonusly
Bonusly offers various forms of team recognition, including milestones, peer-to-peer recognition, and awards. It also supports employee communications to centralize company announcements, which can be sent out for communication purposes or to announce trainings, such as compliance courses. These trainings can be tied to Bonusly reward points to motivate employees to complete them.
What program administrators are saying about Bonusly
Some of the features Bonusly users consistently mention are ease of use for employees and the ability to implement it on a global scale. At the same time, they mention limited opportunities for tracking engagement trends and a higher manual workload for administrators.
Further reading: Bonusly Alternatives: 6 of the Best Tools to Check Out
Bonusly pricing
Bonusly plans start at $2 per seat per month at the Appreciate Plan. More advanced plans, Connect and Achieve, start at $5 and $7 per seat per month, respectively.
4. Vantage Circle
Vantage Circle offers employee recognition, gamified wellness programs, and a company discount platform for employees to find deals from global brands. They also offer the option to build a company swag gifting platform, along with support for creating rewards and recognition programs.
(Note: The Terryberry team helps every customer design recognition programs as a part of onboarding and ongoing support.)
What program administrators are saying about Vantage Circle
Positive reviews from administrators managing Vantage Circle programs mention their variety of programs and the fast speed of point processing. On the other hand, administrators also mention that the platform can be hard to navigate and lacks flexibility around redeeming points. Some reviews also mention limited customization options.
Vantage Circle pricing
Vantage Circle plans and pricing start at $2.69 per user per month and include a one-time set-up fee. Vantage Perks (the discount platform for employees) is only offered on higher-tier plans (Transform and Enterprise) that start at $3.89 per user per month.
5. Workhuman
Workhuman’s primary focus is peer-to-peer recognition programs, but it also supports milestone awards and celebrations. Workhuman also has built-in communications that can be used to improve employee motivation by showing user-generated content of enjoying their rewards, as well as AI-powered recommendations for improving company culture.
What program administrators are saying about Workhuman
Teams using Workhuman report that the platform is easy to set up and that employees don’t have issues signing up or using it. Administrators mention running into some glitches and limited administrative access.
Employees logging into Workhuman report limited reward options, including assortment and vendor options.
Workhuman pricing
No pricing information is currently available on the Workhuman website.
6. Guusto
Guusto can be used both for customer and employee recognition, but it mainly focuses on recognition programs for frontline, deskless, and field employees, making it easy for them to adopt the solution.
(Note: Terryberry offers brochures and password-less login options to recognize deskless employees’ achievements and milestones.)
Unlike most recognition solutions, it doesn’t use the points-to-rewards approach. Instead, Guusto offers a dollar-for-dollar redemption flow.
What program administrators are saying about Guusto
Administrators appreciate being able to personalize gift cards and the overall ease of use. However, they also mention that the payment process from the admin standpoint is cumbersome and not streamlined. Another drawback is the requirement to keep a specific amount of funds in the account at all times.
Guusto pricing
Guusto is one of the few solutions that offer a free plan. However, that plan only supports top-down (or manager-driven) recognition.
Paid plans start at $125 per account per month for a top-down recognition program that includes milestones, birthdays, and onboarding, in addition to manager rewards.
Essential and Premium plans support peer recognition programs and start from $2.50 and $3.50 per seat per month, respectively.
7. WorkTango
WorkTango focuses on helping companies scale and automate their employee recognition programs, including manager-driven programs, peer-to-peer programs, incentives, and awards. It also offers a way to gather employee feedback and generate recommendations for managers.
WorkTango can be used to build employee recognition programs and align those programs with company values. It can also be deployed to support employees after mergers or acquisitions, or teams at companies undergoing a business transformation.
What program administrators are saying about WorkTango
Administrators love being able to communicate anonymously with survey respondents for follow-up questions and clarifications, and connecting recognition to company values. However, administrators also mention that setting up and adjusting recognition programs can be time-consuming, and that built-in surveys can’t be customized, limiting the usefulness of feedback.
WorkTango pricing
WorkTango offers Recognitions & Rewards and Surveys & Insights separately or together as a full experience platform. Currently, it doesn’t provide any pricing information on its page.
Choose Terryberry to Build an Employee Recognition Program That Delivers Measurable Results
Terryberry is the only platform that links recognition to outcomes like job satisfaction, wellbeing, and leadership trust. Whether you're launching a company-wide initiative or focusing on one department, we’ll help you build a program that delivers real business impact.
Book a demo to see how Terryberry tailors recognition to your organizational goals and employee needs.
